Resolution Services Review Guide - 2022
Paul White made this Official Information request to Accident Compensation Corporation
Currently waiting for a response from Accident Compensation Corporation, they must respond promptly and normally no later than (details and exceptions).
From: Paul White
Dear Accident Compensation Corporation,
I refer to the OIA request GOV-028422, in which the Resolution Services Review Guide - 2022 was released as part of the request.
The information I request relates to the contents in page 14 of the aforementioned guide, it states;
“As a Review Specialist, you will look after all types of reviews except for: Wellington Central and Remote Claims reviews that are managed by specialist Review Specialists”
Please provide;
1. What makes these Review Specialists “special”?.
2. Why are Wellington Central (Te Ara Tika) Claims managed by these specialist Review Specialists instead of a Review Specialist.
3. Are the specialist Review Specialists that manage Wellington Central (Te Ara Tika) also the same specialist Review Specialists that manage Remote Claims.
Yours faithfully,
Paul White
From: Government Services
Accident Compensation Corporation
Kia ora,
Thank you for contacting ACC’s Government Services inbox.
If your request falls within scope of the Official Information Act, we
will endeavour to respond as soon as possible, and no later than 20
working days after receipt of your request. If we are unable to respond
within the statutory timeframe, we will notify you of an extension.
The information you have requested may involve documents which contain the
names and contact details of individuals. Please let us know whether you
are seeking that information as part of your request. We may need to
consult before deciding whether we can release this information, and this
may take a bit more time. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that
you do not require it.
For more information about Official Information Act requests, please
visit: [1]Ombudsman New Zealand | Tari o te Kaitiaki Mana Tangata.
If your request relates to your claim, or you’d like more information
about lodging a claim, please contact ACC’s claims team at 0800 101 996
or [2][email address].
For personal information requests or privacy matters,
please visit [3]Request for personal information (acc.co.nz).
For general queries, please visit: [4]Contact us (acc.co.nz).
Ngâ mihi,
Government Services
PO Box 242 / Wellington 6011 / New Zealand / [5]www.acc.co.nz
ACC cares about the environment – please don’t print this email
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From: Government Services
Accident Compensation Corporation
Kia ora Paul
Thank you for your request of 18 May 2024, as below.
Reviews relating to Te Ara Tika clients are allocated to more experienced
Review Specialists. The Resolution Manager decides which Review
Specialists have this experience and will work with Te Ara Tika clients.
There are approximately 20 different Review Specialists for Te Ara Tika.
These are not the same Review Specialists as the ones who manage Remote
Claims reviews. Remote Claims reviews are managed by Review Specialists in
the Remote Claims Unit.
If you have any questions about this response, please get in touch
You can email me at [1][email address].
Ngâ mihi
Christopher Johnston (he/him)
Manager | OIA Services
* PO Box 242, Wellington 6011
ACC cares about the environment – please don’t print this email unless it
is really necessary. Thank you.
show quoted sections
From: Paul White
Dear Government Services,
Thank you for your response.
No.2 of my request I asked “Why are Wellington Central (Te Ara Tika) Claims managed by these specialist Review Specialists instead of a Review Specialist”
All decisions subject to review are made under the AC Act and the Te Ara tika units decisions are no different in scope to the decision made by the Partnered Recovery units.
Your answer is “Reviews relating to Te Ara Tika clients are allocated to more experienced
Review Specialists”
This does not answer my request, so I will reframe the request;
“why are the Te Ara Tika claims handled by the more experienced specialist Review Specialist”
Yours sincerely,
Paul White
From: Government Services
Accident Compensation Corporation
Kia ora,
Thank you for contacting ACC’s Government Services inbox.
If your request falls within scope of the Official Information Act, we
will endeavour to respond as soon as possible, and no later than 20
working days after receipt of your request. If we are unable to respond
within the statutory timeframe, we will notify you of an extension.
The information you have requested may involve documents which contain the
names and contact details of individuals. Please let us know whether you
are seeking that information as part of your request. We may need to
consult before deciding whether we can release this information, and this
may take a bit more time. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that
you do not require it.
For more information about Official Information Act requests, please
visit: [1]Ombudsman New Zealand | Tari o te Kaitiaki Mana Tangata.
If your request relates to your claim, or you’d like more information
about lodging a claim, please contact ACC’s claims team at 0800 101 996
or [2][email address].
For personal information requests or privacy matters,
please visit [3]Request for personal information (acc.co.nz).
For general queries, please visit: [4]Contact us (acc.co.nz).
Ngâ mihi,
Government Services
PO Box 242 / Wellington 6011 / New Zealand / [5]www.acc.co.nz
ACC cares about the environment – please don’t print this email
unless it is really necessary. Thank you.
Disclaimer:
"This message and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged
information. If you believe you have received this email in error, please
advise us immediately by return email or telephone and then delete this
email together with all attachments. If you are not the intended
recipient, you are not authorised to use or copy this message or any
attachments or disclose the contents to any other person."
References
Visible links
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2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.acc.co.nz/contact/request-fo...
4. https://www.acc.co.nz/contact/
5. http://www.acc.co.nz/
http://www.acc.co.nz/
Sue left an annotation ()
ACC's answer is wonky. The Delegation Framework shows that Review Specialists are under the Customer Resolution Team, not the Remote Claims Unit or the Te Ara Tika Claims Unit.
Check out Copy of delegations as a review specialist (OIA response GOV-025124) on ACC's website. <https://www.acc.co.nz/assets/oia-respons...>
Te Ara Tika comes under the Partnered Recovery Team and thus is a claims unit (GOV-008563), Choosing the Right Recovery Team Guidelines.
For more information about Te Ara Tika, see
- GOV-027824, Transition Claim to Te Ara Tika <https://www.acc.co.nz/assets/oia-respons...>
Any staff member can recommend transferring a claim to Te Ara Tika. Prompts for considerations include:
• The client has placed unreasonable demands on staff time, to the extent the support of the client has become challenging in the view of the Recovery Team Leader and/or Client Service Leader.
• The relationship between the client and ACC has become fraught, and the client openly shares negative opinions of ACC.
• The client may present with unreasonable behaviour, nonconstructive communication, name calling, low impact non-directive threats
• The client submits frivolous requests, complaints or have phone calls/correspondence of a confrontational nature
• The client regularly contacts the media, senior managers, CEO, Minister and/or MP.
So any person who is diligent and adamant about having their rights upheld, demanding honest answers and their information, requesting reviews of decisions, lodging complaints, or attempts to escalate their complaint to the CEO, Minister, MP or Media, wil likely end up being moved to Te Ara Tika, because ACC finds informed claimants, who exercise their rights, to be a threat.
In addition to being moved to Te Ara Tika, their personal email correspondence will likely start being intercepted by an employee within the Resolution Services Team, hindering claim managers from receiving correspondence, or hindering rights under the privacy act, OIA, AC Act, and Code.
See information on ACC's Communication Plans in
- Gov-026529 <https://www.acc.co.nz/assets/oia-respons...>,
- GOV-029414 <https://www.acc.co.nz/assets/oia-respons...>
- GOV-030181 <https://fyi.org.nz/request/25054/respons...>,
- GOV-028030 <https://fyi.org.nz/request/23693/respons...>
From: Government Services
Accident Compensation Corporation
Kia ora Paul
Thank you for your clarification below.
The claim history of Te Ara Tika claims is often more complicated and
requires more hands-on management than a general claim. Therefore, review
specialists who are delegated to work on these reviews must have a higher
level of expertise to ensure the reviews are handled appropriately.
I hope this helps.
If you have any questions about this response, please get in touch
You can email me at [1][email address].
Ngā mihi
Christopher Johnston (he/him)
Manager | OIA Services
* PO Box 242, Wellington 6011
ACC cares about the environment – please don’t print this email unless it
is really necessary. Thank you.
show quoted sections
From: Paul White
Dear Mr Johnston,
I do have some knowledge of the Intrinsic Claims unit, Wellington Central Branch, now Te Ara Tika.
Your latest response appears to be nothing more than an opinion of why these specialists Review Specialists handle Te Ara Tika reviews.
What Iam after is why has ACC decided that Te Ara Tika reviews should be handled differently including why the Case Manager can instruct the specialist Review Specialist on how to manage the review including not to resolve the review. This is clearly the decision maker Case Manager not allowing there decision to be internally reviewed and early resolution of the issue.
So again I ask for why these specialist Review Specialists handle Te Ara Tika reviews, is it they are required to take instructions from the Case Manager or the like and if so does the Case Managed have the delegated authority to instruct these specialists Review Specialists.
(It should be noted that approx 150 vulnerable claimants of the RCU & WCB with serious physical that include mental injuries attempt suicide and approx 50% achieve this. It is thought that the practises of this Partnered Recovery Unit of denying support, making claimants subject to continuous assessments, preventing them from making complaints or reviews without involvement of the case manager leads them to a complete breakdown. It should also be noted that the 50% that live are then disentitled because of the attempted suicide).
Yours sincerely,
Paul White
From: Government Services
Accident Compensation Corporation
Kia ora,
Thank you for contacting ACC’s Government Services inbox.
If your request falls within scope of the Official Information Act, we
will endeavour to respond as soon as possible, and no later than 20
working days after receipt of your request. If we are unable to respond
within the statutory timeframe, we will notify you of an extension.
The information you have requested may involve documents which contain the
names and contact details of individuals. Please let us know whether you
are seeking that information as part of your request. We may need to
consult before deciding whether we can release this information, and this
may take a bit more time. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that
you do not require it.
For more information about Official Information Act requests, please
visit: [1]Ombudsman New Zealand | Tari o te Kaitiaki Mana Tangata.
If your request relates to your claim, or you’d like more information
about lodging a claim, please contact ACC’s claims team at 0800 101 996
or [2][email address].
For personal information requests or privacy matters,
please visit [3]Request for personal information (acc.co.nz).
For general queries, please visit: [4]Contact us (acc.co.nz).
Ngâ mihi,
Government Services
PO Box 242 / Wellington 6011 / New Zealand / [5]www.acc.co.nz
ACC cares about the environment – please don’t print this email
unless it is really necessary. Thank you.
Disclaimer:
"This message and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged
information. If you believe you have received this email in error, please
advise us immediately by return email or telephone and then delete this
email together with all attachments. If you are not the intended
recipient, you are not authorised to use or copy this message or any
attachments or disclose the contents to any other person."
References
Visible links
1. https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.acc.co.nz/contact/request-fo...
4. https://www.acc.co.nz/contact/
5. http://www.acc.co.nz/
http://www.acc.co.nz/
From: Government Services
Accident Compensation Corporation
Kia ora Paul
Thank you for your email.
All Review Specialists have the delegation to manage review applications,
which includes the delegation to revoke, make a new decision and request
an area to issue the decision following consultation with the decision
maker, regardless of the original decision maker or team managing the
claim. Consultation means there must be a documented consultation between
final decision-making authority and the other party but if agreement
cannot be reached, the final decision sits with the Review Specialist. The
decision maker or case owner does not instruct Review Specialists to make
any decision in a review. As such, there is no differentiation in how the
review process is conducted for Te Ara Tika or Remote Claims Unit claims.
If you have concerns about the way in which your review has been handled,
you can request an appeal. The remainder of your request is not an OIA and
is better addressed as a complaint. You can make a written or verbal
complaint to ACC about the service we have provided. Information on how to
make a complaint is available on our website at:
[1]https://www.acc.co.nz/im-injured/resolve...
If you have any questions about this response, please get in touch
You can email me at [2][email address].
If you are not happy with this response, you can also contact the
Ombudsman via [3][email address] or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Information about how to make a complaint is available
at [4]www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
Ngâ mihi
Christopher Johnston (he/him)
Manager | OIA Services
* PO Box 242, Wellington 6011
ACC cares about the environment – please don’t print this email unless it
is really necessary. Thank you.
show quoted sections
From: Paul White
Dear Mr Johnson,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
Firstly, could you confirm your OIA reference ie GOV-032493
The response you provided is verbatim of the function of the Review Specialist that are not involved in Te Ara Tika reviews.
It’s a similar case in respect to Resolution Specialists, where they are required to handled a Te Ara Tika Code Complaints on a different basis than Code Complaints from partnered or assisted recovery units. In this situation the Resolution Specialists must manage the complaint as instructed by the Te Ara Tika unit, this is confirmed in ACC’s policies that are available on FYI.
So in the absence of you providing the information I requested that aligns with the comments in the Reviewers Guide; “As a Review Specialist, you will look after all types of reviews except for: Wellington Central and Remote Claims reviews that are managed by specialist Review Specialists”, the matter will be referred to the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman will also receive evidence of two separate claimants reviews where the Review Specialist had intended to resolve the matters however they were overridden by the Case Manager, both matters proceeded to Review where the decisions were set aside. These matters were a waste of expenditure in holding the hearings when they should have been resolved, a waste of ACC’s resources administering the review, an undue effect on ACC’s KPI’s of 80% of decisions are upheld and this is all for the purpose of treating Te Ara Tika clients below any minimum standard within the public service.
Yours sincerely,
Paul White
From: Government Services
Accident Compensation Corporation
Kia ora,
Thank you for contacting ACC’s Government Services inbox.
If your request falls within scope of the Official Information Act, we
will endeavour to respond as soon as possible, and no later than 20
working days after receipt of your request. If we are unable to respond
within the statutory timeframe, we will notify you of an extension.
The information you have requested may involve documents which contain the
names and contact details of individuals. Please let us know whether you
are seeking that information as part of your request. We may need to
consult before deciding whether we can release this information, and this
may take a bit more time. If we do not hear from you, we will assume that
you do not require it.
For more information about Official Information Act requests, please
visit: [1]Ombudsman New Zealand | Tari o te Kaitiaki Mana Tangata.
If your request relates to your claim, or you’d like more information
about lodging a claim, please contact ACC’s claims team at 0800 101 996
or [2][email address].
For personal information requests or privacy matters,
please visit [3]Request for personal information (acc.co.nz).
For general queries, please visit: [4]Contact us (acc.co.nz).
Ngâ mihi,
Government Services
PO Box 242 / Wellington 6011 / New Zealand / [5]www.acc.co.nz
ACC cares about the environment – please don’t print this email
unless it is really necessary. Thank you.
Disclaimer:
"This message and any attachments may contain confidential and privileged
information. If you believe you have received this email in error, please
advise us immediately by return email or telephone and then delete this
email together with all attachments. If you are not the intended
recipient, you are not authorised to use or copy this message or any
attachments or disclose the contents to any other person."
References
Visible links
1. https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.acc.co.nz/contact/request-fo...
4. https://www.acc.co.nz/contact/
5. http://www.acc.co.nz/
http://www.acc.co.nz/
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Sue left an annotation ()
Also check out the Aide Memoire Data analytics on ACC complaints (refernce GOV-019578) released in OIA response GOV-028436 <https://fyi.org.nz/request/24458/respons...>.
You can also reference GOV-029178: "The ACC triage and workflow teams were established in February 2022 and have the same work types as standard Review Specialists. Triage and workflow teams have a mix of Review Specialists, Resolution Coordinators, Business Analysts, Senior Review Specialists, and a Resolution Manager. <https://fyi.org.nz/request/24512/respons...>
Also see the Quarterly Report: (GOV-029180 Appendix) at <https://fyi.org.nz/request/24512-numbers...>.
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