05 May 2020

David Lawson
[FYI request #12394 email]

Tēnā koe David

Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-004097
Thank you for your email of 5 March 2020, requesting information about ACC’s Remote Claims Unit and
Te Ara Tika (formerly the Wellington Central Branch) under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).

As you wil  know, we extended the timeframe for making a decision on your request to 5 May 2020. We
have now completed our work on your request, and our responses to each of your questions are
provided below.

Responses to your official information requests
1.  Please confirm whether the Client Service Leader tasked with overseeing the Remote Claims Unit
holds the delegated authority over the same 3 Principal Advisors that provide the advice to the
WCB/Te Ara Tika Team Leader, and the 6 Recovery Partners within this team.
2.  If the answer to OIA Request 1 above is no, please confirm whether the Client Service Leader and the
team that assist the claimants in the Remote Claims Unit in their recoveries has delegated authority,
and ongoing access to involve a Principal Advisor on complex matters.

The information requested in these two questions would identify the Client Service Leader responsible
for the Remote Claims Unit, which in turn would likely lead to that person being identified.

The Remote Claims Unit is a specialist team which manages clients identified as posing an unacceptable
risk to the health and safety of ACC staff and providers. To ensure the safety of the staff in the Remote
Claims Unit, they work under a pseudonym and the Unit’s location is not made public. In line with this,
ACC does not disclose any information about the Remote Claims Unit or its staff that could lead to its
staff being identified.

In consideration of this, we are withholding the information requested in questions 1 and 2 in ful  under
section 6(d) of the Act, releasing the information would likely endanger the safety of a person.
3.  (i) Please confirm how many Principal Advisors, Team Leaders and Recovery Partners are allocated to
serve the ACC's clients in the Remote Claims Unit?

There are no Principal Advisors al ocated to the Remote Claims unit, there are three Principal Advisors
who provide advice for all of Client Service Delivery and across ACC.

Staff across all of ACC provide advice, support and assistance in relation to individual ACC claims,
including claims managed in the Remote Claims Unit. We would not be able to identify the number of
staff who have assisted, served, or have been had some involvement with a Remote Claim, without
searching through individual claims. We are therefore refusing this question under section 18(f) of the
Act as it cannot be made available without substantial col ation or research.

GOV-004097
(ii)   Do ACC's remote claims unit share Policy Advisors, Team Leaders and Recover Partners with
any other region or team?

We note that this question asks about ‘Policy Advisors’ in the Remote Claims Unit, however, we have
interpreted this to mean Principal Advisors. Please refer to our answer for Question 3.

We note that your question seeks information about the working arrangements of the Remote Claims
Unit staff, including if they work in other teams and if they move between regions. We consider that
details about how and where these staff work could potential y be used to make inferences about
individuals working in the Remote Claims Unit and its location. This, in turn, would make the
identification of these staff more likely. Due to this, we are withholding the information related to this
part of your request in ful  under section 6(d) of the Act, as it would endanger a person’s safety.

4.  For each of the years ending 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 please provide the following information;
(i)  The number of full time equivalent employees that serviced ACC's clients held in ACC's Remote
Claims Unit, on an annual basis.

Staff across all of ACC provide advice, support and assistance in relation to individual ACC claims,
including those managed in the Remote Claims Unit. As staff do not record the time spent on different
claims, we do not have an FTE figure for al  staff who have provided services to Remote Claims Unit
clients. Accordingly, we are refusing part of your request under section 18(e) of the Act, as the
information does not exist.
  (ii)  The total number of combined hours that ACC's remote Claims Unit Staff invested in helping
out all of ACC's clients held in the Remote Claims Unit through each year?

We do not col ect information about staff working hours to the level of detail you are seeking.
Accordingly, we are refusing this part of your request as the information does not exist. This decision is
made under section 18(e) of the Act.

We can advise that the Remote Claims Unit operates during normal business hours (8:30am – 5:00pm)
on every working day of the year, including between Christmas and the New Year.

(iii)  Please provide a break down of the average number of hours an ACC Remote Claims Unit
client's would receive each in case management contact to promote their recovery for each of
the following time intervals;
a. quarterly,
b. monthly, and
c. weekly.

We do not col ect data about the number of hours of contact time that each client receives. We are
therefore refusing this part of your request as the information does not exist. This decision is made
under section 18(e) of the Act.
  (iv)  The total amount in dollar terms restricted to ACC remote claims staff's renumeration for
providing services to remote claims unit clients (please exclude any redundancy payments or
severance payments that may skew results) for each year.

The tables below show the salary bands for Remote Claims Unit staff.
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GOV-004097

Table 1: Base salary for Case Manager, financial years 2014/15 to 2018/19

Salary band range (85% to 120%)
85%
100%
120%
2014/15
$63,292
$74,461
$89,352
2015/16
$64,228
$75,563
$90,676
2016/17
$64,520
$75,906
$91,087
2017/18
$66,357
$78,067
$93,680
2018/19
$67,087
$78,926
$94,711

Table 2: Base salary for Manager, financial years 2014/15 to 2018/19

Salary band range (85% to 120%)
85%
100%
120%
2014/15
$103,512
$121,779
$146,135
2015/16
$105,680
$124,329
$149,195
2016/17
$105,943
$124,639
$149,567
2017/18
$109,060
$128,306
$153,967
2018/19
$111,241
$130,872
$157,046

5.  For each of the years ending 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 please provide the following information;

(i)
The number of ACC Remote Claim's Unit clients that made no contact with the ACC remote
claims team within that year,

(ii)  The number of ACC Remote Claim's Unit clients that the ACC remote claims team made no
contact within each year.

(iii)  The combined total number of contacts made to ACC remote claims unit staff by ACC's remote
claims unit client's, together with a further breakdown of how many of these contacts were;
•  Face to face
•  By way of letter
•  By way of email
•  By way of fax
•  By way of phone

(iv)  The combined total number of contacts made to ACC remote claims unit client’s to ACC's
remote claims unit staff, together with a further breakdown of how many of these contacts
were;
•  Face to face
•  By way of letter
•  By way of email
•  By way of fax
•  By way of phone

ACC records contacts with clients and other relevant parties on individual claim files. However, we do
not record the parties to each contact in a col atable way. This information could only be determined by
manual y reviewing each contact in every active claim.

It would not be possible to provide information for this request without substantial col ation and
research, and we do not consider that fixing a charge or extending the time limit would enable us to
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GOV-004097
grant this request within our resources and carry out our functions. Accordingly, we refuse this request
under section 18(f) of the Act.

6. A. Do staff within the remote claims unit use pseudonym's and not their real names?

Yes.

B. Do staff within Wel ington Central Branch/Te Ara Tika use pseudonym's and not their real names?

No.

If so how is an RCU or WCB client able to request from an ACC employee under the provisions of the
Official Information Act clarification about the ACC's employees decision making regarding covers
and entitlements requested from the so Corporation?

I understand that this question relates to section 23 of the Act, which provides people the right of access
to reasons for a decision affecting that person. This right applies to al people (including clients managed
in the Remote Claims Unit) as defined under subsection (2) of that section.

As with any client of ACC, a Remote Claims client can make a request to ACC for a written statement
about a decision or recommendation that affected them. We consider that having a Recovery Partner
who works under a pseudonym would not inhibit the release of information about reasons for decisions,
as this information is held on individual claim files.

Questions or concerns about our response
If you have any questions, you can email me at [email address].

If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman.
Information about how to do this is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800
802 602.

Nāku iti noa, nā

Sasha Wood
Manager Official Information Act Services
Government Engagement & Support

Accident Compensation Corporation
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Document Outline