Dear Accident Compensation Corporation,

I am writing to you under both the Code of ACC Claimants' Rights (rights 1, 2 5, & 6) and the OIA.

This is a request for information regarding the status of claims, and access to those claims, post ACC's decision to decline cover (for whatever reason), when a person requests a review of a decision, or when a decision by a reviewer is appealed to the district court.

I request all policies, manuals, processes, guidelines, instruction documents, or any other document which describes what happens to claims and who has access to claims after (1) ACC has declined cover, (2) a claimant has requested a review of a decision to either decline cover, or not issue a deemed cover decision pursuant to section 58 of the Act, or (3) a claimant has started proceedings to appeal a decision by reviewers.

When I specify who, I do not mean any particular named individual, but the roles of staff at ACC (e.g., claim assessor, recovery administrator, legal advisor, etc.).

I ask what claim ownership means.

I request to know how and when ACC employees obtain authorization (from the claimant and the agency) to access claimant files. Does access to a claimant party file or specific claim file require a transfer of the party file or transfer of the claim file ownership, which is documented in the EOS task section. Can only one ACC employee access a claimants party file (or claim file) at any given time: in other words, is access to a claimants part file (and claim files) restricted to a single user at any given time? Must an ACC employee first request the claim ownership be transferred to them prior to access? Or can claims be accessed at any time by any person without any failsafe?

How is authorized access monitored? I request documentation on how ACC maintains claimant information in a manner that protects against access by ACC employees without the claimants informed consent, or specific authorization provided by the agency.

I request information (policies, processes, manuals, guidelines, etc) on how ACC documents that the access to claimant files is authorized by either the claimant or the agency, to mitigate against "snooping" by ACC employees. I request information as to where this information is held, and how the authorized access is documented in the claimants claimants party file and specific claim files.

I request information (policies, processes, manuals, guidelines, etc) on how ACC documents all internal communications regarding a claimant, including the internal communications with technical staff like the privacy team and legal counsel.

I request information (policies, processes, manuals, guidelines, etc) regarding the documentation by ACC employees for the reasons of access to claimants files, or transfer of the files or claim ownership.

Pursuant to section 16 of the OIA, I request that the documents I've requested be made readily available through the ACC website in a manner which is readily accessible (such as an Policy & Process webpage, or Documents webpage).

I ask that the answers to my questions (pursuant to the Code) be provided through FYI.org.nz, as well as the links to the documents I've specifically requested. In so doing, ACC will reduced the number of repeat requests for the same information. For instance, I noticed that ACC responded to three people with many of the same documents, within 2 days of each other. This redundancy (and waste of tax payers money) would not occur if ACC made all its policies, processes, guidelines, templates and other documents readily available though the ACC website (in the spirit of transparency) rather than restricting access to ACC employees. Just a practical solution to ponder.

Thank you.

AS Van Wey