10 October 2023
AS Van Wey
[FYI request #24184 email]
Kia ora Amy
Decision on your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-027851
Thank you for your request of 19 September 2023, asking for the below information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
All ACC policies, processes, procedures, manuals, rules, guidelines and other documents regarding
Part 4 of the Act. Specifically: (1) Entitlements (ss 67-71 of the Act); (2) Treatment (ss 73-74 of the Act); (3) Individual, social and vocational rehabilitation (ss 75-96 of the Act); (4) Weekly compensation (ss 100-101); (5) Incapacity for employment (ss 102-106 of the Act); (6) Vocational independence (ss 107-113 of the Act); (7) Interest on late payments and indexation of weekly compensation and other entitlements (ss
114-116 of the Act); (8) Powers to the corporation (s 117 of the Act); All ACC policies, processes, procedures, manuals, rules, guidelines and other documents regarding
Part 5 of the Act. Specifically review decision and the effect of the decision (ss 145-147 of he Act). All ACC policies, processes, procedures, manuals, rules, guidelines and other documents regarding
Part 7 of the Act. Specifically: (1) the duty of the corporation, functions of the corporation and prevention of personal injury (ss
262, 263 of the Act); and (2) the purpose for which ACC may collect or disclose information (ss 279 and 282 of the Act). All ACC policies, processes, procedures, manuals, rules, guidelines and other documents regarding
Part 9 of the Act. Specifically: (1) the provision of enlistments entitlements where subsequent injury occurs and when there is a
failure to reach an agreement (ss 295-296 of the Act); and (2) offences under sections 306 and 312 of the Act. All ACC policies, processes, procedures, manuals, rules, guidelines and other documents regarding
the complaints process (Part 2, right 8 of the Code), which should include: (1) how to raise a concern directly with an individual or the line manager (Part 3.1 of the Code); investigation of complaints by a claimant (detailing the steps to be taken and by whom, where the
"whom" is not a specific person but a designated role); (2) Procedure for addressing and resolving problems and concerns (Part 3.2 of the Code); (3) Procedure for lodging a complaint and the decision framework (Part 3.3 of the Code); (4) Procedure for dealing with a complaint (Part 3.4 of the Code); (5) Making a decision (Part 3.5 of the Code): (6) Remedies available under this Code (Part 4 of the Code); (7) Addressing situations (Part 5 of the Code); (8) Claimant’s right of review with any decision made by ACC under this Code (Part 6 of the Code);.
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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.
Our decision to charge
We have decided to grant your request in part. We are refusing to provide any information from within any
of the documents requested that is legal advice or opinion, or otherwise personal information. This
decision is made under sections 9(2)(h) and 9(2)(a) of the Act.
However, given the amount of resource required to provide the information, our decision is subject to a
charge for making the information available. We estimate the maximum charge will be $304. For details of
how this charge has been calculated, please refer to the Estimate of Costs in the appendix. Please note that
this has been calculated as a contribution to the overall costs, rather than for full-cost recovery. If the time
taken is less than we estimate, the costs will be reduced accordingly, and refunded if required.
Before we proceed with this response, please confirm agreement to the charge. Once agreement is
received, we will provide instructions on how to pay the full amount. You will need to pay a 50% deposit,
equating to $152, prior to ACC beginning work, with the balance to be paid on release of the information.
The decision to apply a charge for this request is consistent with:
• Section 15 of the Act
• ACC’s OIA Policy
• Ombudsman Charging Guidance:
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/resources/charging-guide-
charging-official-information-under-oia-and-lgoima
• The Ministry of Justice Charging Guidelin
es: www.justice.govt.nz/about/official-information-act-
requests/directory-of-official-information/charging-guidelines-for-oia-requests/.
If you are not happy with this decision
You can contact the Ombudsman
via [email address] or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. Ngā mihi
Sara Freitag
Acting Manager Official Information Act Services
Government Engagement
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Estimate of costs
Locations searched
• Te Pātaka, Process Master, SharePoint
Search terms used
• Key words mentioned in each part of the AC Act as well as
the request.
Date range
No date range: All current ACC policies, processes, procedures,
manuals, rules, guidelines and other documents related to parts
of the AC Act.
Estimated no. of
150+
documents at issue/to
be searched through
Chargeable activities
Search and retrieval
required
Collation
Research (reading and reviewing to identify the
information)
Editing (excising or redacting information to be withheld)
Scanning / copying
Reasonably required peer review to ensure that these tasks
have been carried our correctly
Estimated minutes per
2-3 minutes (conservative time estimate)
document to complete
chargeable activities
Estimated total time to
6-8 hours
complete chargeable
activities
Estimated no. of pages
N/A
to be photocopied
Quantity
Price
Totals
Labour
6 hours (lower
$38/half hour, with
$[5 - 1 x $76] = $304
estimate)
the first hour free
Photocopying (if
N/A
applicable)
Other (specify)
$
$
Discount applied due
to public interest /
hardship (if applicable)
Total cost $304
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