10 December 2025
Spencer Jones
[FYI request #32869 email]
Kia ora Spencer
Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-044440
Thank you for your email of 16 November 2025, asking for the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act):
1. For each of the financial years 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25 (or the nearest
equivalent reporting periods used by ACC):
a. The total amount paid by ACC to external law firms and barristers for representation or
advice in claimant-initiated reviews and appeals under Part 5 of the Accident
Compensation Act 2001 (including ICRA, Fairway Resolution, District Court, High Court
and higher appeals) – fees + disbursements + GST.
b. If readily available from existing reports, the above total broken down by forum (e.g.,
ICRA/Fairway reviews vs District Court appeals vs High Court and above).
2. A list of the GL account codes (and descriptions) that ACC uses to record the expenditure in (1)
above. (Previous ACC OIA responses and annual reports confirm that external legal costs are
captured under identifiable “consulting and professional services” or specific legal GL
categories.)
Our response
Table one in the attached appendix contains expenditure and GL codes for appeals under part 5 of the
AC Act, by financial year since 2022.
Please note that the GL account and analysis codes were only established from the 2022 financial year
onwards. Therefore, we are refusing part of your request asking for information prior to the financial
year 2022, as extracting the data would require us to manually read through individual files, requiring
substantial collation and research.
This decision has been made under section 18(f) of the Act. In doing so, we considered extending our
timeframe to respond and charging (as allowed under the Act). However, it was determined that the
resources required to extract the data would have a significant impact on the everyday functions of the
team(s) involved.
There are no GL codes to extract expenditure for Fairway and the Independent Complaint & Review
Authority Ltd or for external legal counsel for reviews.
Table two contains expenditure for Fairway and the Independent Complaint & Review Authority Ltd.
GOV-044440 Page 1 of 2
Table three contains expenditure for external legal counsel for reviews.
Please refer to the following notes and caveats when interpreting the data used for this request:
• External counsel review services are included where ACC has made a payment for the service
item 'REV15 - Review - Legal Costs other than District Court' between 1 July 2020 and 30 June
2025.
• A financial year is 1 July to 30 June.
• Data are aggregated by the year ACC made payment for the external review service. This may
differ from when the service was provided.
• Service payment costs are not directly associated with a specific review, and some claims may
have multiple reviews.
• Please note this only includes paid costs that are directly associated with claims. Costs are
GST exclusive.
• Data are extracted on 2 December 2025 and may differ if rerun later.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public
ACC may publish a copy of this response on ACC’s website. All requester data, including your name
and contact details, will be removed prior to release. The released response will be made available
www.acc.co.nz/resources/#/category/12. Please also view this page about making requests and our
published response
s https://www.acc.co.nz/contact/official-information-act-requests. If you have any questions about this response, please get in touch
You can email me at
[email address].
If you are not happy with this response, you can also contact the Ombudsman via
[email address] or by phoning 0800 802 602. Information about how to make a
complaint is available a
t www.ombudsman.parliament.nz. Ngā mihi
Christopher Johnston
Manager Official Information Act Services Government Engagement
GOV-044440 Page 2 of 2
