10 March 2026
Bramhall, J
[FYI request #33715 email]
Kia ora J Bramhall
Your Official Information Act request, reference: GOV-046096
Thank you for your email of 13 February 2026, asking for the following information under the
Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
•
I wish to formal y request statistics for as long of a time series as you have on "interim
timeframe decline decisions".
•
I would also like to see the mean and mode stats on said "interim timeframe decline
decisions" should your system al ow such statistical data to be known.
•
Please also make public all relevant internal policy documents relating to the "interim
timeframe decline decisions" and the handling of said "interim timeframe decline
decisions" by staff.
Cover Timeframes Expired decisions: background For both non-complicated and complicated claims, tasks are generated when the timeframe
for deciding cover or seeking an extension is approaching. If a Recovery team is still
investigating cover on a claim when the maximum extension date is about to be reached, then
ACC must issue a decision. Providing a decision letter is beneficial for the client, as it provides
the client with review rights. We will notify the client the claim is declined but that ACC is still
investigating whether cover should be granted. The task will remain in the team member’s
queue while they await the additional information needed to reassess the decision.
Such a decision may be necessary if we are waiting for further medical notes, waiting for an
assessment, or where the client has disengaged from ACC. We will always reassess decisions
when we receive new information, or the client re-engages in services.
Cover Timeframes Expired decision figures
The decision reason
Cover Timeframes Expired was introduced to the claim management
system in the first half of the 2016 calendar year. The below table includes new claims declined
with a Cover Timeframes Expired decision reason at any time in the claim history broken down
by lodgement calendar year:
GOV-046096 Page 1 of 3
Claims declined due to ‘cover timeframes expired’
Lodgement Year
New Claims
2016
478
2017
1,105
2018
2,227
2019
3,066
2020
2,825
2021
4,146
2022
4,536
2023
5,728
2024
6,791
2025
9,136
Total
40,694
Notes:
• Claims are included where they include a cover decision of Decline and a cover
decision reason of Cover Timeframes Expired at that time.
• Claims counted in the data are not necessarily declined presently or still declined for
the same reason.
• Data are displayed in calendar years.
• New claims are counted where a claim was lodged at any time up to 1 March 2026. A
claim may be lodged immediately following an accident or at any later stage.
• Data were extracted on 2 March 2026 and may differ if re-run later.
ACC does not hold the mean and mode of the data provided in this response.
As such, we are refusing this part of your request as the information is not held by ACC, and we
do not believe the information is held by or is more closely connected with another agency. This
decision has been made under section 18(g)(i) of the Act.
Processes relating to cover timeframes
While ACC does not hold documents that specifically refer to
"interim timeframe decline
decisions”, the fol owing documents are relevant to the situation you have raised. Please find
these are attached as Appendix 1:
• Cover status and cover status reasons
• Cover decision timeframes policy
Names and contact details of individuals have been deemed out of scope of your request and
removed from the documents provided.
GOV-046096 Page 2 of 3
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-046096 Page 3 of 3
