ACC consults with 2900 staff on restructure
The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) will consult with 2900 staff about a restructure but says it is too soon to say whether there will be any job losses.
The state-owned insurer will alter how it handles claims next year after deciding earlier this year to double down on a $669 million transformation project.
Chief operating officer Mike Tully said the changes would deliver ‘‘more tailored care’’ that would see some ACC claimants use online self-service tools to deal with ACC and others provided with ‘‘one-to-one support’’.
ACC has previously said the new approach to case management would see it pre-approve more treatment for less complex injuries, with a proportion of claims largely ‘‘self-managed’’ by claimants via an online portal.
Tully said the changes meant ‘‘some services that support customer recovery on a one-to-one basis will be delivered from more locations than they are now’’.
‘‘At the same time, we are taking some high-volume work done by teams of people in multiple locations and moving that work into five regional hubs.’’
The hubs will be Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton and Dunedin.
A spokesman for the Public Services Association said it had been advised there would be no job losses, but it was unclear whether that would only be the case if people agreed to be redeployed between offices.
ACC had pulled back on a plan to centralise administration in the five hubs. But staff in regional centres such as Masterton, Greymouth and Timaru would face uncertainty as they took their Christmas breaks, he said.
ACC spokeswoman Lisa Rautenbach clarified that formal consultations with staff would take place in February and March, after initially advising they would begin in January.
ACC said in documents released under the Official Information Act earlier this year that it expected to increase the number of claims that it processes from the current figure of 589 per full-time employee per year, to 662 per employee by 2022.
ACC employs about 3415 staff now, so that target would imply ACC could make do with about 400 fewer staff, assuming it did not face an increase in claims.
But chief executive Scott Pickering played down the job implications in September, saying ACC had not embarked on the project with the sole purpose of reducing headcount.
The staff involved in the consultations were those whose jobs involved dealing with clients.
Tully said none of ACC’s 22 branches would close.
‘‘In fact, we are planning to spend more time in local communities, seeing customers where it suits them best, rather than expecting them to always travel to our offices,’’ he said.