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A new dispute resolution service is revolutionising the way many ACC claims are dealt with. Talk-Meet-Resolve was established 18 months ago by veteran ACC researcher and lawyer Warren Forster and co-founder, lawyer and adjudicator Matthew Clayton, and is now involved in nearly one hundred cases a month. It is an agreement-based process which aims to resolve issues within two weeks.

An independent service is being launched to help resolve disputes with the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), in the hope of speeding up the process and minimising the need for reviews or court hearings. The Meet Resolve service will provide independent experts to act as mediators between ACC and claimants. Director Warren Forster said the aim was to get things sorted out early by sitting around the table at the beginning.

The Accident Compensation Corporation will consult with 2900 staff over a restructure but says it is too soon say whether there will be any job losses. The state-owned insurer will change the way it handles claims next year after deciding earlier this year to double down on a $669 million transformation project.

Some of New Zealand’s leading ACC law experts are backing a call by former Prime Minister, Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC, for a major overhaul of New Zealand’s accident compensation system.

Tens of thousands of "blank template" letters have been left out of ACC's official reporting on how many claims it approves or declines. Barrister Warren Forster, who has represented hundreds of ACC claimants, said in his experience the "CM03" documents were like "blank cheque" letters, often used by ACC staff to decline claims for cover and entitlements. ACC said the letters could not be retrieved as it "would require ACC to undertake an extensive manual search through all claim files", but the agency was confident only a small number were used to decline claims. Forster said it was "disturbing" a large government agency had such a significant gap in data, when that information was used for statistical modelling to manage claims.

Dunedin barrister Warren Forster has launched a nationwide survey as part of research aimed at reforming the accident compensation system.

An accident compensation expert is calling for ACC, health and welfare systems to be combined into one social insurance scheme.

ACC says it will continue using fake staff names despite the High Court outlawing a similar practice by the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).

The Accident Compensation Corporation is paying out much more to men than to women. Huge disparities in the number of claims for sports and work-related injuries and motor vehicle accidents meant only about 37 per cent of the payouts made by ACC went to women last year, with 63 per cent going to men. But women are also more likely to have many types of claim turned down.

A disabled man cut off from ACC payments for seven years has had his weekly compensation re-instated and avoided eviction from his bedsit.