vocational independence Archive

  • Kevin Hague

    More questions than answers over ACC cost shifting - by Kevin Hague



    A couple of months ago, following ACC Minister Nick Smith’s u-turn on counselling for ACC sexual abuse claimants, I called for an independent review of the wide-ranging cutbacks to ACC imposed by the Government. I have now asked some questions about people being moved from ACC to welfare benefits. What really disturbed me about the replies is the huge increase in the number of people being shifted from weekly compensation onto welfare benefits since March 2009. read more
    October 6, 2010 4:39 pm - 8 Comments
  • frog

    An ACC model for welfare? No thanks - by frog



    Over the weekend, Social Development Minister raised the prospect of an ACC model for sickness and invalid’s benefits. My bet is that Bennett is talking about moving sickness and invalid’s benefits to the insurance model that ACC is increasingly becoming based on, rather than to a model based on the Woodhouse principle of complete rehabilitation that it was founded on. read more
    May 31, 2010 10:35 am - 5 Comments
  • frog

    Faux savings from gutting ACC - by frog



    Shunting injured people off ACC onto welfare benefits where they may languish for years rather than rehabilitating them into employment is a false saving – as bad for the economy as it is for the injured person. read more
    December 3, 2009 1:52 pm - 7 Comments
  • frog

    Nick Smith: I don’t know and I don’t care - by frog



    Nick Smith doesn’t know the most basic statistical information necessary to determine the likely extent of cost containment or the impact on claimants of going back to the 1999 work capacity policy. What’s more, he’s not even prepared to have ACC do the analysis to find out. What a shambles! read more
    December 3, 2009 9:59 am - 2 Comments
  • frog

    Gutting ACC – it’s just not fair: Vocational independence - by frog



    This is the first in a series of blog posts I’m doing to explain National’s plans to gut ACC and highlight how unfair they are. One of the proposed changes is to vocational independence assessments.  These assessments are used by ACC to decide if an ACC claimant receiving weekly compensation for loss of earnings is [...] read more
    October 16, 2009 9:41 am - 9 Comments