This submission is in response to ACC seeking submissions on its approach to how it will report annually on levels of access to the Accident Compensation scheme by Māori and other identified population groups. The reports will include information on disparities in access, barriers to access and the causes.
In this submission, we highlight the inequities experienced by disabled people, based on a divided disability support system, which determines support on the causation of a person's disability/impairment.
In DPA’s view, all the energy that will be expended in producing reports on improving service access to the existing ACC system for currently disadvantaged groups, many of the answers already lie in earlier research, including that contained in the Forster Report.
Our recommendations include:
- using the general methodologies outlined in ACC's consultation paper for collating data
- that the process go beyond just consultation to be made a full co-design/partnership process between ACC and each of the identified equity groups - Māori, Disabled, Pasifika, and Asian
- that Disabled Persons Organisations (DPOs) including DPA be involved as full co-design partners in the research process.
Read DPA's submission on the ACC Annual Scheme Access Reporting Consultation Paper 2024.