NSW Workers’ Compensation Market Update – H1 2018

The New South Wales workers’ compensation scheme continues to evolve as icare NSW continue to make changes that will have a direct impact on employers and workers within NSW.

In addition to the changes being implemented by icare there has been an amendment to the Coal Mines Act that will impact employers, who have employees working in or about a coal mine.

Overview

icare

• The introduction of icare’s new claims management model means the majority of new claims submitted by employers are not allocated to a dedicated EML case manager that is aligned to the employers policy, but rather into a pool of case managers that may or may not be aware of the employers business operations.
• icare have announced that Allianz will be running a pilot program between July 2018 and December 2018. The pilot is restricted to those employers that nominate to enter and currently have an exemption to remain with Allianz, until the end of their current policy period.
• Rates and adjustment factors for the 2018/19 policy year are being amended. Despite these amendments, the average premium rate will remain at 1.4%.

Coal Mines Insurance

• The effect of a recent change means that an employer in the coal industry will be required to take out worker compensation insurance with Coal Mines Insurance (CMI).