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People who
claim to have been sexually abused will be able to get big cash sums from ACC
again without having to complain to police under a law change that takes
effect on April 1. ACC sensitive
claims manager Gail Kettle confirmed this yesterday when responding to a
flier from a Ms Kettle said
ACC would not pay anything like that sum but agreed that ACC would take the
word of victims and their counsellors that abuse had happened and make
payments even when there had been no police inquiry or court conviction. The Injury
Prevention and Rehabilitation Act begins on April 1, restoring lump sums up
to $100,000 for people injured in accidents and for victims of sexual
assaults. Christchurch-based
Wakefield Associates has been offering to get victims compensation in return
for a 25 per cent cut of any lump sum plus the entire first-quarter payout
from any continuing compensation. The flier
says: "The abuse does not have to be reported to the police. The abuser
does not have to be named." More than 2000
people have telephoned ACC about the fliers, which have been distributed in But Ms Kettle
said victims could get compensation by going to an ACC-approved counsellor,
who would help submit a claim at no cost to the applicant. Lump sums for
accident injuries and sex abuse were abolished almost a decade ago after a
cost blowout. The number of claims related to rape and sexual abuse rose from
221 in 1988 to 13,000 in 1993. Most claimants
then were automatically paid $10,000, whether or not they had lodged a
complaint with police. Critics said many were fraudulent or driven by
unscientific therapy methods such as "recovered memory", where a
therapist "recovers" from adults "memories" of abuse at a
very young age. But the
Government decided to reintroduce lump sums. Though accident victims will be
able to claim them only for injuries suffered from April 1, Ms Kettle
confirmed that sex abuse victims will be able to make claims for incidents
dating back years. This is
because the act says the starting date for a sex abuse claim is the date a
victim first seeks help. Ms Kettle agreed that meant that someone could visit
a therapist on April 1 and be paid a lump sum for an alleged event 20 years
before, while someone who lost a leg in a car crash on March 31 would not be
entitled to a lump sum. Aucklander
Gordon Waugh, a long-time campaigner against false allegations of sexual
abuse, predicted yesterday that the new law would quickly lead to the number
of ACC claims for such cases rising again because of the financial incentive. The law should
be changed to require a complaint to the police, if not a court conviction,
he said. Wakefield
Associates partner Garry Wakefield said his firm had mounted its campaign
because it had "clear evidence" that ACC did not advise abuse
victims of their financial entitlements when claims were accepted. But Ms Kettle
said that was nonsense. ACC gave each applicant a detailed booklet listing
all entitlements and counsellors were also familiar with entitlements. The flier's
claim that victims could get a $25,000 lump sum and continuing payments
totalling $150,000 was based on an extreme case, she said. |
