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Dominion Post
June 23 2003
Sex abuse ACC claims quadruple
by Fran Tyler
Payments
to ACC sexual abuse claimants have quadrupled in the past four years.
Figures made public by ACT NZ MP Muriel Newman show that payments of the
independence allowance to claimants has increased from a total $770,000 in
2000 to $3 million this year. In the same period the number receiving those
payments had more than doubled – up from 556 to 1124.
The biggest increase was between last year, when $1.3 million was paid out
and this year, when more than double that was paid. The average amount paid
to individuals had also almost doubled, rising from an average of $1385 in
2000 to $2669 this year.
ACC pays for the counselling of sex abuse victims and pays them an independence
allowance ranging from $10 to $61 a week, paid quarterly.
ACC reintroduced lump-sum payments of up to $100,000 on April 1 last year,
but as yet no sexual abuse claimant had been paid out. Those who were abused
before that date were eligible only for an independence allowance, paid
quarterly. However, 74 other claimants had received payments totalling
$970,000 – an average of $13,108 each.
Dr Newman said the figures validated warnings that the reintroduction of
lump-sum payments would open the floodgates on claims. ACC should not be
compensating victims of sexual offending, she said. Reparation should be
awarded against the offender by the courts.
The increase in sexual abuse claims was exacerbated by ACC's policy of paying
out without the victim having to name the abuser or lay any criminal
complaint, she said.
"The public who fund ACC need the assurance of rigorous gatekeeeping,
and that's not happening.
"The fact that offenders do not need to be named and are certainly not
chased by the police just means that people who fund the scheme are at risk
from others who want to use the scheme for personal gain."
The reintroduction of the lump-sum payments was announced in December 2000. Christchurch law firm Wakefield Associates launched a big
campaign in January last year to attract new ACC clients.
This year ACC has paid more than $2.8 million to 517 Wakefield clients, up from $1.65 million to
203 clients the year before.
ACC spokesman Richard Braddell said Wakefield's
mailout to most of New
Zealand's 1.3 million households was a
significant reason for the sharp rise in 2003.
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