New Zealand is widely considered to be a world leader in accident compensation. The ACC scheme is the most comprehensive of its kind, with very few comparable examples worldwide. It is an accessible and equitable form of collective provision which plays an important role in our society, helping injured people to recover quickly, get back to work, and maintain a good quality of life. By socialising the costs of injury within the whole community, it allows New Zealanders to work and to participate in high-risk activities such as sports without huge financial risks.
ACC is a fundamental part of New Zealand’s no-fault approach to injury. This no fault-principle represents a social contract, whereby New Zealanders forgo their common law rights (i.e. right to sue for personal injury) in exchange for the universal cover provided by ACC. This is a good thing. For a start, it saves money on lawyers’ fees. And think what would happen if you were to be injured by a friend or relative. What if your grandma ran you over? Would you sue her to pay your hospital bills? And what happens if nobody is to blame for an accident? Thankfully ACC covers it. Those who are injured are protected, as are those who injure. In countries without such schemes, with inadequate social security provision, or where the principle of ‘fault’ or ‘blame’ leads to legal battles, whole families can be driven into poverty or debt through accidental injury to breadwinners or other family members.
ACC has significant economic benefits for New Zealand, through increased workforce participation and labour productivity, reduced long-term spending on health care, legal savings, and increased tourism (as we can develop activities like adventure sports). It also has enormous social benefits: security, better quality of life, more equitable distribution of resources, improved social cohesion and inclusion, and increased participation in sport and physical activities. It is particularly important for people with lower incomes, who cannot necessarily afford private insurance or litigation. ACC is about looking after each other, and creating the kind of decent society we want to live in.