25,000 injured workers left in the lurch

According to information released by Unions NSW, 5000 seriously injured NSW workers have been cut off from weekly payments, and 20,000 workers with long-term injuries have lost coverage for medical treatment as a direct result of the NSW Liberal Government’s cuts to the state’s workers compensation scheme.

The findings are from the most comprehensive review yet of the WorkCover scheme since the changes. The review, commissioned by Unions NSW and undertaken by Macquarie University, is the second instalment in a series of three reports. The review says the scheme is not meeting its fundamental goal of guaranteeing support for injured workers and recommends a major overhaul.

The report found there has been a 24% reduction in active compensation claims. At the same time, the scheme has achieved a $2.558 billion surplus - and employers’ premiums have reduced by an average of 17% since the cuts.

Unions NSW said the report painted a disturbing picture of the state’s workers compensation scheme, which was in urgent need of major reform to restore fairness to injured workers.

“The findings of this study strike at the heart of the true nature of the NSW Liberal Government: workers share the pain, while the employers get the rewards,” Unions NSW Secretary Mark Lennon said.

“WorkCover’s finances are healthy but injured workers are not. The scheme’s now strong financial position has come at the cost of injured workers’ health and wellbeing.

“Tens of thousands of people injured at work have been left on the scrap heap by this government. Many have been forced onto Centrelink benefits and have had to go without medical treatment for their injuries - or have to pay for it themselves.

“The government has no excuse not to act: this report finds that restoring benefits to injured workers is entirely affordable within the scheme.”

The Macquarie University report found that amendments introduced two years later - in June last year - did not go far enough, only restoring some benefits to a very small group of injured workers. Less than 2% of injured workers in the scheme are assessed as having more than 30% whole person impairment - the government’s definition of serious injury.

The report also highlights what Unions NSW describes as “an alarming decline in enforcement action” from 2006/7 to 2013/14 - with the number of infringement notices dropping from 726 to 69 and the number of successful safety prosecutions dropping from 300 to 41.

Unions NSW supports the recommendations of a Parliamentary Review including:

• lowering the threshold for the seriously injured;
• restoring medical benefits for work-related injury and illness;
• legal representation for work capacity decision (WCD) reviews and including location as a consideration in WCDs;
• separating the functions of WorkCover to remove conflicts of interest;
• enforcing prevention and return to work legislation and regulations for employers;
• extending the changes to all injured workers by correcting the anomaly for 64-year-old workers and staying a WCD until review is complete.

The report can be downloaded in full here