ELECTION 2023
Are you maximising the benefits of your AEP? The Accredited Employer Programme (AEP) can be appealing and costeffective for large employers seeking to lower costs and self-manage injury claims within their workforce, Gallagher Bassett Chief Client Officer Steven Walsh says
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acilitated by the Accident Compensation Corporate (ACC), this scheme allows large organisations to take control of their ACC levies, actively manage their Health and Safety environment and the total cost of when employees injure themselves at work, often resulting in better outcomes for their injured employees. The AEP enables the organisation to ‘step’ into the shoes of the ACC, but it does come complete with the obligations that ACC has to injured workers. These responsibilities when managing workplace injury management claims require considerable skill, time, knowledge and 40 propertyandbuild.com
resourcing – a limitation for many organisations wishing to leverage the many benefits of participating in the AEP. These limitations can play out in many forms, including; not having a claims team with adequate knowledge of the correct adjudication and legislation to apply which can result in additional claims costs, lack of independence when handling colleagues claims, availability of advanced claims management platforms and best practice, lack of data and analytics when coupled with manual and antiquated processes resulting in excessive administrative costs, not to
mention the advances and best practice in the rehabilitation. These risks are only compounded when staff retention is challenged. To counteract these challenges, part of the ACC’s AEP program allows companies to manage their claims through a third-party claims administrator (TPA). TPA’s support a variety of government departments and agencies, well-known large New Zealand businesses and self-insured companies with their workplace injury claims, applying their highly skilled people to problem solve those existing AEP challenges and deliver superior claims management and
resolution. We spoke to Steven Walsh, Chief Client Officer, Gallagher Bassett, New Zealand on how the AEP program can be maximised through partnering with a TPA.
First, what are the constraints of using the AEP program? The AEP program can be ideal for large employers that have the desire and capabilities to take control of their workplace health and safety practices and have a ‘hands on’ involvement to ensure that injured employees are provided with the best possible outcome when injured perform-
