NIBA Responds to WA Workers Compensation Consultation
News
Insurance
Western Australian employers and brokers have been navigating the Workers Compensation and Injury Management Act 2023 since it commenced on 1 July 2024. Now, as WorkCover WA consults on proposed technical amendments, NIBA has seized the opportunity to put the practical experience of its WA members front and centre.
NIBA's submission, shaped by WA-based brokers and claims professionals, is broadly supportive of the 13 proposals on the table — backing 10 outright.
The central concern that runs through the submission is that procedural requirements must not become barriers to resolution when both parties are ready to settle. Specifically, NIBA has recommended that workers not be compelled to obtain a formal permanent impairment assessment as a precondition to settlement. Where both parties are legally represented and in agreement, adding mandatory assessment steps creates delay and cost without corresponding benefit to the worker or the employer.
NIBA also identified four additional technical gaps that the consultation hadn't addressed.
These include:
1. unworkable 12-month employment obligation for casual and fixed-term workers
2. an open-ended income compensation gap when injured workers move overseas
3. the absence of a liability reassessment process when a worker's capacity changes after returning to pre-injury duties
4. an inefficient framework for managing overpayments when workers commence new employment.
Taken together, the recommendations reflect what brokers see every day: a scheme that works best when it gets injured workers and employers to resolution efficiently, without unnecessary procedural friction standing in the way.
