As of March 1st, the NSW Workers’ Compensation Independent Review Office (WIRO) has been replaced by the Personal Injury Commission (PIC).
The PIC replaces the Workers Compensation Commission as well as the State Insurance Regulatory Authority’s (SIRA) dispute resolution service, combining them into a single independent tribunal.
The new tribunal will deal with both workers’ compensation and compulsory third party (CTP) insurance claims. The PIC will have two specialist division to service these two areas, with an independent judicial head.
In addition, a new Independent Review Office (IRO) replaces the previous Workers Compensation Independent Review Office. Its role will be to receive complaints about CTP insurers, as well as continue to manage complaints about workers’ compensation insurers.
SIRA’s role will continue to be a regulatory investigator and enforcer.
The stated reason for the changes is to simplify the dispute resolution process, making it as cost effective and efficient as possible.
When the legislation for the PIC passed the NSW parliament last year, Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said, “The new single tribunal will help thousands of customers resolve their disputes each year. In 2019 around 7,000 applications were lodged in the Workers Compensation Commission and around 10,000 CTP applications were also lodged.
“Customer experience has been a key driver throughout this process, and hours of consultation with scheme providers and industry stakeholders has been completed to ensure the new Commission delivers the best possible claimant experience.”
These new changes do not change the benefits, compensation and entitlements in the previous workers’ compensation and CTP schemes, meaning that insurance premiums should not be adversely affected.
