Insurer Report

Statutory claims

 

Prior to June 2008 the number of statutory claims had been steadily increasing. This was followed by a decrease in statutory claims for 2008/09 (-4.7%) - partly a decline in workers' propensity to claim caused by the global financial crisis (economic downturn).  With a return to normal economic conditions over the course of 2009/10, statutory claims remained stable - showing some evidence that this has eventuated.

 

For 2010/11, new statutory claims increased slightly by 2% to 100,083, attributed to strengthening economic conditions and an increase in the workforce. WorkCover is experiencing similar growth to scheme, whereas self-insurers have decreased marginally.

 

Psychological / psychiatric claims for 2010/11 have increased by 6% to 3,958 (WorkCover up 10%, self-insurers down 8%). The driver behind this increase is non-government psych injury lodgements, which have increased by 15% to 2,559. In comparison, government psych injury lodgements are down 3% to 1,339. Government represents approximately one-third of all psychological /psychiatric claim lodgements.

 

 

Statutory claims growth:  physical vs psychological/psychiatric

 

The graph displays the rolling twelve month movement for new physical and psychological/psychiatric claims. Results above the "zero line" indicate an increase - if the graph shows a decreasing movement but above the "zero line" then this still indicates an increase, but one which is lower than previous months.

 

Common Law claims

 

New common law claims for 2010/11 have decreased by 10% to 4,462. Self-insurers have seen an increase in common law claims, up 3% from last year. By comparison, common law claims with WorkCover Qld are down 11%.

 

Psychological/psychiatric injury claims contribute 8% of total common law claims. Psychological/psychiatric common law lodgements for 2010/2011 have increased 24% to 369. In comparison, physical common law lodgements are down 9%.

 

The average cost of a common law claim for 2010/11 is $131,826, which is a 3% reduction on last year.

 

Scheme payments

 

From 2004/05 to 2009/10, scheme total payments (statutory and common law) have been increasing by over 12% per annum (Statutory 14% pa, Common Law 11% pa). However for 2010/11 scheme total payments are down 2%. Common law payments have decreased by 8% while statutory payments increased by 3%. Total scheme payments for 2010/11 was $1,255.9m.