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Businesses seek NSW workers' comp assistance

State-owned insurer icare says more than 14,600 businesses have been in touch to have workers’ compensation policies reviewed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Premium reductions have totalled about $40 million for directly impacted customers, while $38 million in payments have been paused for around 1900 customers as businesses are in hibernation, or they work through financial hardship, CEO John Nagle says.

In addition, one in nine businesses have increased their estimated wages, reflecting the upswing in industries such as deliveries, groceries and cleaning services.

“As restrictions are eased and ways of working evolve in the coming weeks, we expect to see further adjustments and we remain on hand to help customers during this time,” Mr Nagle said.

Around 9000 customers have made contact, or have been contacted by icare, to update estimated wages and business activities, which are major drivers of their premium.

“This is particularly true of customers impacted by social distancing measures in industries such as construction, hospitality and retail, with many needing to reduce staff numbers working at any one time,” Mr Nagle said.

The State Insurance Regulatory Authority has said JobKeeper payments made to workers who perform no work during the period will be excluded from wage calculations for premiums.

icare has also confirmed that QBE has started offering workers’ compensation claims management services to large businesses under a move to provide greater choice for customers.

Allianz and GIO started as authorised providers in February and it was previously announced that QBE would commence on May 1.

QBE is the first of the three to go live on the icare claims management platform, with the other firms, currently using their individual platforms, to make the transition later this year.