NSW state insurer icare says its 26-week return to work rate saw a slight decline at the end of last year while the pace of liability decisions has improved.

The return to work performance measure moved to 81% in December compared to 82% in the two proceeding months, but it was still up from 79% in the middle of the year.

Some 99% of liability decisions were made within seven days in January, and the average of 3.7 days for initial decisions was the lowest over the previous two years.

“While we have reduced the number of claims where we accept full liability at first decision, the number of claims where we accept provisional liability has increased,” icare says.

“This enables quicker time to treatment and more time to investigate before liability decisions are made.”

The number of active claims in December was 46,079, compared with 46,943 in November. Total claims payments were $213.3 million, up from $207.8 million.

The percentage of calls answered within 60 seconds by agent EML rose to a high of 91% in January, up from 88% in December and 70% a year earlier.