Claimants in compulsory third party (CTP) or workers’ compensation schemes for longer periods are more likely to report poorer experience and outcomes and a lesser sense of justice or trust, a first report from long-term research commissioned by the NSW State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) says.

The Social Research Centre project is the first Australian study to measure customer experience, health and social outcomes across workers’ compensation and CTP, SIRA says, with initial data representing a baseline for a longitudinal project.

“The value of this research program is to see how a claimant’s recovery plays out over time,” Chief Customer Officer Theresa Fairman and Health Policy, Prevention & Supervision Director Petrina Casey said.

“It will also allow us to better understand the impact on customers of changes to scheme design, new approaches by insurers and factors external to compensation schemes such as COVID 19.”

The research found people with symptoms of probable serious mental illness or who are experiencing moderate to severe pain tended to report poorer outcomes, regardless of injury severity.

Workers’ compensation claimants with a psychological injury had worse outcomes and experience than those with a physical injury

CTP claimants were found to be more impacted by their injury than people with a workers’ compensation claim.

“While monitoring insurer compliance with the law is central to SIRA’s role, we know that good outcomes for injured people depend on much more,” Ms Fairman and Ms Casey said.

“The research was designed to understand the quality of the experience CTP and workers’ compensation customers have with different insurers.”

The report says performance on CTP customer service conduct principles was similar across insurers, although those with Allianz were more likely to agree they were kept informed about their claim compared to other insurers.

In workers’ compensation performance against the principles was similar across all insurer types but the Nominal Insurer, managed by icare, had lower ratings for claimants having their concerns resolved quickly and being kept informed compared to results for the Treasury Managed Fund and self and specialised insurers.

A total of 893 people with CTP claims and 885 people with workers’ compensation claims participated in the baseline survey online or over the phone