The new SA workers’ compensation scheme came into effect last week with the State Government saying it delivers some of the biggest changes in more than 25 years.

“Employers will experience a much simpler, fairer and more affordable insurance premium system, where they can preserve premium discounts for positive performance,” Return to Work SA says.

The scheme aims to provide earlier assistance and more personalised support to people injured at work.

The Workers Compensation Tribunal has been replaced with the SA Employment Tribunal under the changes.

Return to Work SA – formerly WorkCover SA – has cut its average premium rate to a record low of 1.95% of wages.

The scheme had held its rate at 2.75% for the past four years, making it by far the most expensive in the country.

Under the new model the “pension-for-life” system has been scrapped and payments to injured workers will cease after two years unless their injuries are deemed catastrophic.

Lawyers in the state have attacked the reforms, labelling them a backward step.

Anthony Kerin from lawyers Maurice Blackburn in Adelaide says the new regime is harsher and less beneficial for recipients. Workers now have no right of review and no meaningful access to common law, which “is the real reason the numbers are looking up”.

He says the right to sue at common law under the new legislation will only advantage people with 30% impairment. Very few claimants qualify for this.

Amber Sprague, a partner at Tindall Gask Bentley, SA’s largest personal injury law firm, says the new model is “very harsh, and it is crucial for injured workers to understand how they will be affected not just now but into the future”.

She says people whose benefits are cut off after two years will end up on disability pensions from Centrelink.

Legislative changes took effect last Wednesday, but the Return to Work SA board began implementing some strategies a few months ago.

Deputy Premier John Rau says the scheme is already delivering great success, offering a greater focus on alternative dispute resolution and using a team of expert conciliation advisers and independent medical advisers.

In March Return to Work SA revealed it is fully funded, with a $20 million surplus – a major turnaround from an unfunded liability of more than $1.1 billion last year.

Claims agents Gallagher Bassett and Employers Mutual have more than 100 case managers on the road providing face-to-face support to injured workers and their employers, and the new approach has seen faster, safer and more sustainable recovery, the government agency says.

The reforms increase obligations on employers to provide work, and mandate for case managers to meet workers and employers within 48 hours of any injury likely to last longer than two weeks.