The State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) says an additional $1.3 million in workers’ compensation premium has been raised following non-insurance investigations.

The latest regulatory bulletin says 648 more businesses bought policies with 2218 employees covered following SIRA’s actions in the four months ending January 31.

SIRA issued nine non-insurance penalty notices, each for $750, during the period and made referrals to Revenue NSW to start recovery action for $176,001 of avoided premiums.

Two fines were issued for failing to pay workers’ compensation policies totalling $86,306.07 while 24 employer improvement notices were issued for failings such as not having a return-to-work program.

SIRA also commenced an audit of icare’s pre-injury average weekly earnings (PIAWE) calculations and compliance with legislation and convened monthly assurance and oversight meetings with icare covering topics such as premiums, prudential management, claims management return-to-work and data quality.