The NSW State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) has implemented a new Standard of Practice on the early management of claims and return to work.

Standard 34 applies SIRA’s expectations on return to work and provides an insurer checklist identifying the risk factors for delayed recovery.

CEO Adam Dent says the new standard supports SIRA’s focus on driving a turnaround in system-wide return to work performance.

“In December 2021, I announced SIRA’s return to work action plan where I committed to undertaking 10 actions aimed at reversing the trend of poor return to work performance,” he said.

“One of the actions was for SIRA to introduce a return to work and early intervention Standard of Practice.

“Working in consultation with insurers, we have created a standard that will help facilitate early recovery and improved return to work outcomes for people in NSW who are injured at work.

“It is my expectation that all insurers in the NSW workers’ compensation system follow this standard to achieve best practice claims administration practices.”

Standard of Practice 34 applied to all NSW workers’ compensation claims from April 4.