Skip to main Skip to search
Whaikaha Ministry of Disabled People View our
NZSL name

Disparities in access to the ACC Scheme for disabled people

In March 2026, ACC published its second annual ACC Scheme Access Report, which reports on access to the Accident Compensation Scheme by Māori and other priority groups, including disabled people.

The report fulfils ACC’s duty under the Accident Compensation (Access Reporting and Other Matter) Amendment Act 2023. The Act requires ACC to report each year on differences in access, and barriers to access, to the Accident Compensation Scheme.

The data was sourced from ACC claim lodgement records linked to Census data in the Stats NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). ACC uses this linked dataset as a proxy measure of access because data on injury prevalence rates is not available. This allows ACC to compare claim rates for disabled people with other groups over time.

We have summarised the key findings for disabled people. You can read the full report on the ACC website: ACC Scheme Access Report external URL

Higher claim rates for disabled adults and disabled older people

The report looked at ACC claim rates per 1,000 people. It compared disabled and non-disabled people by age group and found clear differences in claiming patterns.

  • Disabled adults (15 – 64 years) had 438 claims per 1,000 people, compared with 395 per 1,000 people for non-disabled adults.
  • Disabled older people (65 – 94 years) had 503 claims per 1,000 people, compared with 397 per 1,000 people for non-disabled older people.
  • Disabled children (5 – 14 years) had 333 claims per 1,000 people, compared with 345 per 1,000 people for non-disabled children.

Disparities in access greater among disabled people

The report compared claim rates by:

  • ethnicity
  • age
  • gender
  • socio-economic status
  • locality.

It found that age, gender, and socio‑economic status were linked with larger disparities in claim rates for disabled people compared with non‑disabled people.

  • Disabled Asian, Māori, and Pacific children were less likely to lodge a claim than non-disabled children of all ethnic groups.
  • Disabled Asian, Māori, and Pacific men and boys were less likely to lodge a claim than non-disabled males of all ethnic groups.
  • Disabled people with the lowest incomes had the lowest claim rates across all ethnic groups.

The results suggest there may be greater disparities in access for these groups. The report acknowledges that this will be important to look into once injury prevalence data becomes available.

Disabled people face barriers to accessing ACC

Over 2 years of reports, ACC found that disabled people face many barriers when they try to access the Scheme. These barriers are layered and built into the system.

The barriers show up in 4 main ways. They are about:

  • money
  • location
  • information
  • culture.

They make it hard to use the health system, and to lodge claims with the Scheme later.

ACC also found barriers that are unique to the Scheme. These may add to unequal access for disabled people. This matches findings from a wider review ACC carried out, looking at research from the past 20 years.

This review looked at barriers in the health system. It also looked at aspects of the Scheme itself that affect access for disabled people, including:

  • limited data, which makes it difficult to analyse the barriers disabled people face in accessing the Scheme fairly
  • uncertainty among some disabled people who are not working about whether they qualify for ACC or how their disability affects their entitlements
  • reliance on carers and health professionals to provide clear, relevant information and help people understand their entitlements and ask the right questions.

Actions ACC could take to reduce barriers to access

To address these barriers, ACC has invested in initiatives to improve access to the Scheme. So far, most of this work has focused on Māori, because the barriers they face are better understood. It also helps ACC meet its Treaty obligations. However, the review identified several actions that could improve access for disabled people, including:

  • providing ACC information in a range of languages and alternate formats
  • creating plain language, picture-based guides for people with intellectual disabilities
  • partnering with providers and NGOs to codesign services with disabled people
  • working with health, residential care, and vocational services to encourage injury reporting and support treatment and rehabilitation
  • training all ACC staff about disability, especially those in client-facing, policy, provider, and procurement roles
  • providing ongoing funding instead of relying on short-term pilot projects that are not continued or sustainably funded.

About the data

Data sources


The data was sourced from ACC claim lodgement records linked to Census data in the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI). The IDI is a large research database held by Stats NZ that holds de-identified data, meaning information that cannot be used to identify individual people, about people and households. 

Integrated Data Infrastructure – Stats NZ external URL

New Zealand does not currently measure how many people are injured each year. Because of this, ACC used these linked claim rates as an indirect measure of access to the Scheme. However, the data does not include injured people who do not seek healthcare or lodge a claim, which limits what the results can tell us.

Planned data improvements

To address the data limitations, ACC worked with the Ministry of Health and Stats NZ to include new injury questions in the 2025/26 New Zealand Health Survey (NZHS). These questions will help measure how many people are injured, including people who do not lodge a claim.

In 2027, ACC will match the NZHS injury data with ACC claims data in the IDI to improve data analysis. ACC will use this updated analysis in the Access Report: Year 3.

Disability status

As measured by the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning, disabled people are identified as those who have at least a lot of difficulty with:

  • seeing or hearing (even with glasses or hearing aids)
  • walking or climbing stairs
  • remembering or concentrating
  • self-care
  • communicating.

This information comes from Census data in the Stats NZ Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which was linked to ACC claim records.

Washington Group Short Set on Functioning external URL

These internationally tested questions provide a reliable and efficient way to disaggregate (break down) disability data in surveys and censuses. They help researchers compare outcomes for disabled and non-disabled people.