More New Zealanders recovering sooner as ACC improves rehabilitation outcomes

Rehabilitation performance had declined over time, with more injured people taking longer to recover and return to work and independence, particularly those with less serious injuries.

To address this, ACC implemented a Turnaround Plan focused on improving rehabilitation performance and helping more people recover sooner. 

The report highlights encouraging early results from ACC's performance turnaround, including improvements in rehabilitation performance, stronger operational results and a reduction in the long-term claims pool for the first time in more than a decade.  

Deputy Chief Executive Corporate and Finance Stewart McRobie says the results reflect the progress ACC is making to improve recovery outcomes for injured New Zealanders.

"Improving performance takes time, but we're starting to see the positive impact of the changes we've made," says McRobie. "More New Zealanders are recovering sooner, spending less time on the Scheme, and returning to work and independence faster”. 

Improving rehabilitation outcomes

During 2025/26, more than 98,000 clients returned to work or independence within one year of injury, while 92 percent of clients receiving weekly compensation returned to work within 12 months. ACC also supported 8,404 long-term clients to return to independence. Stronger operational performance also contributed to a $3.3 billion influenceable reduction in the outstanding claims liability.

The number of clients in the long-term claims pool reduced from 24,549 to 24,454 during the year, marking the first reduction in more than a decade. Excluding Sensitive Claims, the pool reduced by 804 clients (3.6 percent). Growth in Sensitive Claims continued to offset some of the improvement elsewhere in the long-term claims pool.

ACC accepted more than 2.1 million new injury claims during the year and provided more than $5 billion in treatment and rehabilitation services, alongside almost $3 billion in compensation payments. Claims costs were seven percent below budget and less than one percent higher than the previous year.  

Strong investment performance supports Scheme sustainability

The report also highlights the strong performance of ACC's Investment Fund, which grew to $53.5 billion ¹ and returned 10.45 percent before costs during the year. Investment revenue totalled $5.2 billion.

Public trust and confidence in ACC increased to 63 percent, up from 61 percent the previous year.  

The full Annual Report 2026 is available on ACC's website.