December communiqué
At the SIRA Board meeting held on Friday 1 December 2023 at 231 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, SIRA’s Chief Executive, Adam Dent, informed the Board that the new Secretary for Digital, and Department of Customer Service, Graeme Head AO, commenced in the role on 27 November 2023.
The Board approved a revised Statement of Investment Beliefs and an updated Investment Policy Statement for the Insurers’ Guarantee Fund which funds the claim payments for the remaining liabilities for insolvent Workers Compensation insurers. The Board considered a report on the fund’s investment performance that earlier in the day had been presented by representatives of T-Corp, the fund’s investment manager, to the SIRA Audit and Risk Committee and was advised that the fund continues to be in a very sound financial position.
The Board received a presentation regarding Workers Compensation Self and Specialised insurers specifically in relation to active and current claims and a statistical analysis of payments. It was noted that the 70 Self insurers and the 6 Specialised insurers that are responsible for 8.5% and 7.3% of the systems’ active claims respectively have consistently achieved better Return to Work rates than the system.
SIRA staff provided the Board an update on various Workers Compensation Policy initiatives.
The Board noted an update on the supervision of the icare Home Building Compensation Fund (HBCF). The Board approved the publication of key performance indicators regarding icare’s handling of Home Building Compensation Fund claims. SIRA published the final key performance indicators for the period to June 2023 as of 7 November 2023 and expects to update the indicators on a quarterly basis.
The Board was provided an update on SIRA’s Customer Experience Framework which will be launched in 2024. Further work will be undertaken by SIRA’s directorates to implement the Framework within the Authority, with collateral materials such as a language guide to be developed in parallel.
The Board received a presentation from the Independent Review Officer, Simon Cohen, who was approaching the end of his term. He described IRO operations throughout the 2023 financial year, upcoming projects to be commenced during the next 12 months and discussed with the Board the Independent Legal Assistance and Review Service (ILARS) expenditure.
The Chair thanked members of management for their commendable efforts during the year and asked for those thanks to be passed on to SIRA staff.
Prepared by: Trevor Matthews
Chair, SIRA Board