January 2015 was a quite month for the media as far as the Minister for WorkCover, Dominic Perrottet was concerned. In fact he released only one media statement and even that was in conjunction with his fellow Minister for Small Business, John Barilaro.
Under the heading “NSW Government cuts Workers Comp Red Tape for Medium and Large Businesses” Minister Perrottet stated that “WorkCover is moving towards simpler, easier to understand premiums that provide certainty for medium and large businesses,”
He went on to say that “Importantly these reforms will create real incentives for business to encourage safe return and recovery at work for injured employees.”
Small Business Minister John Barilaro went further, saying that these new measures are part the NSW Government’s commitment to improving the work environment for businesses.
“We have 3.5 million workers in NSW – close to three quarters of them work for medium to large employers meaning these reforms will make a real difference to their operations,” Mr Barilaro said.
How much further from the truth could you possibly get?
The WorkCover Minister has presided over one of the greatest cons ever foisted on business from a workers compensation perspective.
The CEO of WorkCover Vivek Bhatia has already admitted that the NSW workers compensation scheme has turned around and is now in a significant surplus of some $2.5 billion.
That surplus represents more than a full years premiums from all NSW employers.
Yet under these new reforms that both Ministers crowed would introduce “real incentives” and “make real differences” have turned workers compensation into a horror show for a large number of unsuspecting employers by pushing up premiums.
Don’t believe me? Here are some actual results drawn from projections of premiums provided by insurers comparing what the new premiums will be against what they would have been under the pre reform system.
Industry Real Incentive Premium Pre Reform Premium Big New Tax
Aged Care $865,562 $751,326 $114,236
Aged Care $669,343 $633,759 $65,584
Aged Care $319,140 $301,205 $17,935
Logistics $631,151 $545,835 $85,324
Then there’s the poor Food Manufacturer who has had no claims. Instead of the system providing “real incentives” it does just the opposite by clobbering them with a premium increase!
Real Incentive Premium = $137,547
Pre Reform Premium = $127,985
Big New Tax = $9,562
These are not isolated cases. We understand that there may be thousands of employers similarly affected.
If you know of someone who has been caught in the tax grab by WorkCover, please contact us by clicking on the Contact tab at the top of this page.
26 June 2015