Talk Meet Resolve will help people resolve accident compensation disputes more quickly and without the need for reviews or court hearings, says director Warren Forster.
"A process that used to take months or years we're hoping to bring down to weeks," he tells Susie Ferguson.
Acclaim Otago report lead author Warren Forster Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer
The Talk Meet Resolve service is currently funded by ACC themselves.
It was designed to address issues with the current accident compensation process that were revealed through research conducted in conjunction with the Law Foundation, Forster says.
Talk Meet Resolve will work by providing independent mediators between ACC and claimants in order to speed up the resolution process and minimise the need for court hearings, he says.
"What we're trying to do is move away from a long complicated process that doesn't work."
The service is free to ACC claimants, who can bring a support person, advocate or lawyer (at their own cost) to a mediation session if they choose, Forster says.
"There is a need for a legal system … but we don't need a legal system to deal with tens of thousands of cases a year that don't need to be [there]. If we can fix that and get that on track … that's what we're trying to do, transform people's experience with ACC."
