18 December 2018
Anita Easton
[FYI request #9083 email]
Dear Anita Easton
Ref: 0053207
Official Information Act Request
Thank you for your request of 20 November 2018, through the FYI website, asking for the
following information:
“1) What activities have been undertaken by the Corporation to identify barriers for non-
binary people wishing to access their services? Please provide copies of any reports,
emails or other information.
2) What activities have been undertaken to advise non-binary people how to access
their services? Please provide copies of any documentation, or provide links to on-line
guidance.
3) What forms, either online or physical, request the gender of clients or potential clients.
Please include in this any online interactions used by providers to provide information
about clients or potential clients.
3a) In the case of each form, what options are available? A consolidated table of the
information would be a great response (as would copies of all the forms).
3b) In the case of each form which lists only two binary genders, what is the outcome if
someone does not choose either gender. This should provide documentation about
human or digital business processes - for example that an on-line form would not be
able to be submitted, or that a case assessor would contact the client. A description
within the table suggested in 3b would be a great response (as would provision of all
operational and system documentation).”
As advised in our acknowledgement of 22 November 2018, we are responding to your
request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
Our response
What activities have been undertaken by the Corporation to identify barriers for non-binary
people wishing to access their services? Please provide copies of any reports, emails or
other information. ACC has not undertaken activities to specifically identify barriers to services for non-binary
people. Therefore, we are unable to provide the information requested. This decision is
made under section 18(g) of the Act.
The majority of ACC claims are made through treating health providers, and there are no
gender-based discriminations in relation to either personal injury cover or entitlements. ACC
works in partnership with providers and the wider health sector to ensure that New
Zealanders have easy and quick access to the services they require.
What activities have been undertaken to advise non-binary people how to access their
services? Please provide copies of any documentation, or provide links to on-line guidance.
ACC has not undertaken activities to specifically advise non-binary people about access to
services. Therefore, we are unable to provide the documentation requested. This decision
is made under section 18(g) of the Act.
What forms, either online or physical, request the gender of clients or potential clients.
Please include in this any online interactions used by providers to provide information about
clients or potential clients.
ACC’s forms request clients to stipulate whether they are female or male.
We are actively engaging with the Ministry of Health and Statistics NZ, who are responsible
for health and disability sector and government standards respectively, to review gender
classification across government in consultation with the non-binary community. ACC
believes that this needs to be addressed across government, as it is not in the best interests
of the community to implement inconsistent agency level approaches.
In the case of each form, what options are available? A consolidated table of the information
would be a great response (as would copies of all the forms).
As noted above, ACC forms request clients to stipulate whether they are female or male.
There are a significant number of forms and both internal and external (provider) systems,
physical and online, that would record this option. Consolidating all these forms and creating
a table would require substantial collation and research, and we are therefore unable to
provide this information. This decision is made under section 18(f) of the Act.
In the case of each form which lists only two binary genders, what is the outcome if someone
does not choose either gender.
We cannot provide a response for each unique form used by ACC or providers working with
ACC. However, the primary form used to lodge an ACC claim is the ACC45.
We can advise that if the claim is received electronically, the provider lodging the claim
would have had to select either male or female in order to submit the claim. If the form is
received manually and does not have male or female selected, an option would be selected
based on the information available. For example, if there is an existing party record in ACC’s
system, the option previously selected would be used. In some instances, we may contact
the provider or client to discuss this.
We acknowledge this is an important issue, and we will be taking part in exploring the
options available to reflect diversity across New Zealand.
Queries
If you have any questions about the information provided, we will be happy to work with you
to resolve these. We can be contacted via email at [email address].
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman if you are
unhappy with this response. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by phoning 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Government Engagement & Support
