ACC Services Kōrero - April 2026
Āperira 2026
Nau mai haere mai, welcome to the latest edition of our ACC Services Kōrero.
After a well-deserved break over summer, we have had a bumper few months with a record number of reviews completed by our team in the month of Maehe. Despite the high workload, our team have maintained our high standards as demonstrated by the strong results highlighted throughout our pānui. I want to acknowledge the dedication, professionalism and commitment of our amazing team in providing this important service.
We have also been busy with recruitment, so we can free up some of the team to progress some important initiatives that we have planned. In this edition, you’ll find some exciting news about promotions within our team and a return of a familiar face within our contractor network. We have also created a new support role to assist the team, which you can learn about below.
Behind the scenes we’re working hard to make sure we’ve got the right processes, systems and tools in place to best support our team with their daily mahi. You can read a little bit about some of the key initiatives underway at present further on in this edition.
We hope that you enjoy hearing about what’s been going on at Fair Way and please get in touch if you have any feedback, comments or suggestions.
Ngā mihi
Genessa Tabak and Blair Wadams
Operations Managers - ACC Services
Stepping up
It's our great pleasure to announce that both Frances Linde and Dave Walker have been promoted to ACC Senior Resolution Practitioners!
They have consistently displayed over many years their capability as practitioners, mentors, drivers of positive process and practice change, and as champions of our shared Fair Way values.
Stepping into the Senior position will allow Frances and Dave to utilise their valuable expertise across all areas of our service and we look forward to seeing them continue to develop in their new role.
Please join us in congratulating Frances and Dave on this exciting next step in their journey with Fair Way.
It's been a busy year!
More than 3,000 customers have been assisted to a resolution of their ACC dispute so far this year!
- July 2025 to April 2026
New faces at Fair Way
We are very excited to introduce you to some team members who recently joined the Fair Way Whānau.
Admin support – Charlie and Lucy
Just prior to Christmas we welcomed University of Auckland students Charlie Nisbett and Lucy McCallum to the team in a newly created Admin Support role. The role was designed to work closely alongside our Resolution Coordinators, assisting with some of the more time-consuming administrative tasks so that our coordinators can focus on closer engagement with our customers.
Their addition to the team has proven to be a win-win, ensuring our coordinators can keep up their high quality caseload management, while providing Charlie and Lucy with some valuable hands-on experience related to their chosen fields of study. Their work has been so beneficial that we’ve recently interviewed for additional candidates to join in the same capacity.
- Lucy is pictured left and Charlie right
Reviewer - Irene McLachlan
Recently, Irene has returned as a reviewer with Fair Way on contractor basis. She says:
“I am very excited to be back at Fair Way as a contractor. I worked for Fair Way between 2017 -2019 as an ACC Resolution Practitioner. Whilst I have been away, I’ve worked as both as an ACC reviewer and a conciliator.
Outside work, I enjoy spending time with my family and travelling. I have four children who are at various stages with two at secondary school, one at university and one working.
I’m looking forward to meeting some of you again and getting to know those of you I haven’t already met.”
Customer feedback
"You made the process streamlined, and understandable (about) what was going to happen in a clear and concise way. That made all the difference in what is a very stressful time already. I sincerely appreciate the help throughout this process.”
“Meeting allowed for both parties to express views in a safe yet open environment. Felt heard and that my case will be appropriately considered.”
“The reviewer made me feel at ease with how the process was going to unfold, I felt like I was heard, the team was patient and communicated with us all well.”
“I felt listened too and heard, and the lady was respectful and deeply understanding of the sensitive nature of the topic being discussed. I can not thank you enough for the support and understanding that was shown thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak my truth.”
Initiatives underway
If there is one thing you can always count on, it’s change!
It’s important that we continue to push for innovations and to find further opportunities where we can improve the experience for those who use our services.
We have included a roundup of some of the projects and pilots underway to help our team of Resolution Coordinators and Resolution Practitioners to better support you and enhance how they can deliver their roles.
While we are investigating how we can leverage new technologies and AI for greater efficiencies, we have a robust governance process in place to ensure our strict standards around privacy, security and data are upheld.
Case creation project
We’re kicking off a project to take a fresh look at how we receive and create new cases. The goal is to refine our processes, consider different options for receiving cases and ensuring we are well positioned to meet evolving workflow requirements.
We’ll be exploring improvements that support efficiency and great service for all parties while continuing to uphold high standards of quality.
Zoom case conference summary tool
We are excited to be officially commencing the pilot of our first AI related initiative this month. Jim, Emma and Dave are trialling a tool in Zoom that provides automated meeting summaries from Case Conferences.
The trial will occur over the next few months. The purpose is to understand how this might benefit the reviewers with note taking and outlining agreed actions and timeframes. This will be particularly useful for Case Conference minutes. The trial will allow us to identify potential benefits for all parties and any issues. As part of this process, we will be explaining the tool to parties and requesting permission to use it during the pilot. Any feedback on this is welcomed and will assist us with next steps.
We will keep you informed on the progress of these initiatives in our next edition!
Did you know?
Disputes through the conciliation pathway are resolved 50% faster!
- Based on averages for reviews and conciliations between January 2026 and March 2026
Tip of the week
Don't forget that we have some great tools available already to help the process!
Check out our:
• Submission builder to support a review
• Online form to request conciliation for an ACC matter