Overview
ACC's rehabilitation objective is to restore your independence and help you return to work, daily life, and community participation. Rehabilitation is divided into social rehabilitation (home and daily life) and vocational rehabilitation (work-related). Both are tailored to your individual needs.
Social Rehabilitation
Social rehabilitation helps you manage the day-to-day impact of your injury. ACC can fund:
- Home and vehicle modifications: Ramps, bathroom modifications, handrails, wheelchair access, vehicle modifications
- Attendant care: Personal care assistance (bathing, dressing, meal preparation) if you are unable to care for yourself
- Home help: House cleaning, laundry, gardening, and other domestic tasks
- Childcare: If you cannot care for your children due to injury
- Transport: Taxi vouchers or other transport assistance for medical appointments
- Aids and appliances: Wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids, prosthetics, and other equipment
Your needs are assessed by an ACC case manager or an independent needs assessor.
Vocational Rehabilitation
Vocational rehabilitation aims to help you return to work — either in your old role, modified duties, or a new career if needed. Services include:
- Return-to-work planning: Your case manager works with you and your employer
- Workplace assessments: Ergonomic assessments and modifications to your workspace
- Gradual return to work: Phased hours or reduced duties while you recover
- Retraining: If you cannot return to your previous occupation, ACC may fund retraining or study
- Job placement support: Help finding a new employer if needed
How Rehabilitation is Assessed
ACC will assess your rehabilitation needs based on your injury and circumstances. You will have a Rehabilitation Plan (also called an Individual Rehabilitation Plan or IRP) that sets out goals and services.
The plan is developed in consultation with you, your family/whānau, your GP, and sometimes your employer. It should be reviewed regularly and updated as your needs change.
Home Support
Home support is a key part of social rehabilitation. ACC can fund a home help service to assist with:
- Cleaning and household chores
- Meal preparation
- Grocery shopping and errands
- Gardening and home maintenance
- Personal care (bathing, dressing, toileting)
The level of support depends on your assessed needs. Typically, ACC funds a set number of hours per week based on your level of disability.
Disputes About Rehabilitation
If ACC declines to fund a rehabilitation service you believe you need, you have the right to seek a review of the decision. You should first discuss the issue with your case manager, and if unresolved, you can apply for a formal review with ACC's review unit.
How Long Rehabilitation Can Last
There is no fixed expiry date on rehabilitation — entitlement continues while it is needed to restore your independence, subject to ACC's assessment that the services are necessary and appropriate. Social rehabilitation (home help, attendant care, aids, transport) can continue for years for seriously injured claimants, with needs re-assessed periodically. Vocational rehabilitation is time-bound in practice: ACC typically works within the first 12-24 months after injury to return you to work, and can fund retraining where your previous occupation is no longer viable. For those who cannot return to any work, ACC moves toward a vocational independence assessment — which, if it finds you capable of 30+ hours a week in suitable work, can end weekly compensation (with a 13-week notice period and full review rights). Understanding these timeframes helps you push for the rehabilitation you need while it is available.
Your Rights in the Rehabilitation Plan
Your Individual Rehabilitation Plan (IRP) is a legal document, not a suggestion: it sets out the goals, services and timeframes ACC has agreed to fund. You are entitled to be involved in developing it, to have it reviewed when your needs change, and to challenge it if ACC refuses a service you need. Practical rights worth knowing: you can choose your own home-help provider (subject to ACC's approval and rates), you can request an independent needs assessment, and every decision about rehabilitation — from a declined wheelchair to a refused retraining course — carries the right to review within 3 months. If your case manager is unresponsive, ask to speak to their team leader, then escalate to a formal review. Persistence is the single biggest predictor of getting rehabilitation funded.
Vocational Independence: What It Means
After about 12-24 months of vocational rehabilitation, ACC may assess whether you are vocationally independent — capable of working 30 or more hours per week in a job suited to your skills, experience, and (with reasonable accommodation) your injury. If the assessment finds you vocationally independent, ACC can end your weekly compensation, usually with 13 weeks' notice. This is the most consequential decision in the ACC system for long-term claimants, and it is frequently challenged: you have the right to see the occupational assessment and medical reports, to obtain your own specialist opinion, and to apply for a review within 3 months of the decision. Reviews succeed most often when the claimant's own medical evidence shows the assessor overlooked functional limitations. If you face a vocational independence assessment, engage early — an ACC advocate or lawyer experienced in these cases can make a material difference to both the assessment and any challenge.
Social Rehabilitation: What ACC Actually Buys
Social rehabilitation is the part of the scheme that restores daily living rather than employment, and it is more extensive than most claimants realise. With an accepted claim and a demonstrated need, ACC can fund:
- Home help — cleaning, meal preparation, and household tasks you cannot do while recovering.
- Childcare where you cannot safely care for dependent children.
- Attendant care and home support for personal care needs, at assessed hours.
- Aids, equipment and vehicle modifications — mobility aids, bathroom modifications, ramps, and adapted controls.
- Transport and accommodation for treatment, assessment, and rehabilitation appointments.
- Counselling and therapy, including for mental injury arising from a covered physical injury.
Vocational Rehabilitation: Four Doors Back to Work
Vocational rehabilitation is not one service but a ladder of them, and ACC's operational guidelines express a preference for workplace-based rehabilitation where appropriate — meaning it tries to keep you with the same employer in the same job before it looks at changing either:
- Stay at Work (SAW) — you remain with your pre-injury employer in your pre-injury role, with task modifications, reduced hours, or equipment. This is the preferred outcome and the cheapest for the scheme.
- Back to Work (BTW) — same job, different employer, where the pre-injury role is gone but your medical clearance supports similar work.
- Work trials — time-limited, paid placements used to test whether a role is sustainable before committing to it.
- Training for work — short vocational courses or retraining where the old occupation is medically closed off.
Vocational Independence and What Follows
At the end of the ladder sits vocational independence — a formal finding that, with your current injury, you can work in a listed job type for 30 hours or more a week. It matters because a vocational independence finding can end weekly compensation after a period of job-search support (commonly three months), even though your treatment, lump sum entitlement, and social rehabilitation may continue.