ACC finances factor in pause on sexual harm prevention programme

Friday, 18 July 2025

ACC’s financial situation is one of the reasons why a planned roll out of sexual harm prevention programmes was halted.

ACC halted its extension of sexual violence prevention programme ‘Hikitia! For Our Future’, where experts visit locations such as schools and workplaces to give information and advice on preventing abuse, after launching it last September.

It announced the first five community partners at the time, with an intention to cover the rest of the country with a total of 16 organisations by 2026.

Since then, ACC confirmed its expansion of phase 2 during the 2025/26 financial year would not go ahead, and it would only be reviewed at some point the following financial year.

While critics and those in the sector called the move short sighted and extremely disappointing, ACC said this decision was made after it looked at “how our funding and outputs are delivering on our sexual violence prevention programme”.

An email obtained by The Post sent from ACC head of injury prevention Renee Graham to an organisation in April this year states: “Unfortunately, we recently had to make the difficult call not to expand Hikitia next financial year.

“This is due to a number of factors including the financial situation of ACC.

“Instead, we will work with the five current providers to ensure that the approach works and is having an impact before expanding to other regions.”

The programme had been estimated to cost just under $45 million over four years. As it stands, ACC expected to spend about $8m on prevention of sexual violence this financial year.

Asked about ACC’s financial situation being one of the reasons the roll-out was halted, ACC Minister Scott Simpson said, “those are matters for ACC to make”.

“The people at ACC want to be sure that the programme does what it says it will do, and as minister, I think that's a prudent thing for them to be looking at.

“ACC are still spending a lot of money on that … it's a question of, are the programmes effective? Are they doing what they say they'll do? And I trust ACC people to make those decisions.”

Labour ACC spokesperson Camilla Belich said it was “really shocking in 2025 to see this type of programme, that would make a real difference for New Zealanders, being cut by ACC, as one of the first things that they're looking at in relation to reduction of their spending”.

“At the moment, the programme is only being delivered in a small number of areas. That's not good enough. New Zealanders around the country deserve to have effective programmes in place for sexual violence prevention.“

ACC’s Graham said in response, the decision not to expand Hikitia this financial year was due to a combination of factors.

“ACC’s financial position was one factor, but bigger factors were the need to strengthen the governance, our understanding of the benefits and impacts of our funding, and programme oversight.

“Funding for the existing programme continues and funding exists to expand the programme. Before we do, we just want to pause, to learn from the experience [of] our five existing lead providers in the five regions to ensure we have the right mechanisms in place.”

In May, Belich asked Simpson in Parliament if ACC was “stopping the expansion of the ACC-funded sexual violence prevention programme, and he, as minister, considering cutting eligibility to ACC for survivors of sexual abuse part of a Government programme to save money at the expense of a large percentage of the population ‒ namely, women?”

Simpson said, “Absolutely, categorically no”.

In February, then ACC Minister Andrew Bayly said that over the past 10 years, “ACC’s performance has steadily decreased”.

“Costs are up, with levies struggling to keep up. Meanwhile, rehabilitation rates are down, slowing down people’s return to independence following an accident.”

Two reviews were commissioned to assess ACC’s performance and effectiveness.