The Chairman of the WorkCover Western Australia Board, Greg Joyce, recently announced the 2011/12 recommended premium rates for compulsory workers compensation insurance in Western Australia.
Joyce said that the average recommended premium rate would be 1.547% of total wages for 2011/12 up from 1.497% of total wages for 2010/11, and representing an overall increase of 3.3%.
“This represents a modest increase over the 2010/11 rate”, said Joyce. “Western Australia has experienced historically low recommended premium rates over the past few years”, he said, “and this trend continues despite the small increase this year”.
The recommended premium rates are independently calculated by the workers comp scheme actuary, PricewaterhouseCoopers. The rates are based on data provided by insurers, as well as broader economic factors such as movements in wages.
This year’s 3.3% increase is largely due to workers comp claims costs growing more than wages, reversing the trend of recent years when wages grew much faster than claim costs. Increased costs associated with lump sum settlements also contributed to the increase.
The increase is not applied uniformly across all 480 premium rating classifications; premium rates in 195 industry classes will decrease, 264 will increase and 21 will remain unchanged, reflecting the performance of individual industries.
Joyce said that the 2011/12 recommended premium rates take into account the latest available data on claims experience and future wage and employment growth.
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers Compensation costs, including airlines, healthcare, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. See www.LowerWC.com for more information. Contact: [email protected] or 860-553-6604.
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