Towards the PIC

Edition 11 - February 2021

Welcome

Welcome to the latest and final edition of Towards the PIC.

Launch of the Personal Injury Commission is now only three days away. I am very much looking forward to opening the Commission on Monday and beginning to work with you all in our new ways.

This edition provides important updates about the Personal Injury Commission Ceremonial Sitting, key things to note about the systems that will be in place for motor accidents applications from next week, plus details about citations, forms and the Commission’s contact details from Monday. There is also some good news for users of the motor accidents portals regarding document uploads.

I trust that this publication has proved a useful resource for you over the past months and has assisted in building your knowledge and preparedness for the commencement of the Commission.

I am committed to providing you with the information you need going forward and as such will be rolling out a new suite of communication channels for the Personal Injury Commission during March.

I trust that the coming weeks will prove a relatively smooth transition for everyone and thank you in advance for your patience as we settle into the new organisation and our new ways of working.

Sincerely

Judge Gerard Phillips

Ceremonial Sitting – Watch via Live Stream on Monday

To mark the commencement of the Personal Injury Commission, I will preside over a Ceremonial Sitting of the Commission at the District Court on Monday 1 March at 9.30am. The Sitting will include addresses from the Hon. Mark Speakman SC MP, Attorney General and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, the Hon. Victor Dominello MP, Minister for Customer Service and the Presidents of the NSW Bar Association, Mr Michael McHugh SC and the Law Society of NSW, Ms Juliana Warner. I am pleased to be able to celebrate the opening of the Commission in this way.

For Covid safety reasons, the event is invitation only, however I will live stream the Ceremonial Sitting on the day for anyone interested in viewing. A recording of the Sitting will also be available to view on the Commission website from 1 March.

Click here to access the live stream at 9.30am on Monday

Important - Update on Motor Accident Dispute Systems from 1 March 2021

As advised in the recent insurer and legal roadshows, Towards the PIC and other communication forums, I had planned to launch new, stand-alone versions of the portals for motor accident claimants, decision makers, insurers and legal professionals to coincide with the Commission’s opening. However, due to technical implementation challenges, the new portals will not be in place on Monday.

As such, please continue accessing the existing portals, that you have used to date to interact with Dispute Resolution Services, to lodge and access your motor accident dispute applications, for the time being. There are no changes to your login details and all of your existing motor accident dispute applications remain in the portals for you to view.

The new Personal Injury Commission portals will launch soon. I will confirm the launch date with you when determined.

In addition, note that the matter number format for new motor accident dispute applications lodged with the Personal Injury Commission from 1 March will remain unchanged. I will advise you when the new matter number format, that has been promoted in recent communications, will take effect.

Motor Accident Portal users can now upload all annexures as one document

In preparing for the Commission’s launch, I have heard and addressed the feedback from the motor accident portal users that you prefer to upload and view all application and reply documents as one document, rather than many separate documents. Thank you for your candid and respectful feedback on this issue.

To provide you with a better experience using the Commission’s systems from launch, I have decided that from today, you are able to upload all application annexures and reply annexures as one document, provided they are indexed and paginated.

I am pleased that I have been in a position to respond to your concerns and to ensure a smoother and more efficient process for you as we commence the Commission’s operations.

Personal Injury Commission Citations

Section 58 of the Personal Injury Commission Act 2020 makes provision for the publication of various decisions of the Commission. Decisions of the Commission will be published on the legal research databases of AustLII, BarNet Jade and Lexis Nexis.

The Commission has developed various legal citations for various decisions of the Commission. The following citations will be used for the various decisions:

Presidential member decision = NSWPICPD e.g. [2021] NSWPICPD 1
Non-Presidential member decision = NSWPIC e.g. [2021] NSWPIC 1
Medical Appeal Panel decision = NSWPICMP e.g. [2021] NSWPICMP 1
Merit Review decision = NSWPICMR e.g. [2021] NSWPICMR 1
Merit Review Appeal Panel decision = NSWPICMRA e.g. [2021] NSWPICMRA 1

Links to these databases will be available on the Commission website in due course.

For areas such as Non-Presidential member decisions and Medical Appeal Panel decisions, the catchwords will identify whether the decision relates to a Workers Compensation matter or Motor Accidents matter. Practitioners conducting legal research and wishing to filter results should search in the catchwords either: “WORKERS COMPENSATION –” or “MOTOR ACCIDENTS –”.

Personal Injury Commission forms

The Commission will not publish forms on our website. All relevant forms will be built into the respective electronic case management systems, except for the following:

Workers Compensation Division

Form 2A Reply to Application to Resolve a Dispute (For 2D Death Cases only)
Form 5A Application to Register a Commutation Agreement
Form 5C Application for Determination to Commute Liability
Form 6B Reply to Application to Resolve a Workplace Injury Management Dispute
Certificate of Determination - Consent orders

Motor Accidents Division

Merit reviewer fee schedule
Application to Admit Late Documents

The Workers Compensation forms will be available on the Workers Compensation Commission website until Sunday 28 February.

All forms listed above will be available on the Personal Injury Commission website after the site launches on Monday.

Workers Compensation Online Lodgment Portal Forms

Please note the Personal Injury Commission is currently updating the legal references in our online lodgment portal forms and will publish new versions soon. In the interim, the Commission will accept submissions on its existing forms on the online portal.

A reminder that:

For any initiating proceedings lodged before 1 March 2021, the Workers Compensation Commission Rules 2011 and applicable Practice Directions will apply.
For any initiating proceedings lodged on or after 1 March 2021, the Personal Injury Commission Rules 2021 and applicable Procedural Directions will apply.

How to contact the Commission from Monday 1 March

To ensure accessing the Commission is as easy as possible for everybody, I am implementing a new, ‘single front door’ for the organisation.

The Commission's contact details,which will be operational from Monday, are:

Website: www.pi.nsw.gov.au

Telephone: 1800 PIC NSW (1800 742 679)

Email: [email protected]

Reception: Level 19, 1 Oxford Street Darlinghurst NSW 2010

Have a question about the PIC?

If you have a question you would like to ask about the PIC, please email us at [email protected]

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