Reviews of icare have highlighted several areas that need improvement and we are taking action to address these through a comprehensive program of reform and remediation.

This work focusses on three key areas: improving risk and governance to meet community and regulatory expectations; improving performance, particularly getting injured workers back to work sooner and reducing internal costs; and driving an accountable culture.

We are determined to learn from the past and to emerge stronger for the changes that we're making, helping us care for the people of NSW, building confidence and trust so our communities can thrive.

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Many major initiatives have already been undertaken. But we're not stopping there. Our multi-year improvement program will create organisation-wide, lasting change that will strengthen our schemes for the future, and deliver better results for the people and businesses we serve.

Our improvement program focuses on three key areas:

The Independent review of icare and SICG Act (2021) by Justice McDougall (the McDougall Review) outlined 31 recommendations related to icare which icare accepted in full and are currently in the process of addressing.

One of the recommendations from the McDougall Review, Recommendation 27, related to a review of icare's expense savings program. Specifically, Recommendation 27 stated:

Recommendation 27: icare's Board should commission an external review of the results of the extant expense savings program after two years and a summary of the results should be made public.

This Expense Savings Program and review (by KPMG) is now complete (learn more*). The review findings indicated a decrease in expenses of $88 million between the FY20 and FY22 years, equivalent to an average rate of 6.5 percent per year.

Financial year ($ million)

Note: The above table provides a summary of the cost savings reported by icare management. If expenses remained at the level in FY20 of $695 million in both FY21 and FY22, total costs over the three years would have been $2,085 million, and not $1,954 million (a total saving of $131 million). Further, expenses have been reconciled to icare's audited financial statements.  

KPMG's findings highlighted the decrease in expenses of $88 million between the FY20 and FY22 years (equivalent to an average rate of 6.5 percent per year) could be attributed to the following spend category reductions:

• $31 million reduction in spending on leased premises
• $39 million reduction in bad and doubtful debts expenses and fees
• $40 million reduction in contingent and contractor costs
• $18 million in broader organisational efficiency improvements
• $29 million reduction in enterprise project spending

• $10 million increase in technology costs, due to increased business demand and volumes
• $60 million adjustment to permanent and fixed term staff, supporting reduction in contingent workers / contractors and enabling other savings.

icare continues to be committed to running operations and insurance functions that meet needs and expectations and improve outcomes for New South Wales and the people we serve.

*icare engaged KPMG to review the expense savings program. The review's primarily focus was on the most significant standalone expense savings, with some secondary consideration of large offsetting expense increases. The scope of KPMG’s services included:

• workshops with iCare NSW management
• desktop review of the analysis by icare relating to its expense savings program 
• Board and other management reporting on expense savings; and
• 2-3 page summary report providing an overview of the approach taken by iCare NSW management in developing the expense savings program analysis, including high-level outline of any key insights into the reasonableness of the assumptions and logic used.

The scope of KPMG's review did not include recreation of calculations or an independent check for the completeness and accuracy of input data/parameters or any historical analysis of key cost categories.