The national employer association Ai Group has called on the Victorian Government agency, WorkSafe, to provide better details to help businesses understand more about their increases in WorkSafe premiums.
Ai Group’s Victorian Head, Tim Piper, said that while industry was expecting a 42% increase this year, many businesses were receiving much greater increases in their premium rate, with some telling us the increase was almost 100% without an explanation as to why.
“It’s one thing to impose a hefty across-the-board increase, but when the increase is considerably more, companies should be given an explanation about the increases, whether it’s for them individually or their industry sector,” Mr Piper said.
“We have even heard of a business with one employee, having doubled their premiums from last year. That does not seem logical.
“Are the significant increases due to their own claims record? Or is it due to the sector they are in? Or is it because their wages have increased? And what can businesses do to safeguard themselves for next year? Businesses deserve the answers at the same time as receiving the premiums.
Mr Piper said that there were always going to be considerable increases this year, due to the premium uplift. But many of these increases are getting beyond expectations and businesses deserve a decent explanation.
“It’s the respectful thing to do and will enable businesses to be able to plan and understand why the increases have been so high,” Mr Piper said.
