IRO 2024-25 Performance Report: Workers Compensation Analysis

The report in one view

IRO's Periodic Performance Review 2024/2025 records 9,369 workers compensation complaints, 6,776 workers compensation enquiries and 29,561 ILARS grant applications. Delay in determining liability and delay in payment together accounted for 50.7% of workers compensation complaint issues. The report also records almost $99.8 million in ILARS professional-fee and disbursement payments.

None of those figures is a success rate for a claim. A complaint is not necessarily a proven insurer error; an accepted ILARS grant is not a successful compensation outcome; and ILARS payments are legal and associated costs, not compensation paid to workers.

Headline 2024-25 data

9,369

Workers compensation complaints

6,776

Workers compensation enquiries

29,561

ILARS grant applications

$99.77m

ILARS invoice payments processed

Source: Tables 1.1, 2.1 and 2.9. The payment total covers approved and processed invoices for ongoing and closed ILARS matters during the reporting period.

What the performance review measures

The Independent Review Office has two functions reflected heavily in this report. Its Solutions Group receives complaints and enquiries about workers compensation and compulsory third party insurers. IRO also administers the Independent Legal Assistance and Review Service (ILARS), under which Approved Lawyers may seek funding for legal and associated costs for eligible injured workers.

The report covers activity from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. It is much more detailed than a public-facing annual report: it breaks complaints down by issue and insurer type, records resolution classifications, identifies the injuries and dispute issues attached to ILARS applications, and separates professional fees from disbursements.

It is still an administrative dataset. It does not follow a representative group of workers from injury to final outcome, and it does not disclose the total claim volume handled by each insurer. The analysis below therefore describes patterns in matters reaching IRO, not the incidence of problems across the whole NSW scheme.

1. Delay and payment problems dominated workers compensation complaints

Table 1.5 assigns the 9,369 workers compensation complaints to ten issue categories. Delay in determining liability was the largest category at 2,835 complaints, followed by delay in payment at 1,915. Together they represented 4,750 complaints, or 50.7% of the recorded total.

Workers compensation complaint issues recorded in IRO Table 1.5
Complaint issue	Count	Share of 9,369
Delay in determining liability	2,835	30.3%
Delay in payment	1,915	20.4%
General case management	1,096	11.7%
Denial of liability	998	10.7%
Request for documents	913	9.7%
Weekly benefits	728	7.8%
Work capacity decision	383	4.1%
IME/IMC	247	2.6%
Non-insurer complaint	170	1.8%
Workplace injury management	84	0.9%

Percentages are calculated from the published Table 1.5 counts and rounded to one decimal place.

The pattern matters practically. A worker waiting for liability to be decided may also be waiting for weekly payments, treatment approval or an explanation of what evidence is missing. A payment complaint may concern an administrative interruption, an incorrect PIAWE calculation, a formal work capacity decision or an employer failing to pass on funds. Those problems require different documents and different responses.

Raw counts cannot identify a "worst insurer". Claims service providers recorded the largest count, but they also handle a substantial volume of scheme claims. The report gives no denominator for active claims, claim-years or decisions by each insurer. Insurer-level numbers should not be converted into complaint rates or quality rankings.

2. Most recorded complaint closures occurred within two weeks

Table 1.4 classifies 9,198 workers compensation complaint closures by resolution time. Of those, 659 were closed on the same day, 530 the next day and 6,644 within two weeks. That is 7,833 closures, or 85.2% of the complaint closures classified in that table. A further 1,225 took between 14 and 30 days and 140 took more than 30 days.

The denominator is important. IRO received 9,369 workers compensation complaints during the year, but Table 1.4 contains 9,198 workers compensation complaint-resolution records. The timing percentage should therefore be described as a proportion of the closures classified in Table 1.4, not of every complaint received.

Fast complaint handling does not necessarily resolve the underlying legal dispute. A complaint may obtain a missing response, payment or document while the insurer still disputes liability. Conversely, legal advice may identify that the correct next step is an internal review or a Personal Injury Commission application rather than continued complaint correspondence.

3. The outcome table shows concrete administrative changes

Table 1.9 records outcome labels for workers compensation complaints. Selected entries show where documents, payment calculations or decisions changed during the complaint process:

297 medical or travel matters were recorded as the correct amount being paid after an IRO complaint.
168 disputed-liability document matters were recorded as documents being provided after an IRO complaint.
71 matters were recorded as a reasonable excuse being withdrawn after an IRO complaint.
47 PIAWE matters were recorded as PIAWE being increased with back payment provided.
18 non-PIAWE work capacity decision matters were recorded as the decision being withdrawn.
19 workplace rehabilitation matters were recorded as the rehabilitation provider being changed.

These are administrative outcome classifications, not findings that IRO caused each change or that the worker won every disputed issue. The outcome table also uses a different total from the matters-received table. It is safer to use each count as an example of the kind of practical result recorded than to calculate a general success rate from selected rows.

4. Lawyers were the main recorded referral source

Across 16,145 workers compensation complaints and enquiries, Table 1.2 records a lawyer as the referral source for 11,955 matters, approximately 74%. Web search accounted for 1,938 and word of mouth for 997. The figures suggest that workers compensation complaints often sit alongside legal advice, insurer review or dispute preparation.

They do not prove that every referred matter required litigation or ILARS funding. A lawyer may identify a service complaint that IRO can address quickly, while IRO may refer a legal entitlement dispute back to an Approved Lawyer. The two functions can be complementary without being interchangeable.

5. ILARS demand was high, but grant acceptance is not claim success

IRO received 29,561 ILARS grant applications in 2024-25. Table 2.1 records 27,377 as accepted, 1,971 declined, 115 closed administratively and 98 pending. The report rounds the accepted share to 93%. The separate IRO Annual Report says applications increased by 17% from 25,345 in 2023-24.

ILARS grant applications recorded in IRO Table 2.1
Application status	Count	Report proportion
Accepted	27,377	93%
Declined	1,971	7%
Closed administratively	115	Less than 1%
Pending	98	Less than 1%

An accepted grant funds specified legal work; it does not decide the insurer dispute. Some grants are for advice and investigation. Some matters resolve before proceedings. Some do not proceed because the medical evidence is not supportive, maximum medical improvement has not been reached, a WPI threshold is not met or the worker decides not to continue.

The 2024-25 acceptance rate must not be used to predict a current application. From 1 July 2026 the statutory purpose and funding criteria for ILARS changed, and IRO amended the Funding Guidelines. A current application must be assessed under the rules applying when IRO makes the funding decision.

6. Permanent impairment and evidence-heavy matters were prominent

Table 2.5 records 27,475 ILARS issue entries. A grant may have more than one issue, so these are not 27,475 separate applications. The largest published categories were the report's Stage 1 category at 8,148 entries, permanent impairment at 6,095, advice only at 3,040, denial of liability at 2,440 and medical treatment at 1,950. Hearing-related entries included 1,867 for hearing aids and 1,320 for hearing-loss WPI.

That distribution is consistent with the work required in many compensation disputes. Permanent impairment can require the injury to stabilise, a compliant assessment, accurate combination of impairments and consideration of prior impairment. Liability and treatment disputes require medical causation evidence and a response to the insurer's reasons. Hearing matters may require audiology, employment and exposure evidence.

Body systems recorded in grant applications

Table 2.4 contains 36,759 body-system records, more than the number of grant applications because one application may concern multiple injuries. The five largest categories were:

Largest body-system records in ILARS applications
Body system	Records	Share of 36,759
Psychiatric and psychological conditions	9,375	25.5%
Upper extremity	8,421	22.9%
Spine	7,566	20.6%
Lower extremity	5,490	14.9%
Hearing	3,479	9.5%

Shares are calculated from Table 2.4 and rounded to one decimal place. They describe records attached to ILARS applications, not the prevalence of those injuries among all NSW workers.

7. More than half of closed ILARS matters did not progress as a dispute

Figure 1 classifies the primary outcomes for closed ILARS matters: 52% no dispute progressed, 26% resolved before proceedings and 22% resolved in the Commission or a court. The report expressly says the first category includes matters where a claim or dispute did not progress after legal advice from an Approved Lawyer was sought.

"No dispute progressed" should not automatically be read as a failed legal service. Advice may establish that the available evidence does not support the proposed claim, the injury is not yet at maximum medical improvement, a permanent impairment threshold is not reached or further proceedings would not be proportionate. Avoiding unsupported proceedings can itself be an important outcome of funded advice.

Likewise, "resolved in Commission or Court" is not a worker win rate. Table 2.7 contains many different outcomes, including consent resolutions, medical assessments, hearings, appeals and matters in which an employer's position was upheld. The report does not publish one overall compensation amount recovered for workers.

8. The $99.77 million payment figure shows the cost of legal and medical evidence

Table 2.9 records $99,771,777 across 126,621 ILARS payments approved and processed during 2024-25. Professional fees were $56,540,458, or 57% of the total. Disbursements were $43,231,319, or 43%.

Selected ILARS payments recorded in IRO Table 2.9
Payment category	Amount	Payments	Report context
Professional fees	$56,540,458	22,386	57% of total amount
Disbursements	$43,231,319	104,235	43% of total amount
Medico-legal	$29,154,754	19,556	67% of disbursements
Barrister fees	$4,610,681	2,871	11% of disbursements
Clinical notes	$3,596,106	42,138	8% of disbursements
Interpreter	$272,724	1,663	1% of disbursements

Medico-legal expenditure alone was $29,154,754. That figure illustrates how frequently workers compensation disputes require independent medical evidence, but it does not establish that every medical report was necessary, persuasive or associated with a successful result.

The payment table is not a compensation-payout table. Weekly benefits, treatment expenses paid under the claim, section 66 lump sums and work injury damages are different entitlements. Table 2.9 records ILARS legal costs and disbursements paid through the funding scheme.

The report also warns that Table 2.9 differs from Table 2.7. Table 2.9 includes invoices approved and processed during the year for ongoing and closed matters. Table 2.7 concerns payments associated with matters finalised during the year and only includes closed matters. Timing differences with IRO's financial system may also produce discrepancies.

What the data cannot establish

No insurer error rate: the report gives complaint counts but no claim-volume denominator for each insurer.
No worker success rate: complaint actions, grant acceptance and procedural outcomes are different measures.
No compensation totals: ILARS payments are legal and associated costs, not benefits or damages paid to workers.
No injury prevalence estimate: injury and body-system totals exceed applications because one grant may involve multiple injuries.
No current funding prediction: the 2024-25 data predates the ILARS funding changes that commenced on 1 July 2026.
No direct comparison of law firms or insurers: matter complexity, market share, claim mix and other denominators are not supplied.

What the report means for an injured worker

The report's strongest practical message is that the exact problem must be identified early. An unanswered claim, a late payment, an incorrect wage calculation, a treatment refusal and a section 78 denial may feel like one breakdown, but they can require different evidence and procedural steps.

Keep the insurer's written decision, certificates of capacity, treatment requests, payment history, payslips, PIAWE calculation and a dated record of unanswered communications. If documents are missing, request them specifically. If payments are wrong, identify the pay period and amount. If liability is disputed, address the insurer's stated reasons rather than sending the same material repeatedly.

IRO may assist with complaints about insurer conduct and delay. A legal dispute may require an internal review, evidence from a treating or independent specialist, or proceedings in the Personal Injury Commission. An IRO complaint should not be assumed to suspend a review period or protect a separate procedural deadline.

ILARS may fund approved legal work for an eligible matter, but funding is conditional and matter-specific. The injured worker contacts an IRO Approved Lawyer; the lawyer assesses the proposed work and applies where appropriate; IRO decides whether to grant funding. The worker should not treat the report's historical acceptance percentage as a promise about a current application.

How this analysis was prepared

Counts were taken from the named tables in the official IRO report. Percentages not printed in the report were calculated by dividing the published category count by the relevant published table total and rounding to one decimal place. No insurer ranking was produced because the report does not provide a suitable claim-volume denominator.

The 17% year-on-year increase in ILARS applications is drawn from IRO's separate 2024-25 Annual Report publication. Current funding cautions were checked against IRO's 2026 workers compensation reforms page and its current ILARS Funding Guidelines information. The article does not use the 2024-25 grant criteria as a statement of current law.

Official sources

Questions about the IRO data

What is the IRO Periodic Performance Review 2024-25?

It is an official Independent Review Office report covering complaints, enquiries and Independent Legal Assistance and Review Service activity from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025. It contains administrative counts, issue classifications, outcomes and payment data. It is not a report about the merits or value of any individual workers compensation claim.

Does the 93% ILARS acceptance figure mean funding is likely to be approved now?

No. The 93% figure describes grant applications recorded in 2024-25. Funding was not automatic then, and the ILARS purpose and funding criteria changed from 1 July 2026. An IRO Approved Lawyer must assess the proposed work and apply where appropriate, and IRO decides the application under the rules applying at that time.

Does the report identify the worst workers compensation insurer?

No. The insurer tables publish raw complaint and ILARS issue counts, but not each insurer's total claims, active claim-years, market share or claim complexity. Without a suitable denominator, the tables cannot fairly produce complaint rates or a league table of insurer performance.

Was the reported $99.8 million paid to injured workers?

No. Table 2.9 concerns ILARS professional fees and disbursements approved and processed during the financial year. These are legal and associated costs, including medico-legal evidence, clinical notes and barrister fees. They are not weekly payments, section 66 compensation or damages paid to workers.

When may an IRO complaint or ILARS legal help be relevant?

An IRO complaint may be relevant to insurer delay, payment administration, documents or case management. A disputed legal entitlement may also require advice, internal review or a Personal Injury Commission application. A complaint should not be assumed to pause a deadline or replace the correct dispute process.

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Content publisher:: NSW Work Injury Claim
Published:: 18 August 2026
Last legally reviewed:: 18 August 2026

Key legal sources

This information is general in nature and is not legal advice. You should obtain advice about your own circumstances.

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What the IRO 2024-25 data says about workers compensation complaints and ILARS