The short answer
ACC pays weekly compensation at up to 80% of your income if an accident stops you working. If an illness stops you working, ACC pays nothing.
The tool below shows both scenarios side by side using your own figures. Most people have some sense that this gap exists. Very few have seen it in dollars.
Last reviewed 2026-07-30
Your numbers
If it is an accident
If it is an illness
Why the two columns differ so much
Because ACC is an accident compensation scheme, and always has been. The name is not a euphemism. Fall off a ladder and it is there. Get diagnosed with cancer, a heart condition, MS, or a back problem that built up over years rather than arriving in one moment, and it is not.
The uncomfortable part is that the conditions most likely to stop a New Zealander working for a long stretch sit almost entirely in the second column. The full breakdown of where the line falls →
Same person. Same six months. Two completely different countries.
Three caveats, so this is honest
- ACC weekly compensation is taxable, and is based on pre-injury earnings. The figure above is a simplification and your actual entitlement is decided by ACC.
- Self-employed people should treat the accident column with suspicion. Standard ACC cover pays from your last filed return, which for many contractors is well below what they live on. ACC CoverPlus Extra fixes this →
- Outgoings usually rise during serious illness, not stay flat — treatment travel, help at home, a partner reducing hours. Both columns are optimistic.
What closes the gap
Income protection is the direct answer — it pays for illness as well as injury. Trauma cover handles the immediate cash shock with a lump sum on diagnosis. Between them they cover the second column, which is the one the state does not.
If the illness figure above bothered you, the next useful step is the income runway calculator, which turns it into a wait period you can actually quote on.
Common follow-up questions
Is this a quote?
No. It is an illustration built from figures you entered, using general rules about how ACC works. It does not know your employment history, your ACC classification or your policy wordings, and ACC decides entitlements case by case.
Why 80% for ACC?
Weekly compensation is set at up to 80% of pre-injury earnings under the Accident Compensation Act 2001. There is a stand-down at the start and there are caps at high incomes, neither of which this simplified tool models.
Does income protection just duplicate ACC then?
No — most policies offset against ACC precisely so you are not paid twice, which is what keeps the premium affordable. The cover earns its keep in the second column, where ACC contributes nothing at all. See ACC vs income protection.
Keep reading
This page is general information about how insurance works in New Zealand. It is not regulated financial advice and it does not take your situation into account. For advice about your own cover, talk to a licensed financial adviser.