ACC Weekly Compensation NZ: How Much It Pays
If an accident stops you working, ACC pays weekly compensation. QuoteHub's interest is in what it does not reach. The rate is up to 80% of your average weekly earnings before the injury, worked out before tax and deductions.
You usually become eligible on day 8 after your injury. The payment is capped at a gross maximum of $2,466.20 a week from 1 July 2026, and floored at $766.40 a week for a full-time earner from 1 April 2026.
That headline is the easy part. What decides the number in your bank account is which earnings ACC averages, over what period, and how much comes off in tax. This guide walks through each step with the current figures.
Be clear on one thing first. Weekly compensation is for injury, not illness. Off work with cancer, a cardiac event or a mental health condition unrelated to an accident? None of this applies to you. See what ACC does not cover.
What ACC's own worked example pays
ACC publishes the full calculation, deductions included, in its November 2025 guide for PAYE employees. Read it as five steps, because the number changes at each one.
| Step | ACC's published figure |
|---|---|
| Earnings over the four weeks before injury, before tax | $5,000 |
| Average weekly earnings | $1,250 |
| ACC pays 80% | $1,000 |
| Tax and deductions, for example student loan, KiwiSaver or child support | $300 |
| Weekly payment received | $700 |
Reproduced from ACC's guide to calculating weekly compensation for employees (published November 2025, retrieved 19 August 2026). ACC states the examples are for guidance and that actual payments depend on your situation.
The advertised rate is 80%. In that example, the rate that reaches the account is 56%.
Two things about the $300. It is not pure PAYE. ACC lists student loan, KiwiSaver and child support on the same line. It is a stack of deductions rather than a tax rate, and yours will differ. But the direction is fixed. Weekly compensation is taxable, and ACC deducts before it pays.
When payments start, and who pays for the first week
You usually become eligible on day 8 after your injury, once ACC has accepted the claim. There are two exceptions. If this is not your first time off for the same injury, or the time off is for approved surgery, payment may start straight away.
That is the statutory position too. Entitlement runs "on and from the day after the first week of incapacity ends" (Accident Compensation Act 2001, Schedule 1, clause 32, retrieved 19 August 2026).
The first week works differently depending on where you were hurt. Say you are an employee or shareholder-employee and the injury happened at work. Then your employer must pay you 80% of your usual pay for the first week. ACC's employer guide sets out the mechanics. The employer adds what you earned in the 7 days before the date of first incapacity to what you would have earned in the following week. It then pays 80% of that figure.
If the injury happened outside work, which is the far more common case, there is no employer obligation. You will need to talk to your employer about using sick leave or annual leave for that first week. For most people that is the first unwelcome surprise. It is a week of income nobody replaces.
How long the first payment takes
ACC publishes its own measure. "Weekly compensation setup timeliness" is defined as the average calendar days from a claim becoming eligible to the first payment. It read 8.7 days for 2024/25 and 8.7 days at March 2026, against a target of under 9 days (ACC, Service Agreement 2026/27, Table 8, retrieved 19 August 2026).
Seven days to eligibility plus 8.7 days to the first payment is a little over two weeks after the injury, on average. That addition is our arithmetic. The payment covers the period from when you became eligible, not from the day you applied. So the amount and the timing will not match your normal payday.
How much does ACC pay at different incomes?
The 80% rate is bounded at both ends.
From 1 July 2026 the gross maximum is $2,466.20 a week (ACC, retrieved 8 September 2026). From 1 April 2026 the gross minimum for a full-time earner is $766.40. ACC states that is 80% of the adult minimum wage of $958.00 for a 40-hour week (ACC, retrieved 14 August 2026).
Divide the ceiling by 0.8 and the point where it bites is exact. Pre-injury earnings of $3,082.75 a week, or $160,303 a year. Above that, extra earnings add nothing to the payment.
Gross weekly compensation for a full-time earner. Uses ACC's published 80% rate, the $2,466.20 maximum effective 1 July 2026 and the $766.40 full-time minimum effective 1 April 2026. The plotted line is our arithmetic on those three published figures, not an ACC table.
| Pre-injury earnings a year | Gross ACC payment a week | Annualised | Share of earnings replaced |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $769.23 | $39,999.96 | 80.0% |
| $80,000 | $1,230.77 | $64,000.04 | 80.0% |
| $120,000 | $1,846.15 | $95,999.80 | 80.0% |
| $160,303 | $2,466.20 | $128,242.40 | 80.0% |
| $200,000 | $2,466.20 | $128,242.40 | 64.1% |
| $250,000 | $2,466.20 | $128,242.40 | 51.3% |
| $300,000 | $2,466.20 | $128,242.40 | 42.7% |
Our calculation from ACC's published rate and limits. All figures gross, before the tax and deductions shown above.
The right-hand column is the finding. ACC is an 80% scheme up to $160,303 of earnings and a fixed-dollar scheme above it. At $250,000 the gross replacement rate is 51.3%. After deductions of the kind in ACC's own example it is lower again. A household on that income planning around "ACC pays 80%" is planning around a number that does not apply to it.
How ACC calculates it if you are an employee
ACC does not use one figure for the whole claim. It uses a short-term rate first, then switches.
For the first four weeks ACC applies the short-term rate. It is based on your earnings in the four weeks before your injury.
After four weeks the long-term rate takes over, and your employment type matters.
- Permanent employees are people who would have kept earning from the same employer for the next 52 weeks. Their rate is total income from the current PAYE job divided by the number of weeks worked, up to 52.
- Non-permanent employees are casual, seasonal or fixed-term with under a year to run, or have unpaid leave coming up. Their rate is total income from all non-permanent PAYE jobs divided by 52, whatever the weeks actually worked.
That second rule catches people out. Work 30 weeks of a 52-week year on a casual basis and ACC still divides by 52. The averaging is meant to smooth out bonuses, seasonal work and job changes. For irregular earners it can pull the assessed figure well below a normal week's pay.
If you hold more than one job, ACC calculates each separately and adds them together. Overlapping earnings are counted once, in the way that gives the higher result.
The payment schedule, week by week
| Period | What is paid | Which earnings set the rate |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 7 | No ACC payment. If the injury happened at work, your employer pays 80% for that week | Not applicable |
| Day 8 to the end of week 4 of payment | Short-term rate, paid weekly on your chosen payday | Your earnings in the four weeks before the injury |
| Week 5 onward | Long-term rate, paid weekly on your chosen payday | Permanent employees: income from the current PAYE job divided by weeks worked, up to 52. Non-permanent employees: income from all non-permanent PAYE jobs divided by 52 |
Sourced from ACC's guide to calculating weekly compensation for employees and its guide to how payments change, both published November 2025 (retrieved 19 August 2026). The day-8 start is Schedule 1, clause 32 of the Accident Compensation Act 2001.
Payments are weekly, not fortnightly. ACC's provider guide is plain about it. "We pay weekly compensation every week and kiritaki can select which day they'd prefer to be paid on" (ACC, Weekly compensation and other financial support, retrieved 19 August 2026). The client guide says the same from the other side. "Payments are made on the payday you chose when applying for weekly compensation" (ACC, How weekly compensation payments change, published November 2025, retrieved 19 August 2026).
The week five recalculation is the one that surprises people. It is not a review of your recovery. It is a change of formula. If your last four weeks before the injury were unusually good or unusually thin, the payment moves.
How ACC calculates it if you are self-employed
On standard CoverPlus, ACC pays up to 80% of your taxable income based on the most recently completed financial year. Your filed tax return is effectively your policy schedule. How many year ends you have passed changes the method.
| Situation | How ACC assesses your earnings |
|---|---|
| Newly self-employed, no tax year end passed | Only PAYE earnings in the 52 weeks before injury, divided by weeks worked. Self-employed income is excluded, and the payment can be zero |
| Recently self-employed, one year end passed | Declared earnings from the last tax year plus PAYE earnings in the 52 weeks before injury, divided by the number of weeks worked |
| Established, two or more year ends passed | Declared earnings from the last tax year plus PAYE earnings, divided by 52 whatever the weeks worked |
The exposure for a newly self-employed person is real. With no filed return and no PAYE history, the calculated payment may be zero. If a return is not filed yet, there is a fallback. ACC may approve interim or estimated payments for up to three months, or an advance payment up to the full-time minimum rate.
CoverPlus Extra is the alternative. It is optional cover, and payments are based on 100% of an agreed cover amount rather than your filed earnings. The policy must be active at the time of injury. The cost of each option is set out in ACC levies for the self-employed.
The ceiling and the floor
Two limits sit on top of the calculation, and ACC reviews them on different cycles. The payment ceiling changes on 1 July. The minimum-wage-linked floor changes on 1 April.
| Figure | Amount | Effective from |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum weekly compensation, gross | $2,466.20 a week | 1 July 2026 |
| Minimum weekly compensation, full-time earner, gross | $766.40 a week | 1 April 2026 |
| Maximum liable earnings, employees | $156,641 a year | 1 April 2026 |
| Minimum liable earnings, full-time self-employed | $50,501 a year | 1 April 2026 |
The floor reaches you through a deeming rule. The Act treats a low-earning full-time worker as having had minimum weekly earnings, rather than topping the payment up directly (Schedule 1, clause 42, retrieved 19 August 2026). Part-time earners are not deemed up to it.
You may qualify for the floor two ways. You worked 30 or more hours a week in the four weeks before you stopped working. Or you were set up to pay levies as a full-time self-employed person.
The maximum liable earnings figure is a levy ceiling first. You pay levies only on earnings up to the maximum liable income level. Inland Revenue publishes the same threshold of $156,641 for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.
Weekly compensation is also taxable. ACC deducts PAYE from loss of earnings compensation, and student loan, KiwiSaver and child support come out too. The 80% is gross, not what lands.
What changes the payment after it starts
Three things, all published, none of them discretionary.
Abatement. Going back part time does not end your claim. ACC adjusts the payment instead, so that compensation plus earnings does not exceed your pre-injury weekly earnings (Schedule 1, clause 51(2), retrieved 19 August 2026). Take ACC's worked example. Pre-injury earnings are $1,250 and ACC pays $1,000. You return part time and earn $500. ACC then cuts its payment by $250 to $750, so your total is back at $1,250 (ACC guide, retrieved 19 August 2026). ACC's list of what counts is wider than most people assume. It includes usual pay, bonuses, holiday pay, director's fees and final pay.
You have to tell ACC. That includes changing hours, doing unpaid work, or working in an administrative or advisory capacity in your own business. Overpayments get recovered.
Indexation. The rate is adjusted once a year, but not by one number. From 1 July 2026, clients who had been receiving weekly compensation for more than 26 weeks had payments increased by 1.97%. Non-taxable entitlements such as lump sums and the independence allowance rose by 3.08% (ACC, retrieved 8 September 2026). The two are indexed under different sections of the Act, section 115 and section 116, so they do not move together.
Stopping. The payment ends for a defined set of reasons, and "you still feel unwell" is not one of them. Those reasons are in our guide to when ACC payments stop.
The honest limits on these figures
The $700 is ACC's example, not a benchmark. ACC states its examples are for guidance and that actual payments depend on your situation. The $300 deduction bundles PAYE with student loan, KiwiSaver and child support. A person with none of those keeps more.
The chart is arithmetic, not an ACC table. ACC publishes the 80% rate, the ceiling and the floor separately. It does not publish a payment-by-income schedule. The line above combines those three published numbers, assuming a steady full-time earner with one job.
Multiple jobs, non-permanent work and recent self-employment all follow different rules, which are set out above.
Every figure here is dated. The ceiling changes on 1 July, the minimum on 1 April, and both are reviewed each year.
Where the cover stops matching the household budget
Put the mechanics together and the shape of the shortfall is clear.
A fifth of your income is gone by design. The first week is unpaid unless the injury happened at work. The payment stops rising once you reach the gross maximum of $2,466.20 a week, so earnings above about $160,300 add nothing to a claim. Irregular and newly self-employed earners can be assessed on an average that bears little resemblance to their current income.
Against that sits a mortgage payment, rates, insurance, groceries and childcare. None of those fall by a fifth because you broke your leg. And none of it engages at all if what stops you working is an illness.
Our ACC gap calculator shows that difference against your own numbers. Income protection is the cover designed to sit on top of ACC and to extend to illness as well as injury. For a fuller comparison of the two systems, see ACC versus private insurance.
Your next step
The useful exercise is small. Take your gross weekly earnings, apply 80%, cap it at $2,466.20, then subtract the deductions that come off your normal pay. Hold that number against your mortgage, rates and insurance.
Where there is a gap, an adviser can show you how the cover options compare and what they would and would not pay. Start a comparison and we will walk through your ACC position with you. You can read how we compare providers on our methodology page.
References
- ACC, Weekly compensation (retrieved 18 August 2026): eligibility from day 8
- ACC, Weekly compensation for employees (retrieved 18 August 2026): 80% of average weekly earnings, and the first-week employer payment
- ACC, Calculating weekly compensation for employees (retrieved 8 September 2026): short-term and long-term rates, and abatement
- ACC, Guide: calculating weekly compensation for employees, PDF (published November 2025, retrieved 19 August 2026): the $5,000, $1,250, $1,000, $300, $700 worked example and the abatement example
- ACC, How weekly compensation payments change, PDF (published November 2025, retrieved 19 August 2026): payments made on the payday you chose
- ACC, Weekly compensation quick guide, PDF (retrieved 19 August 2026): paid every week, client chooses the day
- ACC, Service Agreement 2026/27, PDF (retrieved 19 August 2026): weekly compensation setup timeliness of 8.7 days
- ACC, Weekly compensation for self-employed (retrieved 18 August 2026): interim payments and the CoverPlus Extra basis
- ACC, Guide: calculating weekly compensation for the self-employed, PDF (retrieved 18 August 2026): the three self-employed situations
- ACC, Employer guide to weekly compensation, PDF (retrieved 18 August 2026): the first-week calculation
- ACC, Calculating your levies (retrieved 18 August 2026): minimum and maximum liable income by levy year
- ACC, Changes to ACC client payments from 1 July 2026 (published 11 June 2026, retrieved 8 September 2026): the $2,466.20 gross maximum, and the 1.97% and 3.08% adjustments
- ACC, Changes to client payments from 1 April 2026 (published 31 March 2026, retrieved 14 August 2026): the $766.40 gross minimum, 80% of the $958.00 adult minimum wage for a 40-hour week
- ACC, Types of cover for self-employed (retrieved 18 August 2026): CoverPlus and the 80% basis
- Accident Compensation Act 2001, Schedule 1, clause 32 (retrieved 19 August 2026): 80% of weekly earnings, payable from the day after the first week of incapacity ends
- Accident Compensation Act 2001, Schedule 1, clause 42 and clause 46 (retrieved 19 August 2026): minimum weekly earnings for full-time earners, and the maximum weekly compensation
- Accident Compensation Act 2001, Schedule 1, clause 51 (retrieved 19 August 2026): abatement
- Accident Compensation Act 2001, sections 115 and 116 (retrieved 19 August 2026): the two separate indexation regimes
- Inland Revenue, ACC earners' levy rates (retrieved 8 September 2026): the maximum liable earnings threshold
- Inland Revenue, ACC payments and PAYE (retrieved 18 August 2026): tax on weekly compensation
Disclaimer: This article is general information only and is not personalised financial advice. ACC figures are stated with their effective dates and are reviewed annually, so check acc.co.nz for current rates before relying on them. Figures described as our arithmetic are our workings on ACC's published rates and are not ACC figures. Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.
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