About the Independent Review Office
Who we are
The Independent Review Office (IRO) is an independent NSW Government office created on 1 March 2021 under the Personal Injury Commission Act 2020 (NSW). We review complaints and provide services for people injured at work or in motor crashes within NSW.
IRO is led by the Independent Review Officer and supported by a team with experience in workers compensation insurance and complaints handling.
What we do
1. Review complaints
We review complaints about insurers, including:
- delays in payments
- disagreements about claims
- issues with medical treatment
We assess the information and work with you and the insurer to address issues within our range of services.
2. Provide access to funded legal services
We manage the Independent Legal Assistance and Review Service (ILARS). This service gives eligible injured workers access to funded legal support for certain workers compensation matters.
Through ILARS:
- we approve funding for legal advice and representation where eligibility criteria are met
- we refer matters to approved lawyers who are part of the ILARS panel
- we set the funding limits and conditions for the legal work
This service:
- supports people understand their right and options
- supports people with more complex disputes
ILARS is only available for workers compensation matters and does not apply to CTP claims. Each request is assessed against the ILARS guidelines and funding criteria.
3. Look into issues and improve the system
We also:
- carry out inquiries into problems within the workers compensation and motor crash systems
- look at how laws and schemes are working
- make recommendations to improve things
This helps make the system fairer for everyone.
Our impact
Through our work, we have helped thousands of injured people and insurers reach fair outcomes. We also make recommendations to improve the compensation systems so they work better for everyone.
Our role in the system
We work closely with other organisations in the system:
- State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) regulates the insurance schemes in NSW
- Personal Injury Commission (PIC) makes formal legal decisions in disputes.
Our role is to resolve complaints early, provide access to legal services, and identify issues to improve how the system works.
Working with us
We follow high standards of honesty and integrity when working with partners and suppliers. These expectations are set out in the Department of Customer Service Business Ethics Statement.