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Generally ACC claims should be made promptly. However if you were not aware that the medical misadventure had caused the permanent side-effects until recently, then you may not have known that a claim was available. Sometimes it depends on how long you have waited to make the claim. And often, if you have been very ill, there are good reasons for the delay. The ACC Act does have a section on the time limit, which I post below for you to look at.

53Time for making claim

• (1)A person must lodge a claim with the Corporation within the time limit specified in this section.

  (2)The Corporation must not decline a claim lodged after the time limit specified in this section on the ground that the claim was lodged late, unless the claim's lateness prejudices the Corporation in its ability to make decisions.

  (3)A person must lodge a claim under section 48,—

  • (a)in the case of a claim for cover, within 12 months after the date on which he or she suffers the personal injury; or

  • (b)in the case of a claim for an entitlement, within 12 months after the date on which the need for the entitlement arose.

  (4)Despite subsection (3), if a claim is for a treatment injury, a person must lodge the claim undersection 48,—

  • (a)in the case of a claim for cover, within 12 months after the later of—

    • (i)the date that the personal injury was first considered by a registered health professional to be a treatment injury; or

    • (ii)the date that the person suffered the treatment injury (as determined undersection 38):

  • (b)in the case of a claim for an entitlement, within 12 months after the later of—

    • (i)the date on which the need for the entitlement arose; or

    • (ii)if the need for entitlement arose before the injury was diagnosed as being a treatment injury, and a claim for cover for that injury has been lodged with the Corporation, the date on which the Corporation accepted the claim for cover.