Report critical of EQC’S handling of earthquake claims

ANDREW JACK spends most of his time grading and deciphering – but it’s not always films and literature. As well as tending to the nation’s moral upkeep, the chief censor moonlights as a qualified diamond grader, and can decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

His interest in hieroglyphs runs back to his childhood.

‘‘I just found it really, really interesting,’’ he says.

‘‘It’s one of those things that . . . when you’re a little kid you’re captured by the mysterious, and there’s nothing as mysterious as hieroglyphs.’’

Mr Jack studied the ancient Egyptian symbols at the University of Auckland while doing a course in ancient history during his degree in classical Greek.

Hieroglyphs are notoriously difficult to understand, he says. ‘‘It’s not something you do every THE Earthquake Commission’s handling of quake claims has been unreliable and fragmented, an internal reports says.

Reports issued under the Official Information Act show the EQC hired consultancy firm LSI in June to review its claims management, amid growing scrutiny from government ministers and the Treasury over its response to the February 22 quake in Canterbury.

LSI found the commission had no overarching system for managing claims and many staff did not trust information from other parts of the organisation.

Contradictory information about claims was often ‘‘siloed’’ within different departments and its reliability never tested, the reports says. ‘‘EQC has identified significant gaps in its ability to measure the performance of its main function – claims management.’’ EQC faces criticism over its handling of claims, the Fletcher Construction-managed repair scheme and controversial recruitment decisions.

Yesterday it was reported EQC had received about 400 complaints concerning work done under the Fletcher scheme – which is repairing tens of thousands of quake-damaged homes.

Last month, it was

also

re- vealed several close family members of senior EQC managers had secured lucrative jobs as assessors in the Christchurch field office, leading to accusations of ‘‘jobs for the boys and girls’’.

Complaints about poor claims management have plagued EQC since the September 4 quake and included accusations of lost claims, cheques sent to the wrong address and lengthy unexplained delays.