The New South Wales Government has announced that the state’s average WorkCover premium has fallen by 7.5 per cent.

Premier Barry O’Farrell said that the cuts to the average premium will be good news for the state’s 167,000 employers.

“The NSW Government’s WorkCover reforms are reducing the cost of doing business in NSW, delivering a stronger economy and creating more jobs,” Mr O’Farrell said.

“As a result of reforms to WorkCover announced in June last year, employers have avoided a premium hike of 28 per cent, which would have cost more than 12,000 jobs.

“Our changes have made the system fairer and have provided more generous payments to severely injured workers, as well as giving incentives to businesses to improve workplace safety,” he said.

State Minister for Finance and Services, Greg Pearce, said that the reforms have lead to better care for injured workers, lower premiums and the protection of jobs.

“More than 167,000 employers across 364 industries have improved safety performance in the workplace and will receive a premium rate reduction from 30 June 2013,” Mr Pearce said.

“We have reduced red tape, freeing up businesses to grow and provided better support for injured workers to help them safely return to work sooner.”

Mr Pearce said while the average reduction to premiums is 7.5 per cent, under the NSW Government’s changes businesses can save even more.