All about WorkCover weekly payments

WorkCover weekly payments are income payments paid to an injured worker if they have an accepted WorkCover claim, and their ability to work has been impacted by an injury.

If you are unable to work or have a restricted work capacity, you may have an entitlement to WorkCover weekly payments.

Weekly payments are based on your pre injury average weekly earnings (PIAWE) figure.

The rest of this page will explore the topic of weekly payments further.

Weekly payments at a glance

What do I need to do to claim weekly payments?

In order to obtain weekly payments through the WorkCover insurer, you will need to obtain a certificate of capacity from your GP or other health professional.

Most health professionals that you see are able to provide WorkCover certificates, other than psychologists.

It’s always a good idea however to have your GP complete your certificates as you are likely to see them on a regular basis.

Certificates of capacity then need to be provided to the insurance company.

You need to continue to get certificates of capacity as you go along.

If you don’t provide a valid certificate of capacity, you won’t be paid weekly payments (with limited exceptions).

When and how you actually get paid

If your claim is accepted, expect approximately four to six weeks from the date you completed and signed the claim form before payments begin. If the claim is rejected and you contest it, that timeframe extends considerably.

Payments are normally routed through your employer, who then passes them on to you. That is not the only option. You can be made a direct payee, which means the insurer pays your weekly payments to you directly rather than paying the employer. This is worth knowing about if the employment relationship has broken down, or if payments are not reaching you reliably.

Public holidays are treated differently to what you would be used to. You do not get paid for a public holiday the way you would if you were working, because weekly payments are calculated from your PIAWE rather than from the days you would otherwise have worked.

How are they calculated?

Weekly payments are calculated based on your pre injury average weekly earnings (referred to as PIAWE).

Your PIAWE is an average of your earnings over the 52 weeks / 12 months prior to you suffering your injury.

For the first 13 weeks of weekly payments you are paid at 95% of your average earnings.

From the 14th to the 130th weeks you are paid at 80% of the average.

If you are entitled to payments beyond 130 weeks, you are paid at the 80% rate.

WorkCover will not pay the full wages that you would have received but for the injury.

Weekly payments will be indexed annually.

How much are WorkCover weekly payments?

Example:

What weekly payments are — and what they are not

Weekly payments are income replacement. Once a claim is accepted they are an entitlement under the scheme, not something an employer pays voluntarily.

They are not the same thing as your ordinary time earnings. Weekly payments are paid at 95% of your pre-injury average weekly earnings for the first 13 weeks, and at 80% from then up to the 130 week mark. So even when everything is working correctly, you should expect to receive less than you were earning before the injury.

There is also no minimum rate. WorkCover does not have minimum wages. The national minimum wage, and the rates set out in an award or enterprise agreement, do not set a floor under your weekly payments. The figure comes from your PIAWE and nothing else.

People often describe time off on an accepted claim as being on ‘WorkCover leave‘. It is worth knowing that this is not a legal term under Victorian workers compensation law — it is shorthand that employers and workers use. Nor is WorkCover a salary in the ordinary sense, even though weekly payments do replace part of your lost wages.

None of this happens automatically. Being injured at work does not by itself mean you will be paid. Weekly payments depend on having a claim accepted, and on the injury, illness or condition actually affecting your capacity to work.

That effect can be partial or total. If you can still work but only on modified duties or reduced hours, weekly payments may cover part of the shortfall. If you have no capacity to work at all, they operate as set out above. Either way, you are not simply paid as normal while you recover.

Making up the shortfall

Because weekly payments sit below your pre-injury earnings, the obvious question is whether the gap can be made up. There are two routes, and they are different things despite often being given the same name.

The first is accident make up pay under an award or enterprise agreement. Where an award or agreement provides for it, the difference between your weekly payments and your pre-injury earnings is topped up for a set period. Whether this applies to you depends entirely on the instrument covering your employment.

The second is top up payments after the second entitlement period. If your payments were terminated at the 130 week mark and you have returned to work on a limited basis, you may be able to claim top up payments in certain circumstances.

Beyond those two, a claim for loss of earnings that goes further than weekly payments is generally a common law matter rather than part of your no fault entitlements.

How long do WorkCover payments last?

WorkCover weekly payments will be paid to you provided that you have an ongoing incapacity for employment.

This means that you don’t have a capacity for any work, or only have a capacity for some work.

If your work capacity is not impacted by your work related injury, your weekly payments will cease.

You can get payments for up to 130 weeks.

After 130 weeks, in order to continue to obtain weekly payments you will need to show that you have no work capacity, which is likely to continue indefinately.

How long does people normally claim weekly payments for?

Safe Work Australia data shows that the median Victorian workers’ compensation claim involved 18.4 weeks of time lost from work in 2022-23, compared with 11.8 weeks in 2014-15.

WorkCover payments after 52 weeks

Your weekly payments will be reduced after 52 weeks if your initial PIAWE calculation included overtime and/or shift allowances if your WorkCover claim was made on or after 5 April 2010.

If your claim was made before 5 April 2010, you will be entitled to overtime and/or shift allowances for 26 weeks.

WorkCover payments after 130 weeks

There is a significant change in the eligibility test for payments at the 130 week mark.

In order to claim weekly payments prior to 130 weeks you need to be able to show that you can’t do your old job in an unrestricted way. This is based on your certificates of capacity.

After 130 weeks however, you need to show that you do not have a work capacity at all and this is likely to continue into the future.

This is a tough hurdle to get over for a lot of people and it is the reason why many people have their payments terminated at 130 weeks.

It is important to realise however that you are able to challenge the decision to terminate your payments at 130 weeks.

Partial payments after 130 weeks:

In addition to showing that you have no work capacity and that is likely to continue indefinitely, there’s a further way in which you may be entitled to weekly payments after 130 weeks.

If you have a current work capacity but are not able to work to the same extent you were working pre injury, you are able to make an application to the insurer for a determination that your entitlement to weekly payments does not cease.

In order to satisfy the relevant test, you need to have returned to work, whether in self employment or other employment, for no less than 15 hours a week and that you are in receipt of weekly earnings at least $166 a week.

The final thing that you must show that because of the injury, from a medical perspective, you are not likely to be able to undertake further additional employment or increase your weekly earnings.

If you make this application and the insurer knocks you application back, you can proceed to conciliation to appeal the matter or you can make the application again down the track.

Termination at the 130 week mark is not automatic in every case. Where a worker meets the relevant test, there can be a continuation of weekly payments after 130 weeks, generally at the 80% rate. What decides it is the assessment made in the lead up to the 130 week mark, rather than the date itself, which is why the period beforehand matters more than most people expect.

The test also changed in 2024. The amendments introduced by the Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (WorkCover Scheme Modernisation) Act 2023 added a whole person impairment threshold of 21% or greater to the test that already applied. If your claim is approaching 130 weeks, it is worth understanding which version of the test applies to your circumstances.

Is superannuation paid with weekly payments?

In the first 12 months that you receive weekly payments, unfortunately you will not receive any superannuation payments from the WorkCover insurer.

After that period however, you should start receiving superannuation payments on top of any weekly payments.

After 12 months you should check and make sure that you are receiving superannuation payments from the WorkCover insurer. If you don’t, you should contact the insurer or your lawyer.

You can read more about how superannuation and weekly payments work here.

What happens with payment of weekly payments if I’m certified fit for modified duties?

If after an injury you are certified fit for modified duties, the employer is required to provide suitable employment to the extent that is reasonable for them to do so.

They must offer you suitable employment duties for a period of 52 weeks.

It is your job to comply with your return to work obligations and failure to do so can result in the termination of your weekly payments.

What does ‘suitable employment’ mean?

This means work for which you are suited, taking into regard things such as the work that you were doing prior to suffering the injury, your age education, skills and work experience, where you live, the nature of your injury and what the medical material says about your incapacity, and comments made by any medical practitioners and occupational rehabilitation services.

Suitable employment does not take into account whether the work is actually available.

What about weekly payments being paid after retirement age?

If you’re injured within 130 weeks before after retirement age, you are entitled to weekly payments for not more than the first 130 weeks of incapacity for work.

If the above does not apply to you, but before the age of retirement you suffered an injury at work and you made a claim for compensation in relation that injury and you receive weekly payments within the period of 10 years before you hit retirement age.

And if you became incapacitated for work after retirement age as a result of treatment that you received after the retirement age when you were an inpatient at hospital for the injury and you are not entitled to weekly payments because you’ve hit retirement age, you can apply to the insurer for weekly payments in relation of that incapacity.

You can be paid weekly payments for maximum period of 13 weeks in this instance.

Further reading:

WorkCover claims after retirement age

At what age does WorkCover stop

Will I stop getting payments if I quit my job?

Generally speaking, if you resign while on WorkCover, your weekly payments of compensation should continue if you quit your job but make it clear that the reason you resigned was because of your injury.

If you resign for reasons that are unrelated to the incapacity arising from your work injury, then the WorkCover Insurer could possibly seek to terminate or reduce your weekly payments.

If I am on WorkCover payments can I apply for another job?

You can apply for another job while you’re on WorkCover payments but keep in mind that your WorkCover payments are based on your incapacity.

So, if you’re able to work at your full pre-injury capacity, you’re not likely to be entitled to be paid weekly payments of compensation paid by WorkCover.

If my weekly payments are terminated what can I do?

There are a number of reasons as to why WorkCover may stop your weekly payments.

If your WorkCover Insurer terminate your weekly payments, you’re able to appeal this decision.

The first step, in our opinion, should be to lodge a request for conciliation.

If my weekly payments are reduced and I disagree with the decision, what can I do?

If your WorkCover payments are reduced, your first port of call should be to query this with the insurer and ask them to explain why they were reduced.

If you disagree with their decision, you can appeal the decision to conciliation.

Getting payments back after they have stopped

There are a number of reasons weekly payments stop, and payments stopping is not always the end of the matter.

Reinstatement of weekly payments is possible in two common situations: where payments were terminated at the 130 week mark, and where a worker returned to work following a ‘full clearance’ that later proves to have been wrong.

If the amount looks wrong

Workers query the amount they are receiving more often than any other issue, and there are a few common explanations.

The most common is the step-down — the drop from 95% to 80% — which takes effect without any decision being made about your claim.

The next is a PIAWE that is lower than expected, often because the calculation has taken into account a change in your circumstances in the period before the injury.

The third is not the insurer’s doing at all. Where payments are routed through the employer, sometimes the employer does not pass them on. If that is what is happening, becoming a direct payee is one practical answer.

If none of those explain it, underpayment of wages under WorkCover sets out the other causes and what can be done about each.

Are WorkCover payments taxed?

Weekly payments are taxable.

Any weekly payments you receive from WorkCover while you have a reduced capacity for work, or are unable to work, are taxable.

Weekly payments are considered income and therefore you will need to declare any weekly payments to the Australia Tax Office.