CTP Entitlements in NSW: What You Can Claim

A NSW CTP claim can give you two kinds of entitlement. Statutory benefits are paid while you recover. Common law damages are a lump sum that some people can claim later. This page focuses on statutory benefits and explains where damages fit.

The rules below apply to accidents on or after 1 December 2017, with the changes that took effect for accidents from 1 April 2023. The scheme is reviewed from time to time and dollar amounts are indexed each year, so check the current rules for your accident date.

Weekly payments

If the accident stops you working, or means you can only work reduced hours or duties, you may be entitled to weekly payments. They are based on your pre-accident weekly earnings.

• First 13 weeks: up to 95% of your pre-accident earnings.
• From week 14: up to 80% or 85%, depending on your earning capacity.
• All weekly payments are subject to a legislated maximum weekly amount, which is indexed each year.
• If you have returned to some work, payments are generally worked out on the difference between what you earned before and what you can earn now.

How long weekly payments last

Weekly payments generally stop after 104 weeks (2 years). They can continue if you have lodged a damages claim that is still pending: up to 156 weeks (3 years) where your whole person impairment is 10% or less, and up to 260 weeks (5 years) where it is more than 10%. To keep weekly payments going beyond 2 years, your damages claim generally needs to be lodged within 2 years of the accident.

Those periods are shorter for some people. For accidents on or after 1 April 2023, benefits for threshold injuries, and for people wholly or mostly at fault, are generally limited to 52 weeks. After 52 weeks, weekly payments may also be reduced for contributory negligence, such as not wearing a seatbelt. See CTP weekly payments.

Treatment and care

The insurer pays for treatment and care that is reasonable and necessary for your accident injuries, within the benefit periods that apply to you. That can include medical and hospital treatment, rehabilitation, medication, psychological treatment and, where justified, care and domestic assistance. The insurer decides each request, and larger or ongoing treatment usually needs approval first, so ask before you commit to costs.

Your doctor's treatment plan and referrals support those requests. If you need a doctor experienced with CTP claims, or allied health such as physiotherapy, psychology or exercise physiology, see doctors and allied health.

Children who were 16 or under at the time of the accident can receive treatment and care for as long as they need it, regardless of fault.

Getting your weekly payments calculated correctly

Weekly payment disputes often come down to how pre-accident earnings were worked out. Casual and seasonal workers, people with more than one job, the self-employed and people who had just changed jobs are the most likely to be under-calculated. Give the insurer complete evidence:

• Payslips covering the period before the accident, not just the last one.
• A letter from each employer confirming your hours and pay.
• Tax returns, business activity statements and accounts if you are self-employed.
• Evidence of a job offer, promotion or pay rise that was already in place.

Where damages fit in

You may be able to claim common law damages if another driver was at fault, you were not mostly at fault, and your injury is more than a threshold injury. Damages can include past and future loss of earnings. Damages for pain and suffering (non-economic loss) are only available if your whole person impairment is more than 10%.

Damages in the CTP scheme generally do not include treatment and care costs or unpaid care from family and friends. Treatment and care continues through statutory benefits instead. See CTP damages claims and how much compensation.

When to talk to a lawyer

You don't need a lawyer to lodge a CTP claim, and plenty of people with short, straightforward claims never use one. SIRA also funds a free CTP Legal Advisory Service for statutory benefits questions. It is worth talking to an independent CTP claim lawyer if:

• Your weekly payments look too low, or your earnings are complicated.
• Treatment your practitioners recommend has been refused.
• Your benefits are about to stop at 52 weeks or 2 years.
• You may be eligible for damages and need to protect your weekly payments by lodging in time.