The compensation available after a car accident in NSW isn't a single figure. It's a set of entitlements that turn on the facts. Most people in Picton who are injured can get weekly payments and other statutory benefits. Some can also claim a lump sum for lost earnings and, in serious cases, pain and suffering. We'll help you work out which group you're in, free and with no obligation.
Macarthur & Wollondilly · Car accident compensation
How much car accident compensation? A Picton guide
No figures, no guesses. Just what compensation can include and what the amount depends on.
Postcode: 2571
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- Helping people in Picton & Thirlmere
Picton: what shapes your compensation
If you were hurt on Picton Road or Appin Road and the injury will affect your work for years, future economic loss looks at what you would likely have earned without the crash, not only what you've lost so far. Council boundaries don't change what you can claim. Compensation under the NSW CTP scheme depends on your injury, your earnings and fault, and the same rules apply under Wollondilly Shire Council as in every other council area. From Picton, the Sydney CBD is around 66 km away. That doesn't limit your options: an independent lawyer can run a damages claim by phone, email and video, and the claim check itself runs over the phone or online.
- Region
- Macarthur & Wollondilly
- Postcode
- 2571
- Local government area
- Wollondilly Shire Council
- Distance to Campbelltown
- ~24 km
How NSW CTP compensation is structured
Think of statutory benefits as the support that keeps you going while you recover, and damages as compensation for what the injury has cost you over the longer term. You can receive benefits without ever claiming damages, and many people do. Damages are a separate claim with their own timing, evidence and rules.
Read next:Statutory benefits vs damages
Why damages take time
If the insurer makes an offer, take your time. Ask what it covers, what it assumes about your future earnings and whether it accounts for all your injuries. An independent CTP lawyer can check it against the evidence. Accepting generally ends your damages claim, so it's worth a careful look before you sign anything.
Before you accept an offer
Settlement offers are worth a second opinion. The lawyer you speak with can check what the offer covers and whether the timing suits your recovery.
Loss of earnings
Lost income is covered at two stages. Weekly payments replace part of your earnings as you go: up to 95% of pre-accident earnings for 13 weeks, then up to 80% or 85%. A damages claim can also include past and future loss of earnings, called economic loss, if you qualify. Economic loss damages don't require impairment above 10%.
- Payslips from before the accident
- Tax returns and notices of assessment
- Evidence of a recent pay rise or promotion
- Your Certificates of Fitness
Read next:CTP weekly payments
The two kinds of CTP compensation
Here's how the two parts of CTP compensation compare. Statutory benefits start early and are available to most people. Damages come later, if at all, and have stricter entry rules.
Statutory benefits
- Available to most injured people, regardless of fault
- Weekly payments: up to 95% of pre-accident earnings, then up to 80% or 85%
- Treatment and care that is reasonable and necessary
- Up to 52 weeks for a threshold injury or if mostly at fault (accidents from 1 April 2023)
- Weekly payments generally end at 104 weeks unless a damages claim is pending
- Claim within 28 days for back-paid weekly payments
Common law damages
- Only if another driver was at fault and you weren't mostly at fault
- Your injury must be more than a threshold injury
- Can include past and future lost earnings
- Pain and suffering only if whole person impairment is more than 10%
- Generally doesn't include treatment and care or unpaid care from family
- Generally must be claimed within 3 years of the accident
General information, not legal advice. We give no dollar figures because every claim is different. Time limits apply.
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Find out what your claim may include
Tell us about your injury and your work. We'll explain which compensation may apply, free and with no obligation.
Do you need a lawyer to get compensation?
Most people don't need a lawyer just to receive weekly payments. When a lump sum may be involved, it's a different story. Use these lists to get your bearings.
Often worth talking to a lawyer
- You may have lost some of your future earning capacity
- Your injury may be more than threshold and another driver was at fault
- An offer to settle has come from the insurer
- Fault is disputed or shared
You may not need one
- The insurer's benefit decisions look right to you
- You're receiving weekly payments and they look right
- You only need to understand how weekly payments are calculated
Before you accept any offer, get it in writing and check what it covers: past and future lost earnings and, where impairment is more than 10%, pain and suffering. Take your time; an offer doesn't have to be answered on the spot. CTP settlements
Not quite your situation?
- If the real question is how serious your injury is in claim terms, including impairment, the injury compensation page for Picton explains it. Injury compensation lawyer in Picton
- If it isn't clear yet whether this is a CTP injury claim, a damage claim or something else, begin with the car accident claim page. Car accident claim in Picton
- If you only need the basics of weekly payments and how to lodge, the CTP claims page for Picton sets out the steps. CTP claims in Picton
Non-economic loss explained
Damages for pain and suffering, called non-economic loss, are only available if your whole person impairment is more than 10%. Below that line, a damages claim, if you have one, is limited to economic loss. This surprises many people, and it's one of the main reasons two claims that look similar can end very differently.
10% or less?
Impairment of 10% or less doesn't end a damages claim. It rules out pain and suffering, but economic loss can still be claimed if you otherwise qualify.
Gaps people don't expect
If a family member has been driving you around or helping at home, you might expect that to be compensated. Under the current NSW scheme, damages generally don't cover that kind of gratuitous care. Nor do they generally cover treatment and care costs, which are handled through statutory benefits. The rules for your accident date are worth checking.
Weekly payments while a damages claim is pending
Weekly payments generally stop after 104 weeks, or 2 years. They can continue if you've lodged a common law damages claim that is still pending: up to 156 weeks, or 3 years, where your whole person impairment is 10% or less, and up to 260 weeks, or 5 years, where it's more than 10%. The catch is timing. To keep payments going beyond 2 years, the damages claim must be lodged within 2 years of the accident.
The 2-year lodging rule
Payments beyond 104 weeks depend on a damages claim being pending. The 3-year limit is the outer edge for damages, but the 2-year mark is the one that protects weekly payments.
Read next:CTP weekly payments
Online estimates and their limits
It's natural to want a number. But in the NSW scheme, compensation depends on assessments that haven't happened yet in most claims, such as impairment and future earning capacity. Any figure given early, by a website or anyone else, should be treated with caution. A careful look at your facts is more useful than an estimate.
Read next:Can I claim damages?
Frequently asked questions
The same principles apply, but proving earnings takes more paperwork. Tax returns, business activity statements, accountant's records and contracts help show what you earned before the accident. If your business was growing, records from the year before the crash can matter. Gather them early, because the insurer relies on them for weekly payments, and they matter again in any damages claim.
Under the NSW CTP scheme, treatment and care costs, and unpaid help from family and friends (called gratuitous care), generally sit outside a common law damages claim. Treatment and care stays with statutory benefits instead, for as long as the benefit periods that apply to you allow. Damage to your vehicle isn't part of a CTP claim at all, because CTP covers personal injury only.
Get advice before you accept any offer. A settlement generally ends your damages claim for good, so it needs to reflect your lost earnings and, where relevant, pain and suffering, based on reliable evidence. An independent CTP lawyer can check whether the offer takes account of your future. There's no obligation to accept an offer simply because it has been made.
Statutory benefits can include weekly payments if you can't work, or can't work as much, and treatment and care that is reasonable and necessary. If you qualify for common law damages, they can include past and future loss of earnings and, if your whole person impairment is more than 10%, pain and suffering. After a fatal crash, reasonable funeral expenses are covered regardless of fault.
Not for NSW CTP claims. Compensation depends on facts a calculator can't assess, such as whether your injury is more than threshold, your whole person impairment, your share of fault and your earnings history. Many of those aren't known until well into a claim. Treat any online figure with caution, and focus instead on the questions that decide your entitlements.
Generally 3 years from the accident. A later damages claim may be allowed only with a full and satisfactory explanation, so don't count on it. The earlier marker matters too: lodge within 2 years if you want weekly payments to continue past 2 years while the claim is pending. Statutory benefits run to much shorter deadlines of their own, so make sure that claim is in first.
Car accident compensation: suburbs near Picton
Related reading
- How much compensation?
- Motor accident compensation: how it works
- CTP claims for self-employed and gig workers
- Lump sum and damages claims
- Claiming damages
- Chronic Pain After a Car Accident
- Back Injury
- Disc Bulge After a Car Accident
- Pre-Existing Condition Aggravation
- Fatality and Dependency Claims
- Macarthur & Wollondilly: area guide
- CTP Lawyer Help in Sydney
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CTP Lawyer is not a law firm. This page is general information, not legal advice; the independent lawyer you speak with can advise on your own situation.