After a crash, most people want to know what they can claim. For people in Redfern, as anywhere in NSW, the honest answer has two parts. Statutory benefits, meaning weekly payments and treatment, are available to most injured people. Common law damages, a lump sum, are open only to some. Our free claim check looks at which applies to you, and connects you with an independent CTP lawyer if damages may be possible.
Sydney CBD & inner city · Car accident compensation
Car accident compensation after a crash near Redfern
A free check by phone or online. If damages may be open to you, we'll connect you with an independent lawyer.
Postcode: 2016

- Free claim check, no obligation
- By phone & online, no office to visit
- Helping people in Redfern & Darlington
Redfern: what shapes your compensation
If St Vincent's Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital or Sydney Hospital treated you, keep every report. If a damages claim later turns on the 10% impairment line, those early records help show how serious the injury was from the start. Whether your council is the City of Sydney or another one in NSW, the CTP rules on weekly payments, treatment and damages are the same. What moves the amount is your injury and your earnings, not your address. Understanding your compensation options doesn't require a trip to the Sydney CBD. From Redfern, the claim check happens by phone and online, and if a damages claim is possible, the lawyer you speak with can generally advise remotely too.
- Region
- Sydney CBD & inner city
- Postcode
- 2016
- Local government area
- City of Sydney
- Nearest public hospital
- Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
- Distance to the Sydney CBD
- ~3 km
Two kinds of compensation
The first question isn't “how much?” but “which kind?”. If your injury is a threshold injury, or you were mostly at fault, compensation is generally limited to statutory benefits for up to 52 weeks. If neither applies and someone else caused the crash, a damages claim may sit on top of your benefits.
Read next:Statutory benefits vs damages
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
To keep weekly payments going past 2 years, lodge the damages claim within 2 years of the accident. Waiting until the general 3-year limit can mean payments stop in the meantime.
Read next:CTP weekly payments
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
Get advice before accepting any settlement offer. A settlement generally ends your damages claim, and once signed it's usually final.
Benefits and damages, side by side
It helps to see the two side by side. The points below are general and depend on your accident date, so treat them as a guide to the right questions rather than an answer.
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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When legal advice changes the picture
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
- An offer to settle has come from the insurer
- You may have lost some of your future earning capacity
- The insurer disputes how serious your injury is
- A family member died and dependants may have a claim
You may not need one
- You're receiving weekly payments and they look right
- You only need to understand how weekly payments are calculated
- You've recovered and are back at your usual work
If your recovery has stalled, the right treatment matters more than any figure. We can connect you with doctors and allied health experienced with CTP claims and the Certificate of Fitness, alongside legal help if you need it.
Not quite your situation?
- If the real question is how serious your injury is in claim terms, including impairment, the injury compensation page for Redfern explains it. Injury compensation lawyer in Redfern
- 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 Redfern
- If you only need the basics of weekly payments and how to lodge, the CTP claims page for Redfern sets out the steps. CTP claims in Redfern
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
- Business records if you're self-employed
- Your Certificates of Fitness
Read next:CTP weekly payments
When pain and suffering can be claimed
Many people assume every injury attracts compensation for pain. In the NSW CTP scheme it doesn't. Non-economic loss damages require whole person impairment of more than 10%, and you still need to meet the other damages conditions: someone else at fault, you not mostly at fault, and more than a threshold injury.
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.
What damages generally don't include
CTP covers personal injury only, so vehicle repairs sit outside it altogether and are generally a matter for your own car insurer or the at-fault driver's insurer. Within the injury claim, damages generally cover lost earnings and, above 10% impairment, pain and suffering, while treatment stays with statutory benefits. If you've paid for treatment yourself, keep the receipts and raise them with the insurer as a statutory benefits question.
The problem with compensation calculators
Online compensation calculators can't account for the things that actually decide a CTP claim: whether your injury is more than threshold, who was at fault, your whole person impairment, your earnings history and your accident date. A figure produced without those facts isn't a guide; it's a guess. That's why we don't publish one.
Read next:Can I claim damages?
Frequently asked questions
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.
Only if your whole person impairment is more than 10%, and only as part of a common law damages claim. That means another driver must have been at fault, you must not have been mostly at fault, and your injury must be more than a threshold injury. If your impairment is 10% or less, you may still claim damages for lost earnings.
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.
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. Your treatment keeps being funded through 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.
Possibly, and you don't have to work it out alone. Close relatives who were financially dependent on the person who died, such as a spouse or de facto partner, parent, child or sibling, may be able to claim for the financial support and domestic services they've lost. This generally depends on the person who died not being mostly at fault. Try to lodge within 3 months of the crash; claims must generally be made within 3 years. CTP Assist (1300 656 919) can connect you with a Principal Liaison Coordinator.
Generally from your income before the accident, using payslips, tax returns or business records. Amendments passed in 2022 allow pre-accident earnings to reflect a higher income earned in the 12 months before the accident, and your actual earnings after it are also taken into account. If your income had recently risen, tell the insurer and provide the evidence. Errors here affect every weekly payment.
Car accident compensation: suburbs near Redfern
Related reading
- How much compensation?
- Claiming damages
- Lump sum and damages claims
- Motor accident compensation: how it works
- Chronic Pain After a Car Accident
- Back Injury
- Disc Bulge After a Car Accident
- Pre-Existing Condition Aggravation
- Fatality and Dependency Claims
- Sydney CBD & inner city: 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.