If you're injured and off work, the compensation question is really a household question: how will the bills get paid? For people in Riverwood, statutory benefits usually come first, with weekly payments based on your pre-accident earnings. A damages claim may follow if someone else was at fault and your injury is serious enough. A free claim check tells you where you stand.
Canterbury-Bankstown · Car accident compensation
Riverwood: how car accident compensation works
Weekly payments, treatment, lost earnings and the 10% line, explained for NSW CTP claims.
Postcode: 2210
- Free claim check, no obligation
- By phone & online, no office to visit
- Helping people in Riverwood & Peakhurst
Benefits first, damages maybe
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
Gaps people don't expect
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.
Claiming compensation from Riverwood
If you speak Arabic, Vietnamese, Greek or Chinese at home, ask for an interpreter when compensation is explained. Understanding how weekly payments and damages are worked out matters before you agree to anything. Whether your council is the City of Canterbury-Bankstown 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. If Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital admitted you, the dates of your stay and the time off work that followed are part of your earnings picture. Keep the discharge letter with your payslips, because lost income is assessed from both.
Understanding your compensation options doesn't require a trip to Bankstown. From Riverwood, 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
- Canterbury-Bankstown
- Postcode
- 2210
- Local government area
- City of Canterbury-Bankstown
- Nearest public hospital
- Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital
- Distance to Bankstown
- ~4 km
Benefits and damages, side by side
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.
Free claim check
Find out what your claim may include
Call (02) 7238 7379 or start online. It's free, there's no obligation, and you'll know whether a damages claim may be worth exploring.
When a damages claim can be made and settled
The timing rules for damages, which generally rule out a claim before 20 months and a settlement within 2 years unless impairment is more than 10%, give injuries time to stabilise before they're valued. A claim resolved too early may not reflect how the injury turns out. That's one reason to get advice before accepting any offer: a settlement generally ends the claim for good, and once it's signed there's usually no going back.
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.
When weekly payments can run past 2 years
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
Non-economic loss explained
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?
If your whole person impairment is 10% or less, you may still have a damages claim for lost earnings, as long as the other conditions are met.
Loss of earnings
Your pre-accident earnings are the anchor for both weekly payments and economic loss damages. Since amendments passed in 2022, pre-accident earnings can reflect higher income in the 12 months before the accident, and actual earnings after the accident are also considered. If you'd recently had a pay rise, a promotion or more shifts, make sure the insurer knows.
- Payslips from before the accident
- Evidence of a recent pay rise or promotion
- Letters from your employer about your role
- Records of any income since the accident
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?
When legal advice changes the picture
Whether legal help is worth it depends on which kind of compensation you're pursuing and whether anything is in dispute. Here's a general guide to both sides.
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
- Fault is disputed or shared
- The insurer disputes how serious your injury is
You may not need one
- You've recovered and are back at your usual work
- The insurer is approving your treatment
- Your injury is a threshold injury and you agree with that
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 Riverwood explains it. Injury compensation lawyer in Riverwood
- Before asking what you can get, you may need to know what kind of claim you have, and the car accident claim page starts there. Car accident claim in Riverwood
- For the day-to-day side of weekly payments, such as rates, certificates and the case manager, the CTP claims page is the better fit. CTP claims in Riverwood
Frequently asked questions
Yes, in two ways. Weekly payments replace part of your income while you recover: up to 95% of pre-accident earnings for the first 13 weeks, then up to 80% or 85%, subject to an indexed maximum. If you qualify for common law damages, you can also claim past and future loss of earnings, called economic loss, without needing impairment above 10%.
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 medical 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.
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.
Generally not until 20 months after the accident, unless your whole person impairment is assessed as more than 10%. The claim must generally be made within 3 years of the accident. If you want weekly payments to continue beyond 2 years, lodge the damages claim within 2 years of the accident. Because these dates interact, it's worth getting advice well before the 2-year mark.
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.
No one can tell you that without knowing your facts, and we don't publish figures. Compensation depends on your injuries, your pre-accident earnings, whether someone else was at fault, whether your injury is more than a threshold injury, your whole person impairment and your accident date. Most people receive statutory benefits. Some can also claim damages. A free claim check helps you understand which applies to you.
Car accident compensation: suburbs near Riverwood
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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.