Dover Heights: when you might need an injury compensation lawyer

Most people never need to think about impairment percentages. If your injury is serious, you probably will. The scheme's rules divide injuries by type first, threshold or not, and then, for some entitlements, by the degree of lasting impairment. This page explains both in general terms. Your own claim depends on your diagnosis and on the insurer's decisions, which can be reviewed.

From 1 April 2023, the scheme uses the term threshold injury, which replaced the old term minor injury. A threshold injury is generally a soft tissue injury, a threshold psychological injury, or both. Soft tissue here means muscles, tendons, ligaments and similar tissue. Nerve damage is excluded, and so is a full or partial tear of a tendon, ligament, meniscus or cartilage.

Which side you're on matters. For accidents from 1 April 2023, statutory benefits for a threshold injury generally last up to 52 weeks. For accidents between 1 December 2017 and 31 March 2023, the limit was 26 weeks. If your injury is more than threshold and you weren't mostly at fault, benefits can generally continue for longer, and a damages claim may be possible.

There's usually no single moment when WPI is measured. Opinions may come from treating doctors, from doctors the insurer arranges, and, where the two sides disagree, from a medical assessment through the Personal Injury Commission. Timing matters, because injuries can improve or worsen for months. A lawyer can advise whether an assessment is premature before you rely on it.

• Whether the injury has stabilised
• Changes in your condition since the last report
• Whether you disagree with the result, and the deadline to say so

WPI turns a lasting injury into a percentage. A doctor examines you and rates the impairment under the assessment guidelines that apply to motor accident claims. The number doesn't reflect how hard your life has become; it reflects measurable impairment. Even so, it can decide important questions, especially whether damages for pain and suffering are possible.

It's easy to overstate the 10% line. You don't need more than 10% WPI to claim damages for past and future loss of earnings; you need an injury that's more than threshold, another driver at fault, and not to have been mostly at fault yourself. The 10% line decides pain and suffering, and it also affects some timing rules for a damages claim.

Earning capacity compares what you could have earned without the injury with what you can realistically earn now. For a tradesperson with a damaged shoulder, or an office worker with a brain injury, that gap can be large and long-lasting. Record every change to your working life: hours, duties, roles you can no longer do. Those facts sit alongside the medical evidence.

Serious physical injuries often bring a psychological toll: sleeplessness, anxiety, depression or trauma symptoms. These can be part of your claim in their own right. Tell your doctor how you're coping, and ask about psychology if it would help. Whether a psychological injury is threshold or more is a medical and legal question, and the insurer's decision on it can be reviewed.

Because serious injuries take time to show their full effect, evidence builds in layers. Early records show the injury happened and how bad it was. Later reports show how it has settled and what it has left behind. An independent lawyer can help spot gaps, but the underlying evidence comes from your treatment. Getting good care is also how good evidence is made.

• Imaging reports, such as X-ray, CT or MRI, where done
• Every Certificate of Fitness, in order
• Records of how the injury affects your work
• Any impairment assessment, and your response to it