Workers Compensation Weekly Payments Have Started — What Happens Next?

At a Glance

Starting workers compensation weekly payments does not necessarily mean your claim has been fully accepted or resolved. In NSW, payments may begin provisionally while liability is assessed, and the amount and duration can later change according to the applicable entitlement period, work capacity and other statutory criteria. Treatment expenses and any permanent impairment entitlement are considered separately, and are the parts injured workers most often overlook.

The first payment arriving is a genuine relief. Money is coming in, and for the first time since the injury something feels settled.

It’s worth understanding what that moment actually represents. Check the insurer’s written notice to see whether payments are provisional or whether liability has been accepted — the two are different, and the notice must tell you. Either way, weekly payments are only one part of the claim.

Entitlements are structured in stages, they are reviewed, and they can change. Our workers compensation lawyers can explain how your state’s scheme applies to your claim and what you should be receiving at each stage.

Workers Compensation Weekly Payments Have Started — What Happens Next?

Starting weekly payments is an important step, but it does not necessarily mean your claim has been accepted or finalised.

Workers compensation weekly payments are income support while your capacity for work is reduced. In every Australian state they may begin provisionally while the insurer is still assessing liability, and the amount and duration can change according to the applicable entitlement period or cap, your work capacity and other statutory criteria. Treatment expenses and any permanent impairment entitlement are considered separately.

This article covers the schemes in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia. The general shape is similar across all four but the detail differs at almost every point, so check the section for your state.

Weekly payments replace part of your income while your capacity for work is reduced. They are one component of a workers compensation claim, alongside medical and treatment expenses and, where an injury meets the relevant threshold, lump sum compensation for permanent impairment.

Weekly payments are reviewed over time and are not guaranteed to continue indefinitely at the initial rate. Duration depends on the scheme, your work capacity, your degree of permanent impairment and other eligibility requirements — and the mechanism that limits duration is different in each state:

• NSW structures entitlements into defined periods (weeks 1–13, 14–130, and beyond) with review points.
• Victoria works on a similar period structure — a first entitlement period and a second entitlement period ending at 130 weeks, with a formal review to continue.
• Tasmania limits the number of years payments can run, banded by your degree of permanent impairment.
• WA caps the cumulative dollar total of income compensation (the “prescribed amount”), rather than by time.

A decision to commence or accept weekly payments does not necessarily resolve every issue in the claim. Treatment requests, work capacity, additional injuries, permanent impairment and later entitlements may each be assessed separately and an insurer may accept one aspect while disputing another.

Are my weekly payments provisional or accepted?

This is the first thing to establish, and many workers never think to ask. In all four states, payments can start before liability has been formally decided — and the rules on how and when differ.

New South Wales

Once an insurer receives initial notification of an injury it must generally commence provisional weekly payments within seven calendar days, unless it issues a reasonable excuse or determines liability. Provisional liability lets payments start quickly while the insurer investigates. SIRA and icare are clear that starting provisional payments does not mean the insurer or employer admits liability. A provisional liability period can last up to 12 weeks of payments (and provisional medical expenses up to $10,000), and if the claim is later declined you are generally not required to pay provisional payments back. For payments to continue past the provisional period, liability generally needs to be accepted.

Victoria

The agent managing your claim must accept or reject liability within 28 days of receiving a valid claim; if it fails to decide in time, the weekly-payments claim can be deemed accepted. Victoria’s separate provisional payments scheme is narrower than the others — it covers reasonable treatment costs only, for up to 13 weeks, and only for a work-related mental injury while the claim is being decided (and those treatment costs continue even if the claim is ultimately rejected). It does not provide provisional income payments, and receiving it does not mean liability has been accepted.

Tasmania

On receiving a claim supported by a medical certificate, the insurer must start weekly payments immediately (and cover medical expenses up to $5,000) on a “without prejudice” basis — even while liability is being investigated. Making these payments is not an admission of liability. The insurer has 84 days to dispute liability (via a section 81A notice); if it does not dispute within that time, liability is taken to be accepted. Disputes are heard in the Workers Compensation stream of TASCAT.

Western Australia (2023 Act)

Within 14 days of receiving your claim the insurer must give either a liability decision (accept or decline) or a deferred decision notice (more time to investigate). If no liability decision is made, provisional payments — covering income compensation and medical expenses — must start on the “provisional payments day”, the day after 28 days from claim receipt. Provisional payments are a without-prejudice safety net: they do not mean liability has been accepted, and are generally not recoverable from you even if the claim is later declined. If no decision is made within 120 days, liability is deemed accepted.

What this means in practice, in every state:

• Read the written notice the insurer must give you. It should state whether payments have started on a provisional/without-prejudice basis and how long they are expected to last.
• Payments beginning is not confirmation that liability has been accepted.
• If liability is later disputed, the insurer must give you notice of that decision.
• If you’re not sure which situation you’re in, ask the insurer in writing to confirm whether payments are provisional or whether liability has been accepted, and to provide the relevant notice.

How weekly payments work

The detail differs by state, but the general architecture is similar: payments are calculated by reference to your pre-injury earnings, reduced by anything you are currently earning (or assessed as able to earn), subject to a maximum, and organised into stages with different rules — usually stepping down over time.

The earnings base by state:

• NSW — pre-injury average weekly earnings (PIAWE).
• Victoria — pre-injury average weekly earnings (PIAWE), averaged over the 52 weeks before injury.
• Tasmania — normal weekly earnings (NWE), the higher of your award ordinary-time rate or your average earnings.
• WA — the pre-injury weekly rate of income (PIWRI), based on gross earnings averaged over the 12 months before injury; payments under the 2023 Act are called income compensation.

Two things drive what you receive within any stage: your certified work capacity, and what you are actually earning. There is a maximum in every scheme, and it is indexed periodically — check the current figure with your insurer or the regulator, because these move (NSW and WA re-index during the year, and the figures below deliberately avoid quoting amounts that date quickly).

The entitlement / step-down structure, side by side

A note on the step-downs: NSW and Victoria drop from 95% to 80% at the end of week 13. Tasmania and WA both run at 100% for a longer initial period of 26 weeks, then reduce. Don’t assume “13 weeks” applies everywhere — in Tasmania and WA the full-rate period is twice as long.

Duration — how each scheme brings weekly payments to an end

NSW. To continue weekly payments beyond 130 weeks you generally must lodge a written application to the insurer and satisfy further criteria — broadly, that you have no current work capacity likely to continue indefinitely, or you have returned to work of at least 15 hours per week and are assessed as unable to increase that. Workers with more than 20% permanent impairment are not subject to the outer limit and can continue subject to age criteria.

Victoria. At the end of the second entitlement period (130 weeks) the Act requires a review. To continue beyond 130 weeks you must have no current work capacity that is likely to continue indefinitely and — for claims reaching 130 weeks on or after 31 March 2024 — a permanent whole person impairment of 21% or more. If you don’t meet the test, payments stop, but you’re entitled to 13 weeks’ written notice first.

Tasmania. Duration is banded by your assessed whole person impairment:

All entitlements cease at Commonwealth pension age.

WA. There is no fixed time limit. Income compensation continues (subject to ongoing incapacity and medical certification) until the cumulative total paid reaches the prescribed amount — an indexed dollar ceiling (in the order of $270,000+ for the current year; confirm the figure for the current indexation year). Additional or extended entitlements can be available for serious permanent injuries.

General orientation only. Rates, caps, thresholds and indexed amounts are subject to indexation and legislative amendment — check current guidance from the regulator in your state or ask your insurer for your figures in writing.

Changes for NSW psychological injury claims from 1 July 2026

Significant NSW reforms commenced on 1 July 2026 and affect claims for primary psychological injury in New South Wales. (These are NSW changes; Victoria, Tasmania and WA are not affected.)

Different rules may apply to some primary psychological injury claims notified or claimed from 1 July 2026, including interim payment arrangements while liability is assessed, a maximum of 130 weeks of weekly payments in many cases rather than the longer general limit, and higher whole person impairment thresholds for continuing payments beyond that point. Those thresholds are also staged to increase further in later years.

The reforms do not apply uniformly. Certain categories of worker — including coal miners, volunteers, and exempt workers such as police officers, paramedics and firefighters — are treated differently, and the applicable rules depend on when the claim was notified or made. If your claim involves a psychological injury in NSW, check current SIRA guidance or obtain advice about the rules applicable to your injury rather than relying on general information.

Why payments can reduce over time (step-downs)

A step-down is a scheduled reduction in the rate of your weekly payments as you move from one stage to the next. It is built into the legislation in every state. It is not a penalty, and it does not mean your claim has been questioned.

What it does mean is that the amount arriving in your account can fall on a predictable date. When that happens differs by state:

• NSW and Victoria: the drop from 95% to 80% takes effect at the end of week 13. In Victoria there is a further practical reduction at 52 weeks, when overtime and shift allowances drop out of the PIAWE calculation.
• Tasmania: the first reduction is at 26 weeks (100% down to 90–95%), and a second at 78 weeks (down to 80–85%). Importantly, Tasmanian step-downs do not apply if you have returned to 50% or more of your normal hours.
• WA: the reduction from 100% to 85% takes effect after 26 weeks.

Budgeting from week one on the assumption the first rate continues indefinitely is an avoidable difficulty. Ask your insurer, in advance and in writing, for the date your next step-down takes effect and the new figure.

In NSW and Victoria the rate that applies after the first period also depends on your certified capacity and, where you have returned to work, on the hours you are working. A worker with no current capacity and a worker who has returned to substantial hours may be treated differently from a worker who has returned to limited hours.

Your certificate of capacity (in WA and Victoria, the medical certificate of capacity) is an important part of the evidence about your current work capacity, but it is not necessarily the only material considered — the insurer may also rely on other medical, vocational and employment evidence, and can make a formal work capacity decision. Check that your certificate accurately records your symptoms, restrictions and current capacity, and discuss any clinical inaccuracies with your treating practitioner.

Returning to work on reduced hours or altered duties has its own implications for payments and for the claim generally. We’ve covered that in modified duties and workers compensation.

What can change your weekly payment

General orientation only. The structure, terminology and criteria differ between states.

Some issues come up repeatedly in these claims, in every state.

• Assuming payments mean acceptance. Provisional or without-prejudice payments can begin before liability is determined in NSW, TAS and WA (and provisional treatment in VIC for mental injury). A worker may not realise the position is still open.
• Not knowing a step-down is scheduled. The reduction can arrive as a surprise rather than as an event that was budgeted for — and it lands at a different week depending on the state.
• Never exploring permanent impairment. Weekly payments continue, the worker assumes that is the claim, and a separate entitlement — with a different threshold in each state — goes unexamined.
• Accepting a work capacity decision without querying it. These decisions come with written reasons, and review pathways exist — though the pathway and deadline depend on the decision and the state.
• A certificate that doesn’t reflect the clinical position. Worth checking that it accurately records symptoms, restrictions and capacity.
• Letting treatment lapse. Treatment history may become relevant to later stages of the claim, and treatment entitlements often run past the end of weekly payments.
• Not asking for calculations in writing. Calculation disputes can involve overtime, allowances and shift loadings. You can’t check a figure you’ve never been shown.
• Waiting until something goes wrong to get advice. Advice is most useful before a decision date, a step-down or a cap — not after payments have already stopped.