How New South Wales values an injury
There is no single payout figure for an injury. In New South Wales the amount depends first on which scheme applies, because each sets its own rules for what can be claimed and how pain and suffering is scored.
Road accidents
Lump sum damages are only available if your injury is non-threshold and someone else was at fault. Damages for pain and suffering need more than 10% whole-person impairment. Treatment and care stay as statutory benefits rather than lump sums.
Work injuries
No-fault benefits: weekly payments (time-limited for most workers), medical expenses, and a lump sum for permanent impairment once whole-person impairment reaches 11% (15% for psychological injury). Work injury damages against a negligent employer need at least 15% whole-person impairment and are limited to economic loss. Uplift fees are restricted in these claims.
Public liability and medical negligence
You must prove negligence. Non-economic loss is only payable where the injury is at least 15% of a most extreme case, and the award is scaled from there, with an indexed cap. The general limitation period is 3 years from discoverability, with a 12-year long-stop.
The parts of a payout
- General damages for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. This is what the calculator above estimates, and it is the part most affected by state thresholds and scales.
- Past and future economic loss: lost wages so far, reduced earning capacity for the rest of your working life, and lost superannuation. For serious injuries this is usually the largest component and can run to seven figures.
- Treatment, care and equipment: past and future medical costs, rehabilitation, aids, home and vehicle modifications, and the value of care from family.
What moves the number
Your age and occupation, because future income loss is calculated to retirement. Whether the injury is permanent and how it scores under the state’s impairment or injury scale. Any contribution you made to the accident, which reduces damages proportionally. And the quality of the medical evidence: a claim settles on what can be proved, not what happened.
Time limits
Lodge the application for personal injury benefits with the at-fault vehicle’s CTP insurer (or the Nominal Defendant for unidentified or unregistered vehicles) within 28 days to get benefits backdated, and within 3 months in any case. A common law damages claim must be made within 3 years. Work injury claims have their own lodgement step: Notify your employer as soon as possible and within 6 months, get a certificate of capacity, and lodge the claim with the employer’s insurer. Disputes go to the Personal Injury Commission.