Renewing your policy

At the beginning of each period of insurance, your policy will need to be renewed. This is done in one of two ways, via an automatic assessment or the usual Declaration of Wages form.

Automatic assessment

If your premium from the previous insurance period was $1100 or less, your policy will likely be automatically assessed. Using wages information we currently hold about your policy, we will estimate your premium for the coming insurance period. We will do this by applying an uplift factor to the wages you estimated for the last period, and use this figure to calculate your premium for the next period.

You will be sent a Premium Notice (automatic assessment), which tells you the premium due and the payment options and due dates available to you. The Premium Notice will clearly show what figures were used to arrive at that premium. If the wages used are not similar to the wages your business actually had, or expects to have, you are required to contact us to provide your own wages information by 31 August. Your premium will be reassessed using your wages information and you will then be sent a new Premium Notice, outlining the premium you are required to pay.

Declaration of Wages

If your premium the previous insurance period was $1100 or more, you will likely be sent a Declaration of Wages form. You will be required to provide your wages details to by 31 August, so your premium for the coming insurance period can be assessed. You can lodge your wages information with us by:

• using our online service
• telephone
• fax

• mail.

You are required to provide the wages you paid in the last insurance period (actual wages) and a reasonable estimate of the wages you expect to pay for the next period of insurance.

If you are an employer of workers, you must declare all amounts paid to those workers. It is important to note that an individual can be a worker, even if they have an ABN and are responsible for their own tax.

Consequences of not lodging

Failure to lodge your wages information by 31 August means that you have not complied with Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003. As a result, you will not be eligible for the discounted premium or payment plan options.

Any employer that does not lodge their wages information with WorkCover Queensland on time will have their policy automatically assessed in early September. In other words, WorkCover Queensland will determine what we believe you should be paying. You have the right to object to this premium assessment. To do this, you must provide your wages information to WorkCover Queensland within 7 days. If you do not object, you must pay your full premium by 30 September.

Further information can be found in the following fact sheet::

Wages Definition Manual