Weekly payments and compensation
Types of workers compensation payments you may get, when weekly payments are made and how we calculate them.
Support for when life gets tough
When life gets hard – whether with financial stress, health concerns or personal struggles – there’s help and support available.
Support if your claim is accepted
If you've experienced a work-related injury or illness, we may be able to cover your lost wages and medical bills if your workers' compensation claim is accepted.
Payments vary based on your circumstances, and limits apply.
Read about how to make a workers’ compensation claim.
Workers’ compensation may cover
- Lost wages (we call this weekly compensation)
- Medical and rehabilitation costs
- Travel for treatment for your claim
- Lump sum compensation for if you have a permanent impairment
- Death benefits and funeral costs
Workers’ compensation doesn’t cover
- Damage to your personal items
- Damage to your car if your injury happened travelling to or from work
- Hospital costs which have not been pre-approved by us
When payments start and stop
When payments start
Your weekly compensation payments usually start from the time your doctor says you cannot work because of your injury or illness.
Your employer pays the first week’s compensation as their excess payment.
We then pay your ongoing weekly compensation on your normal pay cycle if we can.
Tax will be deducted in the same way as from your normal wages.
We don’t take deductions for things like your superannuation. Your employer might still have to pay your super while you’re receiving workers’ compensation. This will depend on your award or workplace agreement.
You may also get a backpay from the date you first saw your doctor.
When payments stop
Your payments will stop when the first of these happens:
- you return to work on full hours
- you receive a lump sum offer
- you've been receiving weekly compensation for five years
- you’ve reach been paid the maximum amount allowed by the law.
Payments may stop if a medical assessment shows that your injury no longer prevents you from working and further treatment is unlikely to improve your condition.
Queensland Ordinary Time Earnings (QOTE), which reflects Queensland’s average weekly earnings, is used to calculate this maximum payment.
Find out more about what happens if your claim is closed.
How we work out your weekly compensation payments
We work out your weekly compensation using what you earned in the 12 months before your injury or illness. This is called your normal weekly earnings (NWE).
If you’ve been in your job for less than 12 months, we use what you’ve earned so far.
We may also use wages from a someone doing a similar job.
The amount of your weekly compensation may change over time, depending on how long you receive compensation. These payments may be less than your NWE.
For injuries after 1 Jan 2008
What we look at
Your payments depend on:
- the date of your injury
- when your doctor first assessed your injury
- how long your doctor says you need to be off work
- how long you’ve been receiving weekly compensation
- whether your job is covered by an award or agreement.
We may also use Queensland Ordinary Time Earnings (QOTE), which reflects Queensland’s average weekly earnings if we need to pay you a basic weekly payment.
Read about basic weekly payments.
Wage information we can use
- Salary or wages
- Regular overtime
- Higher duties
- Penalty rates
Allowances and expenses we can’t use
- Travel costs
- Car costs
- Relocation costs
- Meal costs
- Education costs
- Living‑away‑from‑home costs
- Entertainment costs
- Clothing costs
- Costs for tools
- Superannuation
- Lump sum termination payments
- Insurance excess paid by an employer
Wage information from your employer
We’ll ask your employer for your payslips or payroll reports.
Once we ask, they need to respond to us within five business days.
If we don’t get the information we need, we can still pay you a basic weekly payment until we can work out your weekly compensation rate.
Information for employers
If your worker needs time off work because of a work-related injury or illness, we’ll ask you for their wage information.
This helps us work out their weekly compensation rate.
We’ll ask you for
- A payroll report for 12 months before the injury, or
- payslips for the same period (or from their start date, if they’ve worked for you for less than 12 months).
Once we ask, you need to send us the information within five business days.
You can upload it through your WorkCover Connect online account – it’s quick and easy.
You’ll also need to pay an excess
You’ll pay this directly to your worker as their first weekly compensation payment.
Find out more about employer claims excess.
If you don’t agree with the weekly compensation rate
If you don’t agree with how we’ve calculated your worker’s weekly compensation, get in touch.
We’ll talk to you about the calculation and can give you a written explanation of the decision.
You can also ask for an independent review of the decision.
Last updated