Apply the New South Wales permanent-impairment gateway to work injury damages
MaintainedLast reviewed
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- In the firm-controlled tool, set out the section 151H thresholds against the physical assessment and the psychological assessment the lawyer accepts. Do not decide that the gateway is met.
- What the lawyer must review
- Decide whether the physical threshold or the psychological threshold is met.
- Follow section 151H where it differs from the SIRA page.
- Check that a section 66 lump sum has been claimed with the damages claim.
- Keep medical and wage records in the firm-controlled tool. ASCR r 9 and APP 11 apply.
Rules that apply
The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.
The work product
Forum. New South Wales: the permanent-impairment gateway in section 151H of the Workers Compensation Act 1987
Produce. A gateway note for New South Wales work injury damages, with the section 151H figure and the SIRA figure both recorded.
Have ready. Physical impairment assessment; Psychological impairment assessment; Whether the psychological injury is secondary; Section 66 claim status.
Example of the limit. Illustrative example: The physical assessment is 16 per cent and the primary psychological assessment is 20 per cent. The tool does not treat 20 per cent as enough for a psychological injury. The lawyer follows section 151H and notes that SIRA still says 15 per cent.
Stop and hand it back when
- The assessments are not separated into physical and psychological.
- The tool has applied the SIRA 15 per cent figure to a psychological injury.
Sources for this task were checked on 2026-10-23.
Who does what
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Assistance | Do not begin AI assistance until the responsible lawyer has defined and confirmed its permitted scope. |
| Lawyer | Set the scope, supervise the work closely, verify every part relied on, resolve omissions and exceptions, and approve the exact output. |
Checklist
- Use at least 15 per cent for a physical injury and at least 25 per cent for a psychological injury, as section 151H states.
- Assess the injuries separately. Do not use a secondary psychological injury for the psychological threshold.
- Record that the SIRA page and the claims guide still state a single threshold of at least 15 per cent.
- Check that the section 66 lump sum is claimed before or at the same time as work injury damages.
Sources
- Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) s 151H · 2026-10-23
- SIRA workers compensation claims guide: Work injury damages · 2026-10-23
- SIRA: Work injury damages · 2026-10-23
Section 151H, in the consolidation opened on 23 October 2026, says no damages may be awarded unless the injury results in death or a degree of permanent impairment of at least 15 per cent for a physical injury, or at least 25 per cent for a psychological injury. The assessments are separate. No regard is had to impairment from a secondary psychological injury when assessing the psychological injury, and no regard is had to impairment or symptoms from a psychological injury when assessing the physical injury. The note to section 151H(3) says this does not prevent damages for both once one threshold is met. The SIRA public page and the claims guide still state a single threshold of at least 15 per cent, including for the pre-filing statement. The lawyer follows the Act and records the difference. SIRA also says a lump sum under section 66 must be claimed before or at the same time as the damages claim. The current in-force HTML on legislation.nsw.gov.au was not scraped. A search result for the 1 October 2026 compilation contained the 25 per cent psychological figure. A different subsection (9) on that Act page was not attributed to section 151H.
Keep health and wage records in a firm-controlled tool. ASCR r 9 and APP 11 apply. A breach may be notifiable under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).