Class an NSW injury payment for a compensation preclusion period
MaintainedLast reviewed
Key facts
- Human involvement
- YellowClose supervision
- How AI is used
- From the payment the lawyer marks, set out the section 17 class, whether it is periodic or a lump sum, and the compensation-part rule that class attracts. Do not state the number of weeks or a dollar cut-out amount.
- What the lawyer must review
- Decide whether the payment is for lost earnings or lost capacity, and whether it is periodic or a lump sum.
- Use the 50 per cent rule only in the settlement cases section 17(3) states.
- Arrears of periodic payments are not a lump sum. Do not invent the subsection (4) figure.
- Keep medical details in the firm's system. Apply ASCR rule 9, APP 11, and the Privacy Act notifiable-breach test.
Rules that apply
The document starts from the task name. Change it if this piece of work is different.
The work product
Forum. Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) section 17, applied to a New South Wales damages, workers compensation or motor-accident payment
Produce. A classification of the payment and the compensation-part rule. No week count and no dollar cut-out.
Have ready. The payment instrument and amount the lawyer marks; Whether payments were periodic, including weekly workers compensation; Whether a lump sum required repayment of periodic payments; Settlement date or award date.
Example of the limit. Illustrative example: Weekly workers compensation was paid, then stopped, and a damages settlement followed. The tool classes the weekly payments as periodic and the settlement under section 17(3). It does not divide a lump sum by a dollar figure, and it does not treat arrears of the weekly payments as a second lump sum.
Stop and hand it back when
- The lawyer has not said whether the payment is wholly or partly for lost earnings or lost capacity.
- Subsection (4) is in play and the formula figure has not been taken from the current compilation.
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
- Section 17(2) includes damages, a payment under a State scheme, a settlement of such a claim, and any other compensation or damages, whether a lump sum or periodic, made wholly or partly for lost earnings or lost capacity.
- Section 17(2A) takes some contributed payments, such as payments funded by premiums, outside paragraph (2)(d) in the cases it states. Section 17(2B) says a payment under a law that provides compensation for a criminal injury is not compensation.
- The compensation part is 50 per cent in the settlement cases in subsection (3)(a) and the periodic-to-lump-sum cases in subsection (3)(ab). Otherwise it is so much as the Secretary considers is for lost earnings or lost capacity. Subsection (4A) says arrears of periodic payments are not a lump sum.
- The agency page usually starts the period on the injury, or the day after periodic payments such as weekly workers compensation stop. Where subsection (4) applies, the formula image did not render. Do not state a subtracted figure.
Sources
- Social Security Act 1991 (Cth) section 17 · 2026-10-23
- Services Australia: How we calculate preclusion periods · 2026-10-23
Section 17(8) sets the income cut-out amount by a formula, as in force when the compensation was received: twice the sum of the maximum basic rate, the pension supplement component and the energy supplement component, plus the ordinary free area, divided by 52. The agency page describes the divisor as the income-test limit for a single rate pension at settlement. The lawyer uses the figure in force on the relevant date and does not treat those descriptions as a dollar amount copied from this note.
A contested court or tribunal award is calculated on the agency page from the amount awarded for loss of earnings. That sits with section 17(3)(b), not with the 50 per cent settlement rule.