Comcare payments are changing: what the schedule says, and what it does not decide

Your payments have changed, or a letter says they are about to. This page sets out the incapacity payment schedule in the Comcare scheme, with the section numbers, so you can check it yourself. It explains a scheme, not your claim.

The schedule has a step built into it at 45 weeks. When the amount drops, that is usually the formula running to plan, not a finding that you cannot work.

The scheme runs under the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth), the SRC Act. It covers Australian Government employees, and employees of corporations holding a self-insurance licence, where the licensee manages the claim rather than Comcare (Income support).

What happens in the first 45 weeks?

The weekly payment is normal weekly earnings, called NWE, less actual earnings (s19(2)).

These are not calendar weeks. Section 19(2A)(b) counts in hours: the higher rate runs while the hours prevented from working do not exceed 45 times normal weekly hours. Comcare says this is "calculated cumulatively, not consecutively", so three single days off across three weeks counts as 0.6 of a week (Income support).

What happens after 45 weeks?

The payment becomes an adjustment percentage of NWE, less actual earnings (s19(3)), stepping on hours worked in the week:

• not employed that week: 75%
• 25% or less of normal weekly hours: 80%
• more than 25% and up to 50%: 85%
• more than 50% and up to 75%: 90%
• more than 75% but under 100%: 95%
• 100%: 100%

Comcare's example: 5 hours against 37.5 normal weekly hours is 13%, so 80%; 20 hours is 53%, so 90% (Income support, Table 1).

Read the left column again. The step turns on hours worked, not on capacity and not on a medical opinion about capacity. Someone working no hours sits at 75%.

A ceiling and a floor sit over the amount: $3,125.55 a week from 13 August 2026 (s19(5)), and the lesser of $615.86 a week and 90% of NWE (ss19(6) to 19(7)). Both index each 1 July (s13).

How does superannuation change the amount?

Sections 20, 21 and 21A recalculate the weekly payment where a superannuation pension, a lump sum, or both are received. Comcare: "your incapacity payments will be adjusted to reflect the employer funded component of the superannuation benefit" (Income support). That is a Commonwealth superannuation benefit offsetting a weekly payment. Insurance inside a superannuation fund is a different thing, and no source checked for this page says an insurance benefit affects Comcare payments.

When do payments stop, and when do they only pause?

Weekly payments are not payable once a person reaches pension age, as defined in the Social Security Act 1991 (s23(1)). Where the injury happened within the 2 years before pension age, or after it, they run for a maximum of 104 weeks, consecutive or not (ss23(1A), 23(1B)). They also stop after a redemption determination (s23(3)).

Some things pause payments rather than end them: refusing or failing, without reasonable excuse, a rehabilitation assessment examination (s36), a rehabilitation program (s37), a medical examination (s57), or a claim information requirement (s58). Medical treatment under s16 is not suspended.

Where weekly payments fall to $152.50 a week or less and the degree of incapacity is unlikely to change, Comcare must redeem them as a lump sum (s30(1), ceiling from 1 July 2026), and can restore them later if the person cannot engage in suitable employment indefinitely (s31). Comcare states redemptions are taxable.

Permanent impairment is a separate payment on a separate test: a percentage assessed under the approved Guide (s24(5), s28), nothing payable below 10% whole person impairment (s24(7)), maximum $243,910.36 from 1 July 2026 (s24(9)).

What happens after you leave the agency?

Payments may continue after separation. Comcare states the amount is affected by the reason for leaving, medical ability to earn, employer funded superannuation accessed, Centrelink benefits (treated as earnings, and repaid to Centrelink), a Department of Veterans' Affairs pension, earnings, and a "determined ability to earn (deeming)". They are not automatic: a current Medical Certificate of Capacity, payslips and a Record of Earnings form are needed each period (Income support).

Is this the same test a TPD policy uses?

No. Comcare says it does not administer invalidity retirement: "An application for invalidity retirement is managed by your nominated superannuation fund" (Long-term injury or impairment). Three decisions, three decision-makers, three tests: a Comcare incapacity decision, a Commonwealth superannuation invalidity decision, and a total and permanent disability or income protection insurance decision.

Total and permanent disability cover and income protection cover inside superannuation are contracts. The test sits in the policy, and an insurer applies it. A TPD policy is assessed under its own definition, set out in the policy document, not under a scheme's whole person impairment percentage. The 10% figure in s24(7) does not appear in those policies, and the s19(3) step-down is a formula about hours worked, not a finding about whether someone can work again.

So a step-down to 75%, payments ceasing at pension age, a redemption under s30, or an impairment assessed below 10%, are decisions under the SRC Act. None decides a TPD or income protection claim. That runs both ways: it does not mean a claim exists. One door closing is not a decision about a different door, and what any policy would do depends on the policy.

The same holds for a state claim. Victoria stops weekly payments at 130 weeks unless a worker has no current work capacity likely to continue indefinitely and impairment above 20% (Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic), s 163(1)). New South Wales cuts off at 260 weeks unless impairment is above 20% (Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), s 39). Neither is the policy test.

What can you do this week?

Ask for your file, in writing. Every step-down, suspension, redemption and impairment assessment is a determination, and each comes with a decision letter. A written request to the case manager for those letters puts a date on the record.

Call your super fund. Have your member number if you can find it. "I'm not sure" is a fine answer to anything they ask. Questions worth asking:

• What insurance is attached to this account: total and permanent disability, income protection, or death cover?
• Is each cover active now, and has it ever lapsed or been switched off?
• What cover applied on the date I was injured, and can you send that insurance guide?
• Are there any time limits for making a claim?

Ask every fund you have held, including ones you no longer pay into.

What costs nothing?

• Reconsideration of a Comcare determination is a free internal review. Comcare states an application must be submitted within 30 days, or an extension of time sought.
• Your super fund can tell you what cover is attached, at no cost.
• If a superannuation or insurance decision does not seem right, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is free (afca.org.au).
• The National Debt Helpline offers free financial counselling on 1800 007 007 (ndh.org.au).

ClaimsGuide does not run claims or assess entitlements. We explain how these systems connect and, if you want, introduce you to a firm on our panel. You never pay us. Panel firms do.

Check everything on this page

Checked 14 August 2026.

• Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth), compilation in force 1 July 2026: ss 13, 16, 19, 20, 21, 21A, 23, 24, 28, 30, 31, 36, 37, 57 and 58.
• Comcare, Statutory rates for compensation
• Comcare, Income support
• Comcare, Long-term injury or impairment
• Social Security Act 1991 (Cth), ss 23(5A) to 23(5D)
• Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2013 (Vic), version 053, s 163(1)
• Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), s 39