WorkCover Payouts in Victoria

If you were injured at work in Victoria, your work injury compensation through WorkCover can be paid in three ways: weekly payments while you can't work, a lump sum for permanent impairment, and, if your employer was negligent and your injury is serious, common law damages.

From 1 July 2026, weekly payments are capped at $3,000 a week, and common law damages for pain and suffering can reach $783,000.

Worrying about money is often one of the hardest parts of being off work. This page explains each part of a payout, the figures that apply, and what decides how much you receive, so you know where you stand. If you need help with the claim itself, our WorkCover lawyers are here for you.

The three parts of a WorkCover payout

Weekly payments replace part of your pre-injury earnings while you can't work, or can only work reduced hours. Anyone with an accepted claim and a certificate of capacity can receive them.

The permanent impairment benefit is a no-fault lump sum, paid once your whole person impairment reaches the threshold for your type of injury.

Common law damages are a separate claim where your employer's negligence caused a serious injury. This is where pain and suffering and lost earnings are compensated.

Not everyone receives all three. Which apply to you depends on your medical assessment, your earnings, and whether a common law claim is open to you.

WorkCover also pays your reasonable medical and related expenses, which are paid as your claim runs rather than as a payout. Find out how to make a WorkCover claim.

Weekly payments

Weekly payments are based on your pre-injury average weekly earnings: what you earned on average in the year before the injury.

The statutory maximum is $3,000 a week from 1 July 2026, indexed every year. After 52 weeks, overtime and shift allowances drop out of the calculation. After 130 weeks, payments continue only if you have no capacity for work that's likely to continue, and a permanent whole person impairment of 21% or more. If your payments are cut or stopped, talk to our worker's compensation lawyers about challenging the decision.

Weekly payments estimator

Enter your pre-injury weekly earnings to estimate your WorkCover weekly payments.

The permanent impairment lump sum

If your injury leaves you with a permanent impairment, you can claim a lump sum on top of your weekly payments. It's no-fault, so it doesn't matter who caused the injury.

You can usually claim it from 12 months after the injury, once your condition has stabilised. An independent impairment assessor rates your whole person impairment, and the agent has 120 days from receiving your claim to decide. Workers under 18 are assessed once they turn 18.

Your impairment must reach a minimum level before a lump sum is payable:

• Musculoskeletal and spinal injuries (injuries to the spine, arms, legs and joints): 5% whole person impairment or more
• Other physical injuries: 10% or more
• Psychiatric injuries: 30% or more
  
  

The most you can receive for all injuries from the same incident is $783,000. Some injuries have a fixed amount: the loss of a foetus is $95,430, and total hearing loss is $250,830.

Not sure what your impairment rating means for you?

Impairment benefit, selected amounts

The amount you will receive depends on your impairment rating, the type of injury, and the year you were injured. These figures are for injuries in the 2026/27 year and are indexed every year.

Other physical and psychiatric injuries

Musculoskeletal and spinal injuries

Common law damages

A common law claim is a claim against your employer for damages, separate from your WorkCover benefits. You need two things:

1. A serious injury. An injury assessed at 30% whole person impairment or more is treated as serious. Below that, an injury can still qualify under the legal definition, which covers permanent serious impairment or loss of a body function, permanent serious disfigurement, permanent severe mental or behavioural disturbance or disorder, and loss of a foetus.
   
   
2. Negligence. Your employer, or someone else, must have caused the injury through negligence.
   
   

You apply to WorkSafe, which has 120 days to respond. Our work injury lawyers can tell you whether your injury qualifies and run the claim for you.

Common law limits from 1 July 2026

The threshold means that part of your claim must be assessed above the minimum to be paid at all. The maximums are reserved for the most serious cases.

Find out if you have a common law claim

What real WorkCover payouts look like

These are court-decided awards in real Victorian workplace injury cases. They are not a prediction of what any future claim will receive, because every case is assessed on its own facts.

Xu v Diver Foods Pty Ltd [2021] VCC 824: $705,097.78

A food production worker developed injuries to both shoulders and his neck, and a psychological reaction, after years of repetitive heavy lifting, and could not return to work. The award included $275,000 for pain and suffering. A reminder that an injury that builds up over time can be claimed, even with an underlying degenerative condition.

Kozarov v State of Victoria [2020] VSC 78: $435,000

A prosecutor developed post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder after repeated exposure to traumatic material without adequate support from her employer. The award included $200,000 for pain and suffering, and the High Court reinstated it in 2022. A reminder that psychological injuries at work are taken as seriously as physical ones.

FAQs

Your lawyers

As your WorkCover lawyers in Melbourne, Irini Piperoglou and Antonia Gianasmidis will run your claim from our office at 34 Church Street, Abbotsford. We'll explain the impairment assessment and the serious injury test in clear terms, and tell you honestly what we think your claim is likely to be worth.

We run WorkCover claims on a No Win No Fee basis. Start with a free consultation to see where you stand.

Start Your Claim Today