How Section 66 lump sums are calculated in NSW

Section 66 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 provides lump sum compensation for permanent impairment resulting from a compensable injury. It is separate from weekly payments, treatment expenses and work injury damages. A worker may have ongoing incapacity or treatment needs without meeting a Section 66 threshold, and meeting a threshold does not prove employer negligence.

The amount depends on the assessed degree of impairment and the statutory scale applying to the claim. This page does not quote a dollar figure because injury dates and transitional provisions can affect the applicable scale.

Exempt workers, coal miners, volunteers, dust disease claims, pre-2002 injuries and some historical claims may be governed by different rules. The worker category and injury date must be checked before applying these general thresholds.

The NSW Workers Compensation Guidelines control the assessment. They adopt and modify AMA5 for many body systems, use other specified methods for vision, hearing and primary psychiatric impairment, and exclude AMA5 Chapter 18 pain impairment. The condition must ordinarily be at maximum medical improvement before it is assessed.

The report should identify the accepted injury, body-system method, clinical findings, any regional conversion, permitted combination and every deduction. A diagnosis, scan abnormality, operation or symptom description does not create a fixed WPI result by itself.

Impairments from injuries arising from the same incident are assessed together under section 65. Permitted physical values are converted to WPI and combined using the Combined Values Chart rather than ordinary addition. Overlapping loss cannot be counted twice.

Physical and primary psychological impairment remain separate. Section 65A provides that compensation is paid for whichever produces the greater amount, not both. Where the back provision applies, the compensation amount attributable to back impairment is increased by 5%; the medical WPI percentage itself is unchanged.

A deduction is not automatic because a worker had earlier pain, degeneration or a prior diagnosis. Section 323 first requires a finding that the previous injury, pre-existing condition or abnormality contributed to the assessed degree of permanent impairment. Only that proportion is deducted.

If the proportion is too difficult or costly to determine, a one-tenth assumption may be used unless it is inconsistent with the available evidence. In Walton v State of New South Wales (Hunter New England Local Health District) [2026] NSWSC 824, the Court confirmed that the causal contribution to impairment must be established before that assumption is used.

• The interim period runs from 1 July 2026 until the new process expected in mid-2027.
• Liability for the injury must be determined before an interim assessment is made.
• The assessor must be on SIRA's current register.
• The worker must receive independent legal advice before the assessment and before entering an impairment agreement.
• If the parties do not agree, the insurer must give written notice and either party may refer the medical dispute to the Personal Injury Commission.
• A further assessment is limited to agreed unexpected and material deterioration capable of adding at least 10 percentage points.

A pre-reform assessment made before 1 July 2026 but not yet used for a Section 66 claim must generally be claimed before 1 July 2028. No new Section 66A complying agreements can be entered from 1 July 2026.

• the accepted injury description, injury date and liability decision;
• medical evidence about maximum medical improvement;
• imaging, operative reports and specialist records relevant to the body system;
• earlier records relevant to any proposed section 323 deduction;
• all impairment reports and the material provided to each assessor;
• the insurer decision or proposed impairment agreement.