NSW Work Injury Claim

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Section 78 notice NSW: what to do in the first 7 days

A section 78 notice can feel final. In practice, it is often the beginning of a dispute timeline where early evidence control makes the biggest difference. This guide gives you a practical response plan to avoid preventable gaps.

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Quick answer: what should you do first after a section 78 notice?

Save the notice exactly as received, map each insurer reason to a specific evidence task, and book your treating doctor immediately for a reason-by-reason response. If payments or treatment are affected, run dispute steps and income-protection steps in parallel.

First 48 hours: lock down the record

  1. Save the notice exactly as received, including email headers or attachments.
  2. Translate each insurer reason into plain language (causation, capacity, treatment necessity, etc.).
  3. Book your treating doctor and ask for a report that addresses each insurer reason directly.
  4. Build a chronology of incident date, reporting date, certificates, treatment requests, and insurer responses.

Days 3 to 7: build dispute-ready evidence

  • Request missing records (imaging, specialist reports, employer incident records, wage data if payments are affected).
  • Identify the live issue type so you pick the right channel: liability, work capacity, treatment, or weekly payment dispute.
  • Cross-check your facts against the section 78 notice guide and the claim denied framework.
  • Where weekly payments are impacted, compare insurer calculations with your PIAWE records before underpayments stack up.

Common mistake that weakens section 78 challenges

Many workers respond with broad fairness arguments instead of matching each insurer reason to objective evidence. In practice, targeted clinical and factual rebuttal usually carries more weight than general disagreement.

If escalation is needed

If the insurer does not reverse quickly, map out your next procedural step early through the PIC disputes process. Files involving payments, capacity, and treatment at once often need a joined-up strategy, not separate reactive replies.

When treatment is denied at the same time

A common risk pattern is liability dispute + treatment interruption. Keep treatment evidence moving while you challenge the notice. Use the treatment denied guide for medical continuity steps, and the unfair IME response guide when insurer reliance is built on a thin one-off assessment.

Related NSW dispute guides