PAWE NSW CTP: weekly payments, insurer disputes and PIC pathway

PAWE stands for Pre-accident Weekly Earnings. It is the gross (before tax) weekly earnings figure used as the starting point for statutory weekly payments in a NSW CTP claim.

Under the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017, the insurer uses your PAWE as the baseline to calculate how much you are paid each week while accident-related injuries leave you unable to work or working reduced hours. A PAWE dispute is usually about the earnings inputs, the averaging period, or the statutory pathway used, not about your medical diagnosis by itself.

If your PAWE figure looks too low, ask the insurer for the calculation worksheet, compare it with your payslips, tax records, contracts, rosters, bank records and overtime or allowance evidence, then identify each correction in a short table. If the insurer has made an adverse PAWE decision, the usual first step is an internal review. If the dispute is not resolved, PAWE issues commonly proceed to the Personal Injury Commission as a merit review issue.

Do not bundle every complaint into one broad objection. Separate the PAWE calculation issue from related questions such as weekly payments stopped or reduced, work capacity, treatment disputes, or threshold injury disputes. This makes the review easier to follow and reduces the risk of using the wrong PIC pathway.

Short answer: a PAWE dispute usually starts with an insurer internal review. If the insurer maintains the calculation, or the issue is not resolved, the dispute may go to the Personal Injury Commission as a merit review issue.

If the problem is that weekly payments are still only interim after about 13 weeks, use the interim payments and PAWE delay guide to separate the worksheet, missing income records, review date and any mixed capacity or treatment issues before drafting the review request.

The pathway matters because PAWE is about the earnings figure used to calculate weekly payments. That is different from a medical assessment, treatment dispute, threshold injury dispute, or capacity-for-work dispute. If the decision letter deals with more than one issue, split your response into clear headings: PAWE calculation, weekly payment consequence, medical or capacity issue, and the evidence relied on for each part.

Useful related guides: internal review in NSW CTP claims, PIC merit review vs medical assessment, and dispute resolution guidelines and PIC pathways.

Your weekly payments are a percentage of your PAWE, subject to a statutory maximum cap. The percentages change over time:

• Weeks 1 – 13: You are generally entitled to 95% of your PAWE (less any current earnings).
• Weeks 14 – 52 (and beyond): The percentage typically drops to 80% or 85%, depending on whether you have total or partial capacity for work.

Because every dollar of your PAWE affects your weekly income for months or years, a calculation error by the insurer can result in significant financial loss over time.

PAWE is determined under Schedule 1 of the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW). The full 52-week average is only one pathway, not the only pathway.

• Standard pathway (Sch 1 cl 4(1)): weekly average of relevant gross earnings over the 12 months immediately before the accident.
• Less than 12 months continuous earnings (Sch 1 cl 4(2)): a different averaging period can apply where the person has not had 52 weeks of continuous earnings before the accident.
• Self-employed earners (Sch 1 cl 4 and related definitions): evidence usually requires stronger reconciliation of business income and expenses (for example invoices, BAS/tax material, bank records, and contracts).
• Change of circumstances pathways (Sch 1 framework): where earnings had materially changed before the accident, the legislation may require a different approach rather than a blunt historical average.

So in practice: saying “PAWE = 52 weeks” is often incomplete. The legal question is which statutory pathway applies to your facts, then how earnings are proved under that pathway.

Insurers often make errors by failing to include overtime, bonuses, shift penalties, commissions, or by using the wrong averaging period. If you believe your PAWE is too low:

1. Request the calculation details: Ask the insurer for a breakdown of how they reached the figure.
2. Gather evidence: Collect payslips, tax returns, rosters, bank statements, and employment contracts for the full 52-week period.
3. Check the dispute type carefully: PAWE issues often overlap with weekly payments disputes and may need to be framed as a merit review issue rather than a medical dispute.
4. Request an Internal Review: Formally challenge the decision with the insurer and explain each earnings component that has been omitted or miscalculated.
5. Escalate to the PIC: If the insurer does not correct the error, you can apply for a Merit Review at the Personal Injury Commission.

Practical timing tip: In the first 14 days after receiving a PAWE decision, secure the insurer worksheet, build a two-column “insurer figure vs corrected figure” table, and attach pinpoint evidence references. This usually improves review quality and makes escalation cleaner if needed.

Where helpful, align your submission language with the SIRA Motor Accident Guidelines so the reviewer can see exactly how your evidence fits the statutory framework.

Common PAWE disputes include:

• Overtime and allowances omitted: the insurer includes base pay but excludes regular overtime, shift loadings, or other recurring earnings.
• Recent role changes ignored: the insurer uses a blunt 52-week average without properly assessing a promotion, new job, or changed hours shortly before the accident.
• Self-employed income understated: business expenses, BAS records, invoices, and tax returns are not analysed properly.
• Multiple jobs not combined correctly: one job is counted while another is ignored.
• PAWE confused with work capacity: insurers sometimes blur earnings disputes with separate work-capacity decisions, even though they involve different reasoning and sometimes different PIC pathways.

That is why it helps to map the earnings issue against related pages on merit review vs medical assessment and capacity for work disputes.

If the insurer has issued a decision about your PAWE that you disagree with, or if you are self-employed and unsure how to prove your earnings, you should contact us immediately. We can review the insurer’s calculation, identify the correct dispute pathway, and ensure your statutory benefits position is properly put.