PAWE calculation in NSW CTP weekly payments

PAWE amount is the pre-accident earnings baseline. A work-capacity decision asks what work you can now do because of the accident-related injury. A weekly-payment amount combines those questions with statutory percentages and post-accident earnings.

This distinction matters. A payslip dispute is answered primarily with earnings records. A capacity dispute needs medical, functional, rehabilitation, job-duty and vocational evidence. If an insurer letter mixes both issues, respond under separate headings.

Do not treat these as one dispute. A corrected PAWE figure can increase the calculation baseline, but it does not by itself prove ongoing incapacity or avoid statutory cessation rules.

• Employee: a full-time employee may need 12 months of payslips, payroll summaries, overtime history and any allowance or commission records. The issue is whether ordinary and recurring earnings have been properly captured.
• Casual worker: a casual worker may have variable shifts, loading, overtime and roster changes. Roster history and bank deposits can help explain why a short sample period is misleading.
• Self-employed contractor: invoices alone may not prove net earning position. Tax returns, BAS, bank statements, contracts and business expenses may be needed to reconcile income properly.
• Business owner: the assessment may need to separate business turnover, deductible expenses, owner drawings, wages paid to others and personal exertion income. Accountant material can be important.
• Multiple employment: if you had two jobs or a job plus contracting income, check whether all streams were identified and whether the dates overlap the relevant pre-accident period.

These are examples only. The correct statutory pathway depends on the precise employment pattern before the accident.

Send documents in a dated bundle with a short index. Mark which document proves each disputed amount so the reviewer does not have to reconstruct the whole earnings history.

Under the current NSW scheme, weekly-payment formulas change across entitlement periods. In the first 13 weeks, section 3.6 of the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 uses a 95% framework applied to the difference between PAWE and post-accident earning capacity or post-accident earnings, using the greater of those post-accident figures where relevant. In weeks 14 to 78, section 3.7 uses 80% for total loss and 85% for partial loss concepts. After week 78, section 3.8 focuses on pre-accident earning capacity and post-accident earning capacity rather than simply repeating the PAWE calculation.

Important: a payment can change even where the PAWE amount is correct. It can change because the statutory percentage changes, actual post-accident earnings change, the insurer assesses a different earning capacity, the maximum weekly statutory benefit applies, or a statutory cessation or suspension rule is relied on.

Current cessation issues can include the 52-week rule for people determined to be wholly or mostly at fault or whose only injuries are threshold injuries, maximum weekly-payment periods, retiring-age rules, failure to provide required authorisations or medical evidence, certificate issues, and claim-specific decisions. Those are not PAWE disputes. Older accident dates may involve different rules, so check the accident date and the decision notice.

Warning: this example is deliberately simplified. It is not a calculator, not advice, and not a promise about your entitlement. Individual circumstances, statutory caps, tax treatment, post-accident earnings, capacity findings, accident date and cessation rules can change the result.

Example: an injured person has PAWE of $1,200 and no post-accident earning capacity or earnings during the first 13 weeks. A simplified first-period calculation may start with 95% of the $1,200 difference: $1,140 per week before any cap, tax or other adjustment. If that person later returns to suitable work earning $400 per week, the calculation must take post-accident earnings or earning capacity into account. The corrected PAWE figure does not make the $1,140 figure automatic.

If the same person is in weeks 14 to 78, the statutory percentage framework changes. If there is total loss, the calculation may use an 80% concept. If there is partial loss, the 85% difference concept may be relevant. After week 78, earning-capacity comparisons become central. Ask for the insurer worksheet rather than guessing the result from a headline percentage.

1. Ask for the worksheet: get the calculation period, included amounts, excluded amounts, entitlement period and reasons.
2. Build your own evidence table: list each payslip, invoice, roster, allowance, overtime item or business record with dates.
3. Separate non-PAWE issues: create different headings for capacity, certificates, post-accident earnings or threshold injury if they appear in the same letter.
4. Request internal review if needed: challenge the decision with pinpoint evidence, not a general complaint about hardship.
5. Escalate carefully: unresolved PAWE calculation disputes commonly sit in a merit-review pathway, while medical and capacity issues may follow different pathways.

The current Motor Accident Guidelines require the insurer to give written notice explaining the PAWE calculation, the relevant entitlement period, internal review information and the right to seek independent legal advice. Check the notice carefully, but do not assume a PAWE calculation is wrong without matching records.

A useful review bundle usually includes the decision notice, PAWE worksheet, a one-page corrected calculation table, tabbed income records, current post-accident earnings, certificates of capacity if capacity is also in issue, and a short chronology of employment changes.

If the deadline is close, lodge the core review before the deadline with the best available records, identify what is missing, and state when supplementary documents will be provided. Keep proof of lodgement.

Seek advice if the insurer has issued a decision reducing or stopping weekly payments, the PAWE worksheet excludes substantial earnings, the letter mixes PAWE with medical capacity, you are self-employed or a business owner, or there is a review/PIC deadline. Send the decision notice, worksheet, wage records, current earnings and certificate documents.