How are PAWE and weekly payments worked out for gig or platform work?

Export complete platform statements for the relevant pre-accident period, not selected screenshots. Reconcile gross fares or job value, platform commission, incentives, tips, cancellations, GST treatment and net bank transfers. Add tax returns, notices of assessment, BAS, bank statements and an accountant schedule where the activity is conducted as a business.

Schedule 1 defines loss of earnings through income from personal exertion, including employee amounts and proceeds of a business. The statutory PAWE method uses gross earnings and specified periods. The correct treatment of business proceeds and expenses can require accounting evidence; turnover should not be assumed to equal the claimant’s weekly personal earnings.

If several platforms or jobs operated together, disclose all sources and map each once. A spreadsheet should state the period, source and whether the number is gross customer revenue, platform net, taxable business income or another figure. Unsupported averaging can materially distort seasonal or irregular work.

Keep weekly platform activity, completed jobs, online hours, cancellations, incentives, gross receipts, platform fees and necessary expenses. Actual earnings and work activity can be relevant to both the payment amount and earning capacity, but logging into an app is not necessarily the same as completing paid work.

If the claimant changes from driving to a different platform or reduces hours, record why. Vehicle unavailability, account suspension, low demand and personal choice are different from medical restriction. The insurer may dispute whether the accident caused the income change unless medical and activity evidence connect the loss.

The insurer may assess capacity above actual platform income. Test the proposed hours, work type, physical demands, location, demand and rate. After week 78, reasonably available employment is broader than the original platform work, subject to the Schedule 1 and Guidelines factors.

Disputes commonly arise from incomplete apps, mixing gross and net figures, unexplained transfers, personal and business costs, cash tips, seasonal weeks, vehicle expenses or a later amended tax return. The answer is a reconciled source schedule, not a single preferred document.

Wade v QBE illustrates why self-employed PAWE evidence must be tested against underlying business records rather than treated as resolved by a later amended return. A decision in another case does not set a universal expense method, but it shows why contemporaneous invoices, accounts and explanations matter.

Ask for the insurer worksheet and identify every disputed input. The amount of weekly benefits can be subject to internal review and PIC merit review. If records are insufficient for a reliable calculation, obtain an accountant-assisted and legal review rather than asking the calculator to guess.