Claims without ordinary wages
Can a homemaker or non-earner make a NSW CTP claim?
Yes - wages are not required for every CTP benefit
A homemaker, unpaid carer, student or other person without current wages can lodge a NSW CTP personal injury benefits claim. Treatment and care are not limited to employees. Weekly payments are different because they replace qualifying earnings and require the statutory earner and loss tests. A person without weekly payments may still have important treatment, care, liability, threshold injury, WPI or damages issues.
Unpaid work can be physically demanding and central to a household, but PAWE is a statutory earnings calculation. The insurer should not insert a notional wage for household duties into weekly payments. Instead, the claim should document how the injury affects daily function and whether additional reasonable and necessary services or equipment are required because of the accident.
A non-earner may also have been preparing to start work, working intermittently, studying for a vocation or operating an informal business. Those facts need documents and individual assessment; they should not be assumed from a generic description such as “not working”.
Reviewed by Herman Chan, Stephen Young Lawyers
Which CTP benefits do not depend on a wage?
Reasonable and necessary treatment and care related to the motor accident can be claimed through statutory benefits. This can include supported medical, rehabilitation and care services, subject to the insurer applying the current Act and Guidelines. The treatment request should identify the condition, goals, frequency, cost and relationship to the crash.
Weekly payments are calculated for an earner who suffers accident-related loss of earnings. A person performing only unpaid domestic work may not have PAWE. That does not turn the treatment claim into a wage claim, and it does not justify refusing supported treatment merely because there is no payslip.
How should household and caring limitations be proved?
Describe specific tasks rather than saying “I cannot do housework”. Relevant detail can include lifting a child, meal preparation, vacuuming, laundry, shopping, driving, personal care, supervision and the time or assistance now required. Compare the same tasks before and after the accident.
A treating practitioner or occupational therapist can identify safe methods, temporary help, equipment and rehabilitation goals. Keep a record of paid assistance and genuine family help, but do not assume every hour becomes a compensable damages item. The applicable statutory rules and evidence must be checked.
What if I planned to return to work?
Evidence of an actual employment arrangement, recent work pattern, business activity, study completion or applications may be relevant to the earner definition or a later economic-loss claim. A general intention to work at some point is usually less persuasive than contemporaneous records showing a concrete pathway.
Common law damages require separate fault, injury and loss analysis. Statutory treatment acceptance does not automatically establish damages. Non-economic loss is available only in an otherwise eligible damages claim where accident-related permanent impairment is greater than 10%.
Practical next steps
How should the claim be organised?
Show the injury, the pre-accident role and the additional accident-related need without turning unpaid work into an invented wage.
Lodge the approved claim form
A lack of current employment does not remove the need to lodge the statutory personal injury benefits claim within the applicable period.
Record the pre-accident baseline
List ordinary household, study, caring and community activities and any help already received.
Document the practical change
Use a task diary, treatment notes and reports that explain restrictions, assistance and recovery goals.
Preserve any work-pathway evidence
Keep contracts, job offers, applications, invoices, study records or business material if paid work had begun or was arranged.
Request written insurer decisions
A treatment or care refusal should state reasons, evidence relied on and available review rights.
Evidence
Evidence checklist for a homemaker or non-earner
Focus on actual function and supported services, while keeping any earnings evidence separate.
- Medical records, referrals and certificates describing the accident injury and functional restrictions.
- A pre- and post-accident comparison of household, caring, study and community tasks.
- Treatment plans and occupational-therapy assessments with measurable goals.
- Invoices or quotations for approved assistance, equipment or services.
- Records of help already received before the crash and additional help afterwards.
- Job offer, employment arrangement, recent payslips, invoices or study-completion evidence where relevant.
- The insurer decision and reasons for any treatment, care or eligibility dispute.
- A chronology linking the accident, symptoms, treatment and change in function.
What should not be assumed?
- No current wage does not mean there is no valid personal injury benefits claim.
- Unpaid household work is not automatically converted into PAWE or a weekly benefit.
- A family member helping voluntarily does not establish that every claimed service is reasonable and necessary.
- A future-work claim needs objective evidence, not only a statement that work might have started.
- Treatment, threshold injury, WPI and common law damages are separate decisions.
Timing
Time limits still apply when there are no wages
Do not wait for employment or household arrangements to settle before protecting the injury claim.
- The general period for lodging a statutory personal injury benefits claim is three months after the motor accident.
- The 28-day weekly-payment backdating issue may matter if evidence later shows the person met the statutory earner definition.
- Police reporting is generally required within 28 days unless police attended.
- A common law damages claim has a separate general three-year period and separate eligibility requirements.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a stay-at-home parent claim physiotherapy?
- Potentially, if the treatment is reasonable, necessary and related to the motor accident. Employment status is not the treatment test.
- Can I receive weekly payments for unpaid household duties?
- Weekly payments replace qualifying earnings under the statutory scheme. Unpaid domestic work does not itself create PAWE.
- Can paid home help be requested?
- A supported request may be considered. It should identify the accident-related need, tasks, frequency, cost, duration and clinical goals.
- What if I had accepted a job before the accident?
- Keep the written offer or arrangement. The statutory earner and PAWE provisions contain specific categories that require individual assessment.
- Does being a student prevent a CTP claim?
- No. A student can still claim accident-related treatment and care. Earnings and any future economic-loss issue require separate evidence.
- Can I claim damages if I had no income?
- Possibly, but damages require separate fault, injury and loss requirements. The absence of earnings may affect economic loss, not whether every other damages issue exists.
Related NSW CTP guides
Official sources
- Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW), current in-force version
- Motor Accident Injuries Regulation 2017 (NSW), current in-force version
- SIRA guide for people injured in motor accidents in NSW
- Service NSW: apply for personal injury benefits after a motor vehicle accident
The legislation and SIRA material linked above are the public-source basis for this page. Medical and legal conclusions depend on the accident date, the current law, the insurer decision and the evidence in the individual claim.
A claim is more than a wage calculation
Need help presenting a claim without ordinary earnings?
Send the insurer decision, treatment request and a short description of pre- and post-accident function. We can identify which benefit or damages question actually needs attention.
General information only: This page is about the NSW motor accidents scheme and is not legal or medical advice. It does not promise claim acceptance, treatment approval, weekly payments or damages. Urgent symptoms require prompt advice from an appropriate health practitioner.