How is past economic loss proved in a NSW CTP damages claim?

Certificates of Fitness are useful contemporaneous records, but a damages assessment may require a fuller opinion about diagnosis, restrictions, hours, suitable duties and the period for which the accident injury caused incapacity. If another illness, redundancy, parental leave or economic downturn also affected work, the schedule should address it rather than attributing every wage change to the crash.

Employer records can show rostered hours, duties, leave taken, overtime patterns and attempts at modified work. For self-employed claimants, business turnover is not personal loss. Accounts, expenses, labour replacement, drawings and business trends may need expert analysis.

A return to work does not necessarily end past loss. A person may work reduced hours, abandon overtime, move to a lower-paid role or rely on unusual assistance. The evidence should identify the functional reason and the monetary consequence without assuming that every employment change was injury-caused.

Use a table showing the probable without-accident earnings, actual earnings, the difference and the supporting source for each period. Break the schedule when employment, capacity or pay changed. A single average projected across years can hide a promotion, seasonal work, unpaid leave or a post-accident pay rise.

The final damages figure is not simply the gross difference. Tax, statutory weekly benefits and other recoveries or adjustments may need to be reconciled under the scheme and settlement terms. Keep the raw evidence and assumptions visible so the insurer or PIC Member can test the calculation.

PAWE serves a statutory weekly-payment function and may use a defined pre-accident period. Past damages are assessed as common-law economic loss. The two can use overlapping records but answer different legal questions. Do not copy the insurer PAWE figure into a damages schedule without checking the actual counterfactual earnings.

Insurers may argue that the person had capacity for more work, failed to mitigate loss, left employment for unrelated reasons, would not have continued overtime, or has not disclosed all post-accident income. These points should be answered with records and a realistic chronology rather than general assertions.

A mitigation argument may involve treatment participation, job search, suitable duties or retraining. It does not mean a claimant must accept unsafe or medically unsuitable work. Record offers, applications, medical advice and reasons a role could not be sustained.

If the insurer rejects the schedule, ask it to identify the disputed periods, assumptions and source documents. That allows a targeted response and reduces the risk of producing a larger but still unfocused bundle.