What if I had just started a new job before the accident?

Clause 4(2)(a) concerns an earner who was earning continuously on the accident date but had not done so for at least 12 months. The weekly average is based on gross earnings received from the continuous start to immediately before the accident. Continuous earning requires permanent employment or a source that was likely, on the accident date, to continue for at least six months on the same or similar basis.

Clause 4(2)(b) applies where, during the 12 months before the accident, action taken by the earner caused a significant change that resulted in the person regularly earning or becoming entitled to earn more each week. Statutory examples include changing jobs, promotion, moving from part-time to full-time work or a performance-based pay increase. The calculation is the weekly average of gross earnings received or reasonably expected during the 12 months after the change.

Clause 4(2)(c) concerns a person treated as an earner because they had entered an arrangement to undertake employment or commence a business. It uses the average weekly gross earnings reasonably expected under that arrangement but for the injury. An informal hope of finding work is not the same as an evidenced arrangement.

Example 1: a claimant started permanent employment eight weeks before the accident and received AUD 12,800 gross over those eight weeks. If clause 4(2)(a) applies and no other source changes the analysis, the simplified average is AUD 1,600 per week. The insurer should not spread those earnings over the earlier part of the year when that employment did not exist.

Example 2: six weeks before the accident, the claimant voluntarily moved from part-time work at AUD 700 per week to a permanent full-time role at AUD 1,400 per week. If all clause 4(3) conditions are proved, clause 4(2)(b) looks at the gross earnings received or reasonably expected during the 12 months after the change. The calculation is not confined to the six weeks already paid, but the expected amount must be supported by the contract, roster, rate and continuity evidence.

The date and legal character of the change are central. Provide the signed contract or offer, commencement date, permanent or casual status, ordinary hours, rate, roster, probation terms and first payslips. If clause 4(2)(b) is relied on, explain the action taken by the earner and why the higher weekly earnings were regular rather than speculative.

• Signed offer, contract and acceptance correspondence.
• Start date, roster, hours and gross rate evidence.
• First payslips and employer payroll confirmation.
• Promotion, performance or hours-change documentation.
• Evidence the source was likely to continue for at least six months where relevant.
• Insurer decision identifying clause 4(2)(a), (b) or (c).

Common errors include applying the general 12-month average despite a qualifying recent start, treating every pay rise as clause 4(3), using only the short actual period when clause 4(2)(b) requires a 12-month post-change expectation, and relying on an unsigned or conditional offer as though earnings were certain. Another error is to combine a PAWE category dispute with a medical work-capacity dispute without identifying each decision.

The claimant should not reverse-engineer the category from the highest output. Start with facts, then clause, then evidence, then arithmetic.

PAWE determines the pre-accident benchmark for early weekly-payment formulas. Medical work capacity asks what the person can now earn after the injury. Common-law damages examine separate fault, injury and economic-loss evidence. The same contract may be relevant to all three, but it does not make them one legal test.

Request the clause, source period, gross total, divisor and assumptions in writing. Set out the alternative clause and facts in a one-page chronology, attach the contract and payroll evidence, and calculate the difference transparently. Check the decision-specific internal-review and PIC timing immediately.

Last reviewed: 11 August 2026. Source basis: Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW), Schedule 1; SIRA Motor Accident Guidelines version 10.1, including clauses 4.44–4.70; and current official SIRA and PIC material.

Reasonably expected earnings require evidence and judgment. The PAWE calculator should not automate a result where continuity, a significant self-initiated change or an arrangement to commence work is uncertain. Send the decision, contract and earnings chronology for individual review.