Do you repay WorkCover after a Queensland CTP claim?
If you are injured in a car accident on your way to or from work, you can make a workcover claim. You can also make a CTP claim at the same time.
A common misconception is that, because you have to repay Workcover after a car accident, then it’s not even worth making a CTP claim. While this may be true in cases which involve minor injuries, but when you suffer serious injuries, you get significant extra damages in a CTP claim which you would otherwise miss out on.
What does WorkCover pay for?
After a car accident, WorkCover pays 85% of your wages and funds your medical treatment. (Keep in mind, the wage payments drop to 75% after 26 weeks). Importantly, WorkCover doesn’t pay your super.
As soon as you are able to return to work, your workcover payments will stop.
What WorkCover doesn’t pay for – but the CTP insurance does
The CTP insurer pays you damages for pain and suffering. They also pay for all loss of income you have incurred until now (not just 85%) and for all income loss which you may suffer in the future (called future economic loss).
The CTP insurance company also pays lost superannuation (both past and future) and all past and future medical bills.
What has to be repaid to WorkCover?
If your CTP damages claim is successful, WorkCover becomes entitled to a refund of what they paid you.
How does this play out in practice?
In the CTP claim, we pretend, as a first step, that you have not received any funds from WorkCover. We recover from the CTP insurer all your past income loss as well as all medical costs. We also recover all future income loss, future medical bills, superannuation and damages for pain and suffering.
At this point, there is a small overlap. The CTP insurer has paid your past income loss and past medical costs. However, WorkCover has also paid your past medical costs and 85% of your past income loss. This is what you have to repay to WorkCover, but nothing more.
This means that anything you receive for future income loss, future medical costs, loss of superannuation and pain and suffering is yours, and does not get repaid to WorkCover.
Free book offer: what to expect in your injury claim
Many firms try to rush you to sign up with them without carefully considering your options. We encourage you to first learn about your personal injury claim. You should ask yourself:
- How do you calculate your compensation amount?
- How should you choose your lawyer? Do you just choose by firm name regardless of who is really in charge of your matter? Has your lawyer ever argued a case in court?
- What is a no win – no fee agreement? How much will it cost?
Our book is available to you free of charge. You don’t have to be a client to receive this book. Head to the order page and we will be happy to send you a copy straight away.
25% Cap on legal costs
In all of our personal injury compensation matters, we act on a No Win – No Fee basis. What that means is, there’s no upfront cost to you.
In Queensland, most compensation firms will charge you 50% of your compensation amount – the maximum allowed at law. This is very expensive. Our fee is different. We will cap our fee at 25% . Remember also, these are the maximum fees we will charge. If our fee in your claim is less, then we charge the lesser amount.
Before you engage us, we will provide you a written Disclosure Notice and a Client Service Agreement. These documents set out in detail the service we provide, as well as our fees and outlays. Before you sign anything, you can take these documents home with you, and study them with your family. You can take as long as you need, there is never any pressure from us. If anything in these documents doesn’t make sense to you, we can discuss it with you and you are free to ask another lawyer to give you advice. And remember, no win – no fee agreements come with a 5 day cooling off period for extra peace of mind.
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