Certificate of Capacity in NSW

Updated on 30/08/2026. Reflects the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW) as amended by the Workers Compensation Legislation Amendment Act 2025, including the reforms that commenced on 1 July 2026.

The certificate of capacity is the single most important piece of paper in a NSW workers compensation claim. It is how your doctor tells the insurer what you can and cannot do, and it is the legal condition for your weekly payments. It is also a form you sign, twice, and most workers sign it without being told what those signatures commit them to.

This guide goes through the form box by box: who fills in each part, what the capacity categories actually mean, the three time rules that decide whether money flows, and what the 1 July 2026 reforms changed around the certificate.

The short version: without a current certificate of capacity you cannot receive weekly payments, and the worker, not the doctor, is legally responsible for getting it to the insurer.

Your first certificate must come from your nominated treating doctor; later ones can come from a SIRA-approved treating physiotherapist or psychologist.

A certificate normally covers at most 28 days, has no effect for any period more than 90 days before it is handed over, and if you ignore an insurer request for one, your payments can be stopped 7 days later. The declaration you sign about work and self-employment carries a penalty of up to 2 years imprisonment or 500 penalty units, or both, if it is false.

The 1 July 2026 reforms did not change the certificate itself, but they changed several things it feeds into, so guides written before mid-2026 are out of date around the edges.

What is a certificate of capacity?

In plain language, a certificate of capacity is the form your treating doctor completes at each consultation to tell the insurer three things: what your injury is, what treatment you need, and how much work you can safely do right now. In the legislation it is the “evidence as to work capacity” required by section 44B of the Workers Compensation Act 1987: a worker claiming weekly payments “must provide certificates of capacity in accordance with this section”, together with a signed declaration about any work they have done. No current certificate, no weekly payments. It is that direct.

The certificate is not a sick note. A medical certificate for your employer says you are unwell; a certificate of capacity is a structured legal document that drives your claim. The insurer uses it to decide whether weekly payments start and continue, what treatment gets funded, and what suitable work your employer must find you. SIRA’s claims management guide puts the responsibility where most workers do not expect it: “The worker is responsible for ensuring a current, completed certificate of capacity is provided to the employer or insurer.” If your doctor forgets, the consequence lands on you.

There are two versions of the current SIRA form, and one near relative:

Document	Who completes it	When it is used
Certificate of capacity (SIRA form 08719)	Your nominated treating doctor	The first certificate on every claim, and any later one your doctor issues
Certificate of capacity, treating physiotherapist or psychologist version	A SIRA-approved treating physiotherapist or psychologist	Second and subsequent certificates only, within their area of expertise, per SIRA
Certificate of fitness	A treating doctor	The same physical form doubles for CTP motor accident claims. That scheme has its own rules and is outside this guide

Sources: SIRA form catalogue and service provider guidance, retrieved 30/08/2026.

One scope note: this guide covers workers in the NSW scheme. Exempt workers (police, paramedics, firefighters and coal miners) keep pre-2012 rules, and their certificates work differently in places. If that is you, treat this guide as background only.

Where the certificate sits in your claim: the NSW path

Injury at work, employer notified

First consultation with your own GP
That doctor becomes your nominated treating doctor and issues the first certificate of capacity

You sign two parts and send it to the employer or insurer
Consent to information sharing, and the employment declaration. Getting it there is legally your job

Insurer reads the capacity box

Fit for pre-injury work

You return to your usual job. Weekly payments for lost wages end; medical support can continue.

Capacity for some work

Employer must look for suitable work within your certified hours and restrictions. Weekly payments top up the difference.

No current capacity for work

Weekly payments run on your certified incapacity. A new certificate is needed before this one runs out, usually every 28 days.

Path per SIRA’s claims management guide and icare’s guidance for treating doctors, retrieved 30/08/2026.

The two things you sign, and what each commits you to

Most of the form belongs to your doctor. Two parts belong to you, and both are signatures with legal weight.

1. The consent to share information

Section 1 of the form includes your consent for the people managing your claim, your doctor, your employer, the insurer and any rehabilitation provider, to exchange information about your injury and recovery for the purpose of managing the claim. Per SIRA, you “sign to allow stakeholders to exchange injury management information”. In practice this is what lets the insurer ring your GP’s rooms, and lets a rehabilitation provider read your treatment plan. It is consent for injury management information connected with the claim; it is not a blank cheque over your whole medical history, and you can raise it with the insurer if requests go wider than the claim.

2. The employment declaration

The second signature is the one that catches people. You must declare any employment, self-employment, paid or voluntary work since the last certificate. The form spells out the stakes in the declaration you sign, quoted here from the SIRA form itself:

“I declare that the information I have given on this form is complete and correct and that I am aware that the penalty for making a false or misleading statement, either in writing or orally, in making a claim is imprisonment for 2 years or 500 penalty units, or both.”

Note the breadth. “Work” here is not just a second job for wages. Helping a mate’s business without pay, driving for a rideshare platform on weekends, invoicing through your own ABN, all of it belongs on the declaration. Insurers investigate undeclared work more than any other aspect of a claim, and surveillance evidence of a worker doing undeclared work while certified with no capacity is how prosecutions start. If you have done any work at all since the last certificate, write it down and let the insurer argue about what it means. An honest declaration of a few hours of light work is a capacity question; a false declaration is a criminal one.

A worked example. Maria packs orders in a Smithfield warehouse and hurts her shoulder lifting a carton. Her certificate says no current capacity for work, and her weekly payments are running at $1,320 a week based on her pre-injury earnings. Three weeks in, her brother-in-law pays her $250 cash to mind his market stall for two Saturdays. If Maria writes that on her next certificate’s declaration, the insurer may adjust her payments for those weeks and her doctor may revisit the capacity box, and that is the worst of it. If she leaves it off and the insurer’s investigator photographs her at the stall, she is no longer arguing about $250; she is exposed to the penalty in the declaration and the credibility of her entire claim, including any future lump sum, is damaged.

The doctor's sections: diagnosis, management plan and the capacity boxes

Your doctor’s part of the form does three jobs, and each one matters later in the claim.

Diagnosis and cause

The doctor records a diagnosis (a provisional one is allowed early on), the date of injury, the date of first consultation, and whether the presentation is consistent with the injury being work related. This box is quietly powerful. What the first certificate says about cause is evidence the insurer reads when deciding liability, and an offhand phrase like “degenerative changes” or “pre-existing” on an early certificate can follow the claim for years. Tell your doctor exactly how the injury happened at work, and read what they have written before you leave.

The management plan

icare’s guidance for doctors describes this section as the treatment specifics: referrals, medication, expected duration. It is the hook for funded treatment; the insurer reads it when approving physiotherapy, imaging or a specialist. From 1 October 2026 the test the insurer applies to treatment shifts from “reasonably necessary” to “reasonable and necessary” under the 2026 reform package, per the Personal Injury Commission’s reform summary, which makes a clear, specific management plan on the certificate more valuable, not less.

The capacity assessment

Then comes the box everything turns on. The current form asks the doctor to certify capacity against the categories icare summarises as: fit for “all pre-injury duties”; fit for “selected pre-injury duties”; fit for “other work; including suitable or alternative duties”; or “no work”, with an estimated recovery timeframe. Alongside the tick box, the doctor certifies concrete tolerances, hours per day and days per week, lifting limits, sitting, standing and driving tolerances. Those numbers are not decoration. They define what “suitable employment” your employer can lawfully offer you, and under section 32A of the 1987 Act suitable employment is judged against your incapacity and medical information, your age, education, skills and experience, regardless of whether such work is actually available. A vague certificate that says “light duties” with no numbers hands the interpretation to the insurer. A specific one, “no lifting over 5 kg, no overhead reaching, 4 hours per day, 3 days per week”, protects you on both sides: it forces any offered duties to fit, and it documents your restrictions if a dispute comes.

The three time rules: 28 days, 90 days, 7 days

Section 44B contains three numbers, and each one has stopped somebody’s payments.

28 days forward. A certificate must state the period it covers, and that period cannot exceed 28 days unless the person issuing it “states in the certificate the special reasons why the certificate covers the longer period” (s 44B(4)). For a stable long-term injury a doctor can and sometimes should certify longer with reasons, but the default rhythm of a NSW claim is a review roughly every four weeks. Book the next appointment before the current certificate runs out; a certificate that expires on a Friday with the next appointment ten days away is an unpaid gap you created for yourself.

90 days backward. Here is the rule almost every commercial guide gets wrong or leaves vague: a certificate “is of no effect to the extent that it relates to a period that is more than 90 days before the certificate is provided” (s 44B). Two consequences. First, backdating is not simply forbidden: a doctor who sees you today can lawfully certify a period going back up to 90 days if the clinical records support it. Second, past 90 days the certificate is legally void for those earlier weeks, no matter how good the medical evidence, so a worker who lets months pass between appointments can permanently lose entitlement for the uncovered period. If a gap has already opened, fix it now, not next month.

7 days after a request. If the insurer requires a certificate or declaration under the section and you do not comply “within 7 days after the requirement is communicated”, the insurer may discontinue your weekly payments (s 44B). This is the fastest lawful way payments stop. Letters from the insurer asking for a current certificate are not administrative noise; they are a countdown.

The cost of a gap, in dollars. Take Dan, a formworker on $1,480 a week in weekly payments. His certificate ends on 3 October and his GP cannot see him until 24 October. That is three uncovered weeks. If the eventual certificate covers the gap (well inside 90 days), the money is recoverable, but the insurer can lawfully hold payment until the paper arrives, and Dan’s rent does not wait. If Dan instead drifts for four months, everything beyond the 90 day window is gone for good. The same appointment, booked three weeks earlier, costs nothing.

A realistic certificate timeline for an ongoing claim

Day 0

Injury and first GP visit

First certificate issued by your nominated treating doctor. Covers up to 28 days.

Week 3

Review booked early

See the doctor a few days before expiry so the next certificate starts when the old one ends. No gap, no held payments.

Week 4 onward

Subsequent certificates

Roughly every 28 days. May come from your doctor, or a SIRA-approved treating physiotherapist or psychologist.

Any time

Insurer requests a certificate

7 days to comply or weekly payments can be discontinued.

The hard edge

90 days back, maximum

A certificate has no effect for any period more than 90 days before it is provided. Longer gaps become permanently unpaid.

Time limits per s 44B, Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW), retrieved 30/08/2026. The 28 day rhythm is the statutory default; longer certificates need stated special reasons.

Who can issue a certificate (and who cannot)

The first certificate on a claim must come from a medical practitioner, in practice the doctor you choose as your nominated treating doctor, completed “in consultation with the worker” per SIRA’s guidance for health providers. Choose that doctor deliberately. Your nominated treating doctor is the voice of your claim for as long as it runs, and a GP who knows you, bulk bills claim consultations and will spend the time to fill the form in properly is worth a longer drive than a walk-in clinic that allocates eight minutes.

After that first certificate, the field widens: SIRA’s claims guide confirms that “the second and subsequent certificates may be issued by the worker’s treating physiotherapist or treating psychologist providing they are SIRA approved”, within their area of expertise and on their own version of the form. For a worker seeing a physiotherapist weekly and a GP rarely, this saves real money and time, and for psychological injuries it means the treating psychologist who actually sees you each fortnight can certify your capacity. Two limits: the practitioner must hold current SIRA approval (ask them directly), and an injury outside their expertise still needs the doctor.

A consultation by video or phone can support a certificate. SIRA’s scheme recognises telehealth as the “delivery of health consultation services via video or telephone”, with the detailed conditions set by its health services guidelines. If travel or your injury makes attending in person hard, ask your practice whether a telehealth review is clinically appropriate before you let a certificate lapse; an imperfect telehealth review beats an unpaid gap.

Who cannot issue one: your employer’s preferred doctor cannot replace your choice (nominating the treating doctor is the worker’s right), a pharmacist or chiropractor cannot certify capacity in the NSW scheme, and an insurer’s independent medical examiner does not issue certificates of capacity; their reports sit on the insurer’s side of the file.

What the 1 July 2026 reforms changed around the certificate

Start with the fact the older guides miss in the other direction: the certificate itself did not change. The form, the 28 day default, the 90 day limit, who signs what, all of it stands. SIRA’s reform FAQs and its reform information hub list no amendment to certificates of capacity. What changed is the machinery the certificate feeds, and three changes matter to the person filling one in.

Psychological injury claims face new gateways

For a primary psychological injury notified or claimed from 1 July 2026, compensation requires a “relevant event” with a real and direct connection to employment (violence, witnessing trauma, bullying, sexual or racial harassment, excessive work demands and similar), and where the claim rests on relevant conduct such as bullying or harassment, a new jurisdiction of the Industrial Relations Commission decides whether that conduct occurred, per the Personal Injury Commission. The whole person impairment threshold to keep weekly payments beyond 130 weeks is now at least 25% for these claims, rising for claims made after 1 July 2027. None of that changes how your psychologist writes the certificate, but it raises the stakes on the diagnosis box: whether the certificate describes a primary psychological injury, and what it records as the cause, now routes the claim through entirely different gateways.

PIAWE decisions moved out of the work capacity regime

Your weekly payment amount is built on your pre-injury average weekly earnings (PIAWE). Since 1 July 2026, a decision about PIAWE is “no longer classified as a work capacity decision”, per SIRA’s reform FAQs, which changes the notice periods and review path when the insurer adjusts the figure. The certificate’s capacity box still drives whether you are paid; the PIAWE machinery now sits on a separate procedural track. If the insurer changes your rate, the review clock and process differ from a capacity dispute, so read any PIAWE notice carefully rather than assuming the old rules.

The treatment test tightens from 1 October 2026

The medical expense test moves from “reasonably necessary” to “reasonable and necessary”. The management plan on your certificate is the first document the insurer reads against that test, which is one more reason to make sure it names the actual treatment, not “physio as required”.

One more reform note for anyone tracking a long claim: the permanent impairment assessment process also changed (one principal assessment per injury, with reassessment only after material deterioration), and SIRA flags further permanent impairment changes still being implemented, so anything you read about impairment assessment, including this paragraph, should be checked against SIRA’s current position at the time you act.

The certificate before and after 1 July 2026: same form, different machinery

Claims made before 1 July 2026

The form: SIRA certificate of capacity, 28 day default, 90 day back limit.
Psychological injury: tested under the pre-reform rules; no relevant event gateway.
PIAWE decisions: treated as work capacity decisions, with that regime’s notice and review path.
Treatment test: “reasonably necessary”.
Impairment: multiple assessments were possible over a claim’s life.

Claims notified or made from 1 July 2026

The form: unchanged. Same certificate, same signatures, same time rules.
Psychological injury: requires a relevant event connected to employment; relevant conduct questions go to the Industrial Relations Commission; 25% WPI to keep weekly payments past 130 weeks.
PIAWE decisions: no longer work capacity decisions; separate procedure when the insurer adjusts your rate.
Treatment test: “reasonable and necessary” from 1 October 2026.
Impairment: one principal assessment per injury, reassessment only after material deterioration.

Sources: Personal Injury Commission reform summary and SIRA reform FAQs, retrieved 30/08/2026. Which rules apply turns on when the claim was notified or made, not on when a particular certificate is issued.

Six mistakes that cost workers money on this one form

Letting the certificate expire before the next appointment. The insurer can hold weekly payments for any uncertified period, and past 90 days the money is gone permanently. Book the review before you leave the current one; treat the expiry date like a rent due date.
Leaving casual or cash work off the employment declaration. The declaration covers paid, voluntary and self-employed work of any kind, and the penalty on the form is up to 2 years imprisonment or 500 penalty units, or both. Declare everything and let the capacity argument happen honestly.
Accepting a vague capacity box. “Light duties” without hours, days and lifting limits lets the insurer and employer fill in the blanks. Ask the doctor to write the actual numbers, and query anything that does not match what was discussed in the room.
Not reading the diagnosis and cause boxes before leaving. An early certificate that casually mentions degeneration or omits the work incident becomes the insurer’s favourite exhibit. It is your form too; read it and ask for corrections on the spot, because amending it months later looks worse than getting it right on day one.
Ignoring an insurer’s request for a current certificate. Seven days after the request is communicated, payments can lawfully stop. Open the mail, answer the calls, send the paper.
Assuming only a GP visit will do. After the first certificate, a SIRA-approved treating physiotherapist or psychologist can issue subsequent certificates, and a telehealth consultation can support one where clinically appropriate. Workers lose paid weeks queueing for a GP appointment they did not need.

Where the existing guides disagree, and who is right

We compared the pages that currently rank for this topic against the legislation and SIRA’s own guidance. Three points of disagreement matter, and one general currency problem.

What the guides say	What the primary source says	Who is right
A medical practice guide (WorkCover Hills) states a first certificate can cover a maximum of 14 days.	Section 44B sets one limit for all certificates: 28 days, extendable with stated special reasons. No 14 day rule for first certificates appears in the Act or on SIRA’s certificate guidance.	The legislation. A shorter first certificate is often good clinical practice, but it is not a legal maximum.
A rehabilitation provider (AusRehab, page updated August 2026) states a certificate “can only be issued by a treating doctor or specialist”.	SIRA’s claims guide: second and subsequent certificates may be issued by SIRA-approved treating physiotherapists or psychologists within their expertise.	SIRA. Only the first certificate is doctor-only.
Several guides say backdating is simply not allowed, or “generally prevented by SIRA guidelines”.	Section 44B draws the actual line: a certificate has no effect for any period more than 90 days before it is provided. Within 90 days, a certificate covering an earlier period is effective if the practitioner is prepared to certify it.	The legislation. The rule is a 90 day boundary, not a blanket ban, and knowing the difference can rescue weeks of payments.
Popular firm and provider guides (including Littles Lawyers) describe the certificate with no reference to the 2026 reforms.	The form is unchanged, but the Personal Injury Commission’s reform summary shows the machinery around it changed on 1 July 2026, with more change on 1 October 2026.	Both, partly: their form mechanics are mostly sound, but anything they say about what flows from the certificate needs a post-July 2026 check.

Frequently asked questions

What is a certificate of capacity?

It is the SIRA form your treating doctor completes to certify your diagnosis, treatment plan and how much work you can safely do. It is the legal condition for weekly workers compensation payments in NSW under section 44B of the Workers Compensation Act 1987, and it doubles as the document your employer uses to arrange suitable duties.

Can a certificate of capacity be backdated?

Within limits, yes. A doctor can certify a period before the consultation if the clinical records support it, but the certificate has no legal effect for any period more than 90 days before it is provided to the insurer. Gaps older than 90 days become permanently unpaid, so fix any gap quickly.

Can I get a certificate of capacity through telehealth?

A video or phone consultation can support a certificate where the practitioner considers it clinically appropriate; SIRA’s scheme expressly recognises telehealth consultations, with conditions set by its health services guidelines. Ask your practice rather than letting a certificate lapse while you wait for an in-person slot.

Who can complete a certificate of capacity in NSW?

The first certificate on a claim must come from a medical practitioner, normally your nominated treating doctor. Second and subsequent certificates can also be issued by your treating physiotherapist or treating psychologist if they hold SIRA approval and the injury is within their expertise.

Does a certificate of capacity apply to psychological injuries?

Yes. The same form covers primary psychological injuries, and after the first certificate your treating psychologist can issue subsequent ones if SIRA approved. For claims notified or made from 1 July 2026, tighter gateways apply to psychological injury compensation, so what the certificate records as diagnosis and cause carries more weight than before.

What happens if my certificate of capacity expires?

The insurer can withhold weekly payments for any period without a current certificate, and if the insurer has formally requested one, payments can be discontinued 7 days after the request is communicated. A later certificate can cover the gap if it is issued within 90 days of the period it certifies; beyond that the entitlement for the uncovered period is lost.

Primary sources

A last piece of context on why this form deserves more respect than it gets. The ABS Work-related injuries survey (2021-22, the latest national survey) found 497,300 Australians suffered a work-related injury or illness in the year, yet only 31% received workers compensation; 14% of those who did not apply said they did not think they were eligible, and 10% were not covered or not aware of the scheme at all. People lose entitlements not because their injuries are small but because the paperwork defeats them, and in NSW this certificate is the paperwork that matters most.

This article is general information about the NSW workers compensation scheme as at 30 August 2026, not legal advice. Time limits and thresholds turn on the facts of each claim, and the 2026 reforms are still being implemented in stages; get advice on your own situation from an accredited specialist before acting.

Once your certificates are in order and your claim is running, the next question most workers ask is what their injury is ultimately worth. That is a different part of the scheme, with its own thresholds and its own traps, and we cover it in our complete guide to lump sum payments in NSW workers compensation.

Certificate of Capacity in NSW

What is a certificate of capacity?

The two things you sign, and what each commits you to

1. The consent to share information

2. The employment declaration

The doctor's sections: diagnosis, management plan and the capacity boxes

Diagnosis and cause

The management plan

The capacity assessment

The three time rules: 28 days, 90 days, 7 days

Who can issue a certificate (and who cannot)

What the 1 July 2026 reforms changed around the certificate

Psychological injury claims face new gateways

PIAWE decisions moved out of the work capacity regime

The treatment test tightens from 1 October 2026

Six mistakes that cost workers money on this one form

Where the existing guides disagree, and who is right

Frequently asked questions

What is a certificate of capacity?

Can a certificate of capacity be backdated?

Can I get a certificate of capacity through telehealth?

Who can complete a certificate of capacity in NSW?

Does a certificate of capacity apply to psychological injuries?

What happens if my certificate of capacity expires?

Primary sources

Geraldine Balderson

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