PIAWE is the base. What lands in your account is a percentage of it, set by sections 36 to 38 of the 1987 Act and summarised in the SIRA benefits guide, and two hard limits apply in every period. The cap: the maximum weekly compensation amount is $2,662.10 for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, indexed each April. The floor: PIAWE itself cannot be set below $155 a week under the SIRA reference guide.
Weeks 0 to 13 (first entitlement period)
No current work capacity: 95 per cent of PIAWE, capped. Working reduced hours: 95 per cent of PIAWE minus your current earnings.
Weeks 14 to 130 (second entitlement period)
Not working, or working under 15 hours a week: 80 per cent of PIAWE (minus any current earnings). Back at work 15 or more hours a week: 95 per cent of PIAWE minus current earnings. The drop from 95 to 80 per cent at week 14 is automatic and is the first shock most workers hit; it is lawful, but the base it is applied to must still be right.
After 130 weeks
Payments continue only if the insurer assesses you as having no current work capacity indefinitely, or you are working at least 15 hours a week and earning at least $251 a week (the threshold indexed from 1 July 2026). For primary psychological injuries, claims made from 1 July 2026 also need whole person impairment of at least 25 per cent to continue past 130 weeks. Payments generally stop at 260 weeks under section 39 unless your assessed WPI is more than 20 per cent, and workers assessed at 21 to 24 per cent WPI can access an additional 52-week intensive return-to-work period paid at 60 per cent of PIAWE from 1 July 2026 per the SIRA weekly payments page.
Three worked examples
Maria, a registered nurse on rotating shifts. Over the 52 weeks before her back injury Maria’s gross pay averaged $2,040 a week: $1,700 base plus $340 in shift allowances and overtime. Her PIAWE is $2,040. Weeks 0 to 13 off work: 95 per cent, $1,938 a week. From week 14, still off work: 80 per cent, $1,632. From week 30 she returns 16 hours a week earning $700: 95 per cent of $2,040 is $1,938, minus $700, so $1,238 in compensation on top of her wages. If her employer had reported only the $1,700 base, she would lose $272 a week in the second period alone.
Sam, a labourer two weeks into a new job. Sam was hired on a roster worth about $1,500 a week gross and injured in week two. Under the short-term worker rule his PIAWE is set at roughly $1,500, what he could have expected to earn over the following 52 weeks, not the average of two payslips.
Priya, a project manager on $3,100 a week. Priya’s PIAWE is $3,100, but 95 per cent of that ($2,945) exceeds the cap, so weeks 0 to 13 pay $2,662.10. From week 14, 80 per cent is $2,480, under the cap, so the cap stops biting. High earners lose proportionally more in the first period than the headline 95 per cent suggests.
How we got these numbers: percentages from ss 36 to 38 as described in the SIRA benefits guide (accessed 06/09/2026); cap of $2,662.10 for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 from the same guide; $155 floor and short-term worker rule from the SIRA PIAWE reference guide. The people are hypothetical; the arithmetic is exact.
One more thing about the money: weekly payments are taxed. The ATO lists payments from a workers compensation scheme as salary and wages you must declare, so PAYG comes out before the money reaches you. If you later receive Centrelink payments, compensation can also trigger a preclusion period under Services Australia’s compensation rules. Weekly payments are different from permanent impairment lump sums, which are tax-free capital amounts; that distinction is covered in our lump sum guide linked at the end.
