Posted on September 22, 2026
If you’ve been hurt at work and can’t earn what you used to, the first question is usually a money question. How much does WorkCover pay, and for how long? In South Australia the answer comes down to a benefit called income maintenance, and the rate you receive changes after your first year off work.
The income maintenance in SA rules change at two points, and most people only find that out when a payment lands lighter than they expected.
First, a note on the name
South Australia hasn’t had a WorkCover scheme since 30 June 2015. The Return to Work Act 2014 replaced it, and the insurer is now ReturnToWorkSA. Most injured workers still call it WorkCover, and so do we in conversation, but the legislation that governs your WorkCover payments in SA is the Return to Work Act.
How much does WorkCover pay in SA?
For workers who aren’t classed as seriously injured, weekly payments work on a two-tier structure.
For the first 52 weeks of incapacity, you receive 100 per cent of your notional weekly earnings.
From week 53 to week 104, that drops to 80 per cent of your notional weekly earnings.
A prescribed maximum weekly amount applies at both rates, and ReturnToWorkSA indexes that cap each year.
The drop at week 53 catches a lot of people off guard. Someone who has budgeted around full pay for a year suddenly loses a fifth of their income while still unable to work. Plan for it early if your recovery is looking longer than a few months.
If you return to work on reduced hours or lighter duties, your weekly payment tops up the gap rather than sitting on top of your wage. ReturnToWorkSA looks at what you’re capable of earning, not only what you’re currently paid. Our page on workplace injury claims covers how that plays out across different types of injury.
What are notional weekly earnings?
Your notional weekly earnings, often shortened to NWE, form the benchmark ReturnToWorkSA uses to work out your payments. Broadly, they reflect your average weekly earnings before the injury. The Return to Work Act sets out how that figure gets worked out, and the working is where arguments start.
Overtime, shift loadings, allowances and irregular hours all feed into the calculation, and the insurer doesn’t always capture them accurately at the outset. Casual workers and people who’d recently changed jobs are the most likely to end up with an NWE that understates what they were really earning.
You can dispute the figure. Plenty of the WorkCover payments in SA disputes we handle start as a straightforward argument about what someone was earning before they got hurt, which is one reason we usually suggest people read up on when a WorkCover lawyer is worth involving before the numbers get locked in.
How long do the payments last?
For workers who aren’t seriously injured, income support runs for a maximum of 104 weeks of incapacity. That’s two years in total, and it isn’t necessarily two consecutive years. ReturnToWorkSA counts separate periods together, so a spell back at work doesn’t reset the clock.
Medical and treatment expenses generally continue for a further 12 months after your weekly payments end. After that, entitlement to treatment costs ceases for most workers. The Law Handbook South Australia sets out the same position if you want a neutral summary alongside ours.
What happens when income maintenance stops?
We won’t dress this up. Once you hit 104 weeks, payments stop even if you still can’t do your old job. There’s no discretion to extend on hardship grounds.
Your options at that point depend on your circumstances. Some workers qualify for a permanent impairment lump sum. Some have a claim against a negligent party outside the workers compensation system. Others hold total and permanent disability or income protection cover through their superannuation fund, which sits entirely separately from ReturnToWorkSA. Plenty of people never think to check it, so we wrote a guide to claiming superannuation disability benefits after an injury.
Two years sounds like a long time when your claim is new. It goes quickly. Getting advice at the 12 to 18 month mark, rather than at week 103, gives you far more room to move.
Seriously injured workers sit under different rules
The 104-week limit doesn’t apply if you’re assessed as a seriously injured worker. Those workers receive income support to retirement age, along with lifetime care and treatment.
The threshold changed on 1 January 2023 under the Return to Work (Scheme Sustainability) Amendment Act. For physical injuries you now need a whole person impairment assessment of 35 per cent or more. For psychiatric injuries the threshold stayed at 30 per cent, and we’ve covered how those claims work in our article on claiming compensation for a psychological injury at work. Workers who already had a serious injury determination before that date keep it.
These are high bars. Very few claims meet them, and the assessment process itself is technical. Getting the impairment assessment right matters, and so does its timing. A few percentage points either side of 35 is the difference between two years of payments and support until retirement age.
Where claims commonly go wrong
The NWE calculation leaves out overtime or allowances you regularly earned.
The insurer cuts payments off the back of a capacity assessment you disagree with.
A medical certificate lapses and payments pause while everyone sorts it out.
A permanent impairment assessment happens too early, before the injury stabilises.
Nobody mentions superannuation disability cover, and the time limit for lodging it quietly passes.
You can dispute most decisions ReturnToWorkSA makes about your entitlements. That starts with applying for a review of the decision, and unresolved disputes go to the South Australian Employment Tribunal. The window to file is generally one month. Miss it and your options narrow considerably.
Pushing back doesn’t put your job at risk. We’ve written separately on being fired for making a workers’ comp claim, and on what happens if you don’t accept the first insurance offer.
Talk to a workers compensation lawyer in Adelaide
PMN Lawyers has acted for injured South Australians since 1982. We don’t work for insurers. If you’re unsure how the insurer worked out your payments, or someone has cut or refused your entitlements, we’ll look at it with you.
Our initial consultation is free with no obligation, and No Win No Fee arrangements are available. If you’re wondering what that means in practice, we’ve explained it in No Win, No Fee lawyers in Adelaide. We see clients at Grenfell Street in the Adelaide CBD and at Mount Gambier by appointment.
Call 08 8212 3566 to discuss your situation with a workers compensation lawyer in Adelaide, or get in touch here. You can also read about the people who’d be handling your claim.
Frequently Asked Questions
One hundred per cent of your notional weekly earnings for the first 52 weeks, then 80 per cent from week 53 through to week 104. A prescribed weekly maximum applies at both rates.
Up to 104 weeks of incapacity for workers who aren’t seriously injured. Seriously injured workers receive income support to retirement age. Medical expenses usually continue for 12 months after weekly payments finish.
Yes, for most workers. The 104-week cap applies regardless of your recovery, and there’s no general hardship extension. The exception is a seriously injured worker determination.
It depends on your injury and your circumstances. Some people pursue a permanent impairment lump sum, some have a common law claim against a third party, and many have superannuation disability cover they didn’t know about. Worth reviewing all three well before the two years is up.
The ATO treats income maintenance as assessable income, so the payer generally withholds tax the same way an employer would from your wages. Lump sum compensation for permanent impairment works differently. Get advice specific to your situation before you assume either way.
You can. Start by asking ReturnToWorkSA in writing how they worked out your notional weekly earnings. If the figure looks wrong, you can lodge an application for review, and unresolved disputes head to the South Australian Employment Tribunal. Time limits apply, so don’t sit on it.