WorkCover Queensland pays weekly compensation for up to five years. Payments stop sooner if you recover enough to go back to work, or if the weekly payments on your claim reach the legal maximum of 216.15 times Queensland ordinary time earnings (QOTE). Using the 2026-27 QOTE of $1,994.50, that maximum is $431,111. Whichever of those happens first ends your weekly payments.[1]
Within those limits, how long you stay on WorkCover Queensland depends on the severity of your injury, your medical needs and your ability to return to work. In general, WorkCover will provide support until you have recovered and can return to work, or until it is clear that your injury is permanent.
If your injury is severe and your recovery will take longer, WorkCover may provide ongoing financial and medical support until you are medically stable or have reached maximum medical improvement. This is commonly described by doctors as your injuries becoming ‘stable and stationary’. If WorkCover sends you for an independent medical examination, it may be an indication that you’ve reached maximum improvement.
WorkCover will regularly review your situation to ensure that you are receiving appropriate support and that your circumstances haven’t changed.
Once weekly payments stop because of the five-year limit or the maximum, your entitlement to further compensation for that injury ends. Medical treatment is dealt with separately. WorkCover’s funding for treatment, hospital care and expenses stops once your weekly payments have stopped and further treatment is not likely to improve the injury.[1]
Wage benefits payable to you
When you have an accepted WorkCover claim and cannot work at all, the workers’ compensation insurer pays you each week on the following basis:[2]
- The first 26 weeks: 85% of your normal weekly earnings, or the amount set by your award or agreement if that is higher. If no award or agreement covers your job, the alternative is 80% of QOTE.
- From 26 weeks to 2 years: 75% of your normal weekly earnings, or 70% of QOTE if that is higher.
- From 2 years to 5 years: the same rate continues if you show WorkCover that your injury could result in a degree of permanent impairment (DPI) of more than 15%. Otherwise you receive the single pension rate, which is the maximum single Disability Support Pension rate, not counting allowances.
If you can do some work, WorkCover instead tops up your loss of earnings under a separate formula, and the top-up is never more than you would receive if you could not work at all.[2]
WorkCover will also reimburse your receipts for your injury-related expenses so it is important to keep copies of your records.
There is a convenient WorkCover app known as Worker Assist that allows injured workers to simply upload photographs of receipts, track payments, and manage appointments.
If your injuries are permanent
If your injuries become stable and stationary but you’ve still not fully recovered, you will be considered to have sustained a degree of permanent impairment.
In this case, WorkCover should send you for a final medical assessment and issue you with a Notice of Assessment. A Notice of Assessment describes your residual degree of permanent impairment as a percentage score out of 100, and includes an accompanying offer of lump sum compensation.
Your ongoing statutory benefits (weekly payments, treatment and rehabilitation) stop when you tell WorkCover your decision on the lump sum offer, whether you accept it or not, or when 20 business days pass after you receive it, whichever comes first.[3]
What your Notice of Assessment lets you do
Weekly benefits and treatment funding stop when you accept the offer or when the 20 business days pass. Psychiatric injuries do not attract the additional lump sum. Get advice before you respond to any offer: how a WorkCover common law claim works.
Permanent injuries can often entitle you to make other claims in addition to the WorkCover claim, such as a common law claim for damages if your employer’s negligence caused the injury, or a claim for total permanent disability benefits through your superannuation fund.
Seek expert legal advice
Workers’ compensation laws and regulations can be complex. It’s essential to keep in touch with your WorkCover case manager and healthcare providers to discuss your progress and any changes in your condition. If you have any questions about your entitlements or how long you can stay on WorkCover, it’s best to contact WorkCover Queensland directly or seek legal advice from one of Roche Legal’s workers’ compensation lawyers.
Frequently asked questions about WorkCover time limits
Up to five years of weekly payments. They stop earlier if your incapacity for work ends, or if the weekly payments on your claim reach the maximum of 216.15 times QOTE, which is $431,111 using the 2026-27 QOTE of $1,994.50. The limits are in sections 140 and 144A of the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003.
If you cannot work at all, you receive 85% of your normal weekly earnings for the first 26 weeks, or your award amount if that is higher. From 26 weeks to two years you receive 75% of your normal weekly earnings or 70% of QOTE, whichever is higher. From two to five years that rate continues only if your injury could result in a permanent impairment of more than 15%. Otherwise you receive the single pension rate.
Not indefinitely. Under section 144B, funding for medical treatment, hospital care and expenses stops once your weekly payments have stopped and further treatment is not likely to improve your injury. If treatment is still improving your condition when weekly payments end, get advice before assuming the funding has stopped.
For the first 12 months after your injury, your employer must not dismiss you solely or mainly because the injury has left you unfit for your job. That is section 232B of the Act, and a breach carries a penalty. If you are dismissed because you are not fit for your job because of the injury, you can apply to your employer for reinstatement within 12 months after the injury under section 232D.
Your weekly payments and other statutory compensation stop when you tell WorkCover your decision on the lump sum offer, or 20 business days after you receive the offer, whichever happens first. That is section 190 of the Act. Get advice before you respond, because your decision can affect whether you can bring a common law claim.
For offers made from 1 July 2026, each 1% of permanent impairment is worth $4,311, up to $431,111 at 100%. Workers with an impairment of 30% or more can also receive an additional lump sum on top.
[1] Sections 140, 144A and 144B, Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld).
[2] Sections 150, 151 and 163, and the definition of “single pension rate” in schedule 6, Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld).
[3] Section 190, Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 (Qld).