ACT Workers Compensation: WorkSafe ACT, Comcare and the Workers Compensation Act 1951

The Australian Capital Territory runs two separate workers compensation systems: ACT public servants and other Commonwealth-covered employees are covered by the Commonwealth's Comcare scheme, while private-sector ACT workers are covered by the Territory's own Workers Compensation Act 1951, administered by the regulator WorkSafe ACT through licensed private insurers rather than a single government fund.

WorkSafe ACT regulates workers compensation for the Territory's private sector, licensing the insurers and self-insurers that carry the risk rather than running a government fund itself. Because of the ACT's unusual position as both a self-governing territory and the seat of the federal public service, its workers compensation landscape splits along a line that trips many readers up: which scheme applies depends on whether the injured worker is an ACT public servant or a private-sector employee. This page covers the ACT's own Workers Compensation Act 1951, the Comcare split for public servants, and the claim deadlines and processes that apply on the private-sector side.

Scheme name, regulator and the Comcare split

The ACT's own law is the Workers Compensation Act 1951, current republication No 88, effective 26 November 2025. Unlike Comcare or most other Australian jurisdictions, the ACT does not run a single government-owned insurer: employers must hold a compulsory policy with a licensed private insurer or their own self-insurer licence, and WorkSafe ACT is the regulator that licenses both. As published on WorkSafe ACT's site, current licensed insurers are Allianz, Guild, QBE, CGU and GIO, and current licensed self-insurers include Brickworks, Coles Group, Holcim (Australia) Holdings, Pacific Formwork Employment, UNSW, Wesfarmers and Westpac. A separate Default Insurance Fund, run through the ACT Treasury, is a safety net for workers whose employer is uninsured or insolvent.

Section 9(1) of the Act draws the crucial line: 'worker' does not include 'a public servant' or 'an employee within the meaning of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cwlth)'. WorkSafe ACT itself describes its role as covering 'the Territory's private sector'. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations confirms the Commonwealth's SRC Act 'covers employees of the Commonwealth, Commonwealth authorities, the Australian Capital Territory Government and a small number of private corporations' that self-insure under it. In practice, an ACT public servant claims through Comcare, not the Territory's own Act, while a private-sector ACT employee claims through their employer's licensed insurer or the Default Insurance Fund. The Act does not itself define 'public servant'; that draws on the ACT's broader public-sector employment law.

Who is covered under the ACT's own Act

Section 8 defines a worker broadly: someone under a contract of service, a labour-only contract, or a contract that fails the Act's genuine-independent-contractor test (outcome-paid, own tools, own defect liability), unless a personal-services-business determination applies.

Sections 10 and 11 set further exclusions beyond the public-servant and Comcare carve-out in section 9. A casual not employed for the principal's trade or business is generally excluded (section 10), unless engaged through an agency or caught by the Act's regular-and-systematic-casual test (section 11), which can deem a regularly re-engaged contractor a worker too. Labour hire arrangements generally make the labour hire company the relevant employer, and trainees, outworkers, timber contractors, family day care educators, religious workers and volunteers each have their own rules.

WorkSafe ACT's plain-English guidance describes who is not a worker (a sole trader, a non-commercial volunteer, a resident family member, a charity volunteer, an unrelated casual) but does not mention the public-servant or Comcare carve-out at all, even though it is written into the Act's own definition, so a public-sector reader relying only on that page could be misled about which scheme covers them.

Injury reporting and the claim deadline

Section 93 requires a worker to tell their employer as soon as possible, and the employer to notify the insurer within 48 hours. WorkSafe ACT's claim-process guidance adds the practical steps: a worker incapacitated 7 or more days must give the employer a completed claim form and a Certificate of Capacity within 7 days or wage payments stop; the employer forwards the claim within 7 days; and the insurer must decide within 28 days or the claim is taken to be accepted, per section 128. Comcare uses a similarly named Certificate of Capacity form under the Commonwealth scheme, a separate document with no administrative connection to an ACT private-sector claim.

Section 120 sets a notably long limitation period: a claim generally must be made within 3 years of the injury, or of becoming aware of it if later, with the injury reported as soon as practicable and before voluntarily leaving employment. Section 120A lets the Magistrates Court allow a late claim if it decides that is just and reasonable.

Weekly payments

The Act sets no flat statutory dollar cap; instead a formula moves with external benchmarks. For the first 26 weeks, section 39 generally pays close to 100% of the shortfall from average pre-incapacity earnings. After 26 weeks, section 41 pays a totally incapacitated worker under one of three branches: 100% of pre-incapacity earnings if that figure is below the statutory floor (the worker receives that lower amount, not the floor itself), the statutory floor where 100% of pre-incapacity earnings would otherwise exceed it, or 65% of pre-incapacity earnings if that is higher than the floor. Section 42 pays a partially incapacitated worker a sliding 65% to 100%, capped at a statutory ceiling.

The statutory floor (section 36G) is the current national minimum wage under the Fair Work Commission's annual wage review. The statutory ceiling (section 42(4)) is 150% of ACT average weekly earnings, published twice yearly by the ABS. Because both move with external releases rather than fixed Act figures, the current dollar values should be checked against the latest FWC and ABS releases rather than assumed. Payments generally continue until incapacity ends or age-based pension cut-offs apply.

Permanent loss lump sums

The ACT uses a schedule-of-injury model, not a percentage whole-person-impairment gate. Section 49 sets a single loss amount of $100,000 and section 50 defines a maximum loss amount of $150,000; section 53 applies that maximum to cap total compensation for 2 or more losses from one injury, and section 51 pays a scheduled loss (an arm, an eye, hearing) as the listed percentage of the single loss amount.

Both figures are 2001-era bases, CPI-indexed under section 20 with a ratchet that never lets the indexed amount fall even if CPI does. The Act states only the base figures, so the current 2026 indexed values should be confirmed directly with WorkSafe ACT before being relied on. Hearing loss has its own rule: no compensation below 6% loss for gradual, noise-induced occupational hearing loss (the Act's defined term, sometimes called "boilermakers deafness"), not for hearing loss generally.

Common law damages: no impairment threshold

Chapter 9 of the Act, read in full, contains no percentage whole-person-impairment threshold gating a common law claim, a genuine structural difference from jurisdictions such as New South Wales and South Australia, which require a set impairment level first. Under section 183, a worker whose injury creates civil liability can sue for damages as well as claim statutory compensation, repaying the employer out of any damages to the extent compensation was already received; the employer gets a first charge over damages a negligent third party owes. Under section 184, statutory compensation is not payable to the extent damages have already covered the same injury, and later-recovered damages trigger a clawback of the lesser amount.

Removing a numeric threshold does not remove the substantive one: a worker still has to prove negligence or fault, a real and often contested bar. Once a worker joins the ACT's Lifetime Care and Support scheme, for catastrophic injuries, damages for treatment, care and support are generally replaced by that scheme instead.

Disputing a decision

General claims disputes not otherwise dealt with are settled by conciliation or arbitration, generally through a committee or the Magistrates Court, under Chapter 11, with appeal to the Supreme Court. A separate track applies to decisions the Act specifically labels 'reviewable decisions': internal review first, then the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT). The two tracks run in parallel, so a dispute should not be assumed to automatically go to ACAT; that depends on whether the decision is defined as reviewable.

Employer obligations and return to work

Employers must keep a Register of Injuries (section 92), and once a worker has a 'significant injury' triggering a personal injury plan, both sides have obligations under it. Section 105 requires an employer to provide suitable work, the same or equivalent role so far as reasonably practical or otherwise suitable employment, to a worker who asks within 6 months of becoming entitled to weekly compensation, a strict-liability offence carrying up to 10 penalty units if breached; section 106 sets a parallel duty for contract workers. Employers meeting a size or claims threshold must appoint a return-to-work coordinator, on a register the WHS Commissioner maintains, accessible to inspectors, the employer's own workers and the employer's insurer, not the general public. A worker whose employment is affected because of an injury may also have a separate claim under the Fair Work Act's general protections regime; see our guide to general protections and adverse action.

At the current republication, a penalty unit is worth $160 for an individual and $810 for a corporation, so a 10-unit breach carries up to $1,600 or $8,100. Failing to hold compulsory insurance is a 50-unit offence, up to $8,000 or $40,500, and a repeat breach or ignoring a cease-business order is 250 units, up to $40,000 or $202,500.

For the broader landscape of workers compensation across Australia's states, territories and the Commonwealth Comcare scheme, see our Australia workers compensation hub.

This article provides general legal information about the Workers Compensation Act 1951 (ACT), current as at 17 August 2026 based on the Act's republication No 88, effective 26 November 2025. It is not legal advice and does not account for your individual circumstances. The statutory floor and ceiling for weekly payments, and the licensed insurer list, move with separate Commonwealth and ACT Government releases and should be checked against the current published figures rather than assumed from this article. For advice about a specific situation, consult a legal practitioner admitted in the Australian Capital Territory.