How to lodge a dispute

The first step towards resolving your personal injury dispute is to complete and lodge the appropriate application with the Personal Injury Commission. Read below to find out how we will work with all parties to resolve your dispute.

Our role

When you are injured at work or on the road, a decision may be made about your entitlements, benefits or compensation that you don’t agree with. This is called a dispute, and the Commission works with all parties to explore ways to resolve the dispute. When the parties are not able to reach their own resolution, an independent decision maker of the Commission will decide the dispute for them.

The Commission helps resolve disputes in three divisions – the Motor Accidents Division, the Workers Compensation Division and the Police Officer Support Scheme Division.

Can you lodge a dispute?

Before you can lodge a dispute with us, you must have first submitted a claim with the insurer, or for the Police Officer Support Scheme with the Police Commissioner. For more information on making a claim for workers compensation or a motor accident injury, visit the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) website.

You may also ask your insurer to review their decision before you lodge a dispute with the Commission. In some cases, you are required to have an internal review from the insurer before you can lodge a dispute with us.

If your dispute involves parties from outside of NSW, federal jurisdiction may apply. Visit our federal jurisdiction page for more information.

How to lodge a dispute

The first step is to complete and lodge the appropriate application. For motor accidents and workers compensation disputes, you must lodge your dispute on the Commission’s online Pathway Portal. For Police Officer Support Scheme disputes, you will need to download Form 2 Application to Resolve a Dispute and email it to [email protected].

All documentation submitted in a dispute should be lodged on the Pathway Portal. However, where this is not possible, offline versions of the Commission’s forms are located here.

It is best to wait until you have all relevant information you intend to rely on to include in your application, as it may not be possible to include further information later in the process. You will also need to ensure your applications complies with all requirements, including that supporting documents bundles are indexed, paginated and sorted by document category and does not exceed 500 pages (for certain dispute types). An Application to Lodge Additional Documents can be made where the documents are necessary to facilitate the just, quick and cost-effective resolution of the real issues in the proceedings.

If you are legally represented, your lawyer will lodge the application on your behalf.

If you are self-represented and need assistance to lodge an application, please contact us. The Commission cannot provide legal advice but we will be able to assist with the procedural aspects of your application.

Once you lodge the application, the Commission’s Registry will acknowledge that we have received the application and request a reply from the other party, who is known as the respondent.

The respondent will also need to include all relevant material with their reply. This early exchange of information assists with discussions to help resolve the dispute.

Dispute pathways

Once the Commission receives the application and the reply, the dispute will be assigned to the most appropriate dispute resolution pathway.

For workers compensation disputes, the pathways are:

• legal disputes
• medical disputes
• work injury damages disputes
• expedited disputes.

For motor accidents disputes, the pathways are:

• claims and merits disputes
• medical disputes.

The Commission will decide on the most appropriate pathway, depending on the type of claim and the issues in dispute. However, disputes can be complicated and the Commission may decide to change the pathway for a dispute at any time.

Legal representation

For workers compensation matters, most parties are entitled to government funding for legal assistance via the Independent Legal Assistance and Review Service (ILARS). Your legal representative will usually apply to ILARS for funding on your behalf, but if you don’t have a lawyer, ILARS may be able to assist you to locate one. ILARS is administered through the Independent Review Office (IRO). Call IRO on 13 94 76 for more information. You can choose to represent yourself, but you must indicate this when you make your application.

For motor accidents matters, claimants may be represented by a lawyer or can lodge a dispute themselves. CTP Assist can provide information about the CTP Legal Advisory Service.

The following bodies may also be able to assist you to locate a lawyer:

• The Law Society Solicitor Referral Service (02 9926 0333) helps members of the public find lawyers that are appropriate for their individual circumstances and needs.
• LawAccess NSW is a free government telephone service (1300 888 529) that provides legal information, referrals and, in some cases, advice for people who require legal assistance.

Equal access to our services at no cost

The Commission is committed to providing equal access to our services. We conduct proceedings in various regional locations and in Sydney, as well as virtually or in a hybrid setting.

Our venues all provide for disability needs and accessibility assistance is available for you to contact the Commission or to attend proceedings, including medical assessments.

The Commission can arrange interpreters at no cost to assist you during formal Commission proceedings or if you are required to attend a medical assessment.

The Commission’s dispute resolution services, including medical assessments, are free.

The Commission has published a range of fact sheets and videos to help explain many of our processes. Find them here.