Police Officer Support Scheme disputes

On 27 September 2024, the NSW Government established the new Police Officer Support Scheme to better support NSW police officers who are injured at work through amendments to the Police Act 1990, the Police Regulation 2015 and the Personal Injury Commission Act 2020.  The Police Officer Support Scheme replaces the Police Blue Ribbon Insurance Scheme. With a focus on injury prevention, rehabilitation and supporting officers to return to work. Wherever possible, the scheme provides eligible officers who are injured on duty and in receipt of weekly workers compensation with supplementary support benefits for up to seven years, with the possibility of extension for up to an additional three years in cases of catastrophic or exceptional injuries.

The Commission has new powers to hear and determine disputes in relation to decisions made under the Police Officer Support Scheme and as prescribed by the Police Regulation 2015, including decisions to decline to make payments to an officer, a decision about the amount of payment to be made to an officer or about the length of catastrophic or exceptional injury payments.

To undertake this work, the Police Officer Support Scheme Division has been established and a Division Head and members have been appointed by the Attorney General. The President has also appointed medical assessors to the Division.

The dispute resolution model for the new Division will mirror the current workers compensation model as far as practicable, to reduce process trauma for officers who also have a workers compensation dispute before the Commission. Conciliation will be used as a first step to resolving disputes, meaning we will work collaboratively with parties to try to assist them to reach an agreement without a formal determination. However, where an agreement cannot be reached, the Commission will decide the dispute through arbitration. A matter involving a medical dispute may be referred to a medical assessor, on a discretionary basis, by the President or a member, but it is expected in most cases that members will engage in conciliation to resolve issues or will be capable of determining these issues. Similar to workers compensation, the Police Officer Support Scheme Division also allows parties to appeal a member’s decision to a Presidential Member (and subsequently, the Court of Appeal), and to appeal a medical assessment certificate to a Medical Appeal Panel.

The Commission’s rules and procedures will be updated to ensure they are fit for purpose, and membership of the Personal Injury Commission Rule Committee now also includes a representative of the Police Commissioner. Applications to lodge a dispute under the Police Officer Support Scheme can be made by completing a Form 2 (Application to Resolve a Dispute) available for download here. The application must include all information relevant to the dispute in an indexed and paginated bundle, as it may not be able to be added later.

The Commission’s 500-page limit will apply to supporting material for disputes lodged under the Police Officer Support Scheme. If a party intends to rely on more than 500 pages of supporting material, they will need to make an application to lodge additional documents and seek leave to have those documents introduced into the proceedings.

Once the application to lodge a dispute is complete, please email it to [email protected]. Eventually, parties will be able to lodge applications under the Police Officer Support Scheme via Pathway, our single digital platform.

For more information, please view our fact sheet: Understanding the Police Officer Support Scheme.