What Is a CTP Claim in NSW? A Complete Guide for Injured Drivers

What Is a CTP Claim?

A CTP claim is a personal injury claim made under the NSW Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance scheme, also known as Green Slip insurance. Every registered vehicle in New South Wales is legally required to carry CTP cover, and that premium is paid every year as part of your rego. The scheme exists to cover the medical and income-related costs of people who are injured in a motor vehicle accident on a NSW road.

The modern CTP scheme in NSW is governed by the Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017, which came into effect on 1 December 2017. Before those reforms, you had to prove another driver was at fault before you could access most benefits. Under the current scheme, almost everyone injured in a motor accident can get statutory benefits for at least the first 52 weeks, regardless of who caused the crash.

A CTP claim is separate from a compensation claim for vehicle damage. CTP only covers injuries to people. If you've been injured in a car accident, truck accident, motorbike accident or as a pedestrian struck by a vehicle, the CTP scheme is the pathway for your medical treatment and weekly income support.

Who Can Make a CTP Claim in NSW?

The CTP scheme is designed to be broad. Most people injured on a NSW road in a vehicle-related incident are eligible to claim, including:

• Drivers of cars, trucks, utes, and commercial vehicles
• Passengers in any registered vehicle involved in an accident
• Pedestrians struck by a vehicle
• Cyclists hit by a car, truck, or motorbike
• Motorbike riders and their pillion passengers
• At-fault drivers: since the 2017 reforms, even the driver who caused the accident can claim statutory benefits for up to 52 weeks

The shift to a no-fault statutory benefits model was one of the most significant changes in the 2017 reforms. Before then, an at-fault driver had very limited access to compensation. Now, if you've crashed your own car and injured yourself, you can still claim reasonable and necessary medical treatment and weekly payments while you recover.

If you've just been involved in a crash and aren't sure what to do next, our what to do after an injury page walks through the practical steps: seeing a doctor, getting a Certificate of Fitness, lodging the claim and starting your treatment.

What Injuries Are Covered Under CTP?

CTP covers both physical and psychological injuries caused by the accident. That includes whiplash, neck and back injuries, fractures, head injuries, internal injuries, burns, dental damage, and post-traumatic stress disorder or acute anxiety arising from the crash.

Under the 2017 scheme, every injury is classified as either a threshold injury (previously called a minor injury) or a non-threshold injury. This classification matters because it controls how long you can receive benefits and whether you can pursue a common-law lump sum claim.

Threshold Injuries

A threshold injury is a soft tissue injury (sprains, strains, most whiplash), or a psychological or psychiatric injury that is not a recognised psychiatric illness. How long it lasts is not the test. The Regulation names acute stress disorder and adjustment disorder, as defined in DSM-5, as threshold injuries whether they settle in a month or run on for a year. If your injury is classified as threshold, weekly payments and treatment are available for up to 52 weeks after the accident. The same 52-week limit applies if you were mostly at fault for the crash, whatever the injury.

Source: Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW), ss 1.6, 3.11 and 3.28, and SIRA, Providing allied health services in the NSW CTP schemes (FAQs) (checked September 2026).

Non-Threshold Injuries

Non-threshold injuries include fractures, brain and spinal cord injuries, a complete or partial rupture of a tendon, ligament, meniscus or cartilage, injury to nerves, and a psychological injury that is a recognised psychiatric illness. One wrinkle sits in the spine: the Regulation returns an injury to a spinal nerve root to the threshold category where it shows neurological signs other than radiculopathy, so a neurological sign on its own does not settle the question. If your injury is non-threshold and you were not mostly at fault, weekly payments can run to 104 weeks, and treatment and care are funded for as long as they stay reasonable and necessary.

Source: Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW), ss 1.6, 3.12 and 3.24, and SIRA, Providing allied health services in the NSW CTP schemes (FAQs) (checked September 2026).

The classification isn't always obvious in the first weeks after a crash. Soft tissue symptoms can mask nerve damage, and the full picture of a psychological injury sometimes only emerges months in. A doctor who treats crash injuries sees this often and documents symptoms thoroughly from the first visit, so the injury is correctly classified as it evolves. The full statutory definition, including the exclusions that decide most files, is set out in section 6 of our NSW car accident injury guide.

What Benefits Can You Get?

A CTP claim gives you access to four main categories of support:

1. Medical Treatment Expenses

The insurer pays for reasonable and necessary medical treatment: GP visits, specialist appointments, physiotherapy, psychology, hospital care, diagnostic imaging (X-rays, MRIs, CT scans), prescribed medication, and surgery if required. The insurer pays the doctor or physio directly, so there's no out-of-pocket cost to you for treatment under an accepted CTP claim.

2. Weekly Income Payments

If your injury stops you from working, CTP pays weekly payments to cover the earnings you have lost. For the first 13 weeks the rate is 95% of the gap between your pre-accident weekly earnings and whatever you can still earn. From week 14 through to week 78 it steps down to 80% if you cannot work at all, or 85% if you are back on reduced hours. How long the payments run depends on the classification of your injury: 52 weeks for a threshold injury or a mostly-at-fault claimant, up to 104 weeks otherwise.

Source: Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW), ss 3.6, 3.7, 3.11 and 3.12 (checked September 2026).

3. Rehabilitation and Support

CTP funds rehabilitation services aimed at getting you back to work and daily life. That includes physiotherapy, exercise physiology, occupational therapy, psychology, pain management programs, and workplace rehabilitation consultants who liaise with your employer about modified duties.

4. A Damages Claim, Where One Is Open

Where the injury is non-threshold and someone else was at fault, a separate common-law damages claim may also be available. That is legal work, so a lawyer runs it. We put you in touch with one and keep helping with the treatment and certificates.

How Long Do You Have to Lodge a CTP Claim?

Here are the key deadlines to remember:

• 24 hours: report an injury crash to police, if they did not attend (and as soon as you can in any case)
• 28 days: have a police report made that the CTP insurer can verify your claim against, and lodge your application for personal injury benefits if you want weekly payments backdated
• 3 months: the outside limit for making a statutory benefits claim at all, unless you can give a full and satisfactory explanation for lodging later
• 20 months: for some claimants, the earliest point at which a damages claim can be made. It is a waiting period rather than a deadline, and it does not apply to everyone
• 3 years: the limitation period for a damages claim

Source: Motor Accident Injuries Act 2017 (NSW), ss 6.13 and 6.14, and SIRA's guide for people injured in a motor vehicle accident; NSW Road Rules 2014 r 287 (classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_reg/rr2014104/s287.html) (checked September 2026).

The CTP insurer is usually the insurer of the vehicle that caused the accident, or your own vehicle's insurer if you're an at-fault driver claiming statutory benefits. The scheme is regulated by the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA), which publishes the official forms and sets the rules insurers must follow.

What CTP Does NOT Cover

A common point of confusion: CTP insurance does not cover damage to vehicles or property. If your car is written off, the repair or replacement cost is handled through your comprehensive or third-party property insurance (or the at-fault driver's policy). CTP is strictly for personal injury, meaning the people involved rather than the cars.

CTP also does not cover:

• Damage to your own vehicle or its contents
• Damage to other vehicles, fences, street signs, or property
• Injuries that occurred outside NSW (other states have their own schemes)
• Injuries from incidents that aren't motor vehicle related, since a workplace injury would go through WorkCover instead (if you're unsure which scheme applies to your situation, our should I claim WorkCover guide is a good starting point)

How WorkCover Hub Helps With CTP Claims

WorkCover Hub gets you to a doctor who treats crash injuries and helps with the CTP claim. The doctor examines you and writes the Certificate of Fitness the insurer works from. We line up physio and psychology for the treatment. Because the first certificate has to come from a doctor while later ones can be written by your treating physio or psychologist, keeping all three on one plan means the chain of certificates does not have to break every time you need a new one.

Source: SIRA, Motor Accident Guidelines 4.68 and 4.69 (checked September 2026).

Our help is free, and on an accepted claim the CTP insurer pays for care within approved cover. When you are ready to start, book a car accident appointment, or read our car accident injury service page for how a claim runs day to day.