Elect to buy-out your WorkCover insurance premium excess

Earlier date for electing to buy-out insurance excess option

Each WorkSafe claim is subject to an insurance excess, also known as the employer excess.

Each WorkSafe claim is subject to an insurance excess consisting of:

• the first 10 days of weekly benefits and
• the first $824 of reasonable medical and like expenses for 2023-24 (indexed annually)

Employers can elect to remove this excess by paying an additional 10 per cent of their premium (referred to as the buy-out premium).

The effect of removing the excess is that your claims are managed and paid for by your Agent from day one. This makes it easier for employers to manage the early stages of a claim.

As occurred last year, the date by which you have to inform your Agent that you want to remove the excess or reinstate it is 1 August 2023. This date reflects the fact that premium notices are now issued in July instead of September. This can be done when you update your 2023/24 remuneration online provided this is before 1 August.

If you are a new employer you must make your election at the time of registering with WorkSafe.

Provisional payments and employer excess

Where a worker is entitled to provisional payments for a mental injury, no medical excess is payable for the life of the claim, even if there is a concurrent physical injury.

You are still required to pay the excess of the first 10 days of weekly payments for mental injury claims, unless you have taken the buy-out option.

Please note that provisional payments will not impact your 2021-22 premium.

Your premium rate for 2022-23 is expected to be calculated based on the standard factors including your remuneration, industry classification, previous claims and other aspects that may affect it (such as provisional payments).