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Pre-injury average weekly earnings for workers and employers

If a worker loses income because of a work-related injury or illness, they may be entitled to weekly payments.

What is PIAWE?

If you’ve been injured at work, you may be entitled to weekly payments from WorkSafe Victoria. How much these payments are depends on how much you earned before you were injured. This is called your pre-injury average weekly earnings (PIAWE).

If you’re not sure what some of these items mean, that’s okay - once you submit an injury claim, your WorkSafe agent will help you figure out what your PIAWE is.

You can also estimate this figure yourself using our PIAWE estimator.

What are weekly payments?

Weekly payments are what you may receive from WorkSafe Victoria if you’ve been injured at work. For the first 13 weeks after your injury, your weekly payments will be equal to 95% of your PIAWE up to a statutory maximum of double the Victorian average weekly earnings. After 13 weeks, your weekly payments will change.

Find out more about weekly payments and the statutory maximum:

Is PIAWE relevant to me?

If you’ve been injured at work, knowing your PIAWE is important as it helps you understand how much your weekly payments from WorkSafe Victoria will be. This helps you to continue focusing on your rehabilitation and return to work.

Calculating my PIAWE

You don't need to know your PIAWE when making an injury claim. Once you submit your claim, your WorkSafe agent will get in touch with you and help you understand your PIAWE, and what your weekly payments will be.

However, some people might want to get an estimate of what their PIAWE is before they submit a claim. If you would like to estimate your PIAWE, you can use our PIAWE estimator.

Before you start using our PIAWE estimator, make sure you have the following information to make things easier for you:

  • your employment history for the past year
  • your base pay rate
  • any overtime and shift allowance information
  • piece rates and commission information
  • the value of any non-pecuniary benefits you may have received

If you're paid a casual loading rate, or if your injury occurred before 5 April 2010, the PIAWE estimator won't give you an accurate estimation. Please get in touch with us below for assistance.

Estimate your PIAWE

Get help

For instructions on using the PIAWE estimator:

More information on making a claim:

If you have already made a claim and would like more information about your individual circumstances, contact your WorkSafe agent.

You can also contact WorkSafe Advisory for confidential advice and assistance.

WorkSafe Advisory

WorkSafe's advisory service is available between 7:30am and 6:30pm Monday to Friday. If you need more support, you can also contact WorkSafe using the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National) or the National Relay Service.

1800 136 089 More contact options