What this is for
Section 30 of the SRC Act obliges the authority to redeem low weekly incapacity payments into a lump sum once it is satisfied the degree of incapacity is unlikely to change. There is no application, no form and no statutory clock, so qualifying files are found by screening or they are not found at all.
This is the screen from the section 30 explainer, pulled out as something you can run monthly across the open incapacity population. It carries the population filter, the ceiling test, the stability evidence checklist, the two delegate decision points and the record-keeping line.
How to use it
Run it monthly across the whole open population, not file by file. Sections 1 to 3 are machine work, and they end at evidence. Section 4 is where a person takes over.
De-identify at extract time and use placeholders throughout: [CLAIMANT_NAME], [CLAIM_NUMBER], [INJURY_DATE], [TREATING_PRACTITIONER], [CONDITION]. Keep the re-identification key in the controlled claim system.
Nothing in this check is a determination, and nothing in it produces one.
The artefact
Section 1: the population filter
Include every open claim currently attracting weekly payments under section 19, 20, 21 or 21A of the SRC Act.
Record for each: [CLAIM_NUMBER], [INJURY_DATE], the weekly incapacity provision in force, and the current weekly amount payable with its source field.
Define the population as a rule you can re-run and reproduce. Not the long-tail files. Not a manager's recollection.
For a self-insured licensee, document the screen against Part VIII rather than against section 30, because section 30 names Comcare and not the relevant authority. The routing is paragraph 108A(1)(c) liability, subsection 108C(1) determination within licence scope, and paragraph 108E(b) accurate and quick determination.
Section 2: the three supplied inputs
Pass all three in as parameters on every run. Never let a model retrieve any of them from memory.
Check the rule cites subsection 30(1) and not subsection 19(8) or 137(1). All three carry $152.50 this year for unrelated entitlements.
Section 3: the ceiling test and the stability evidence checklist
Ceiling test. For each record return one of: AT OR BELOW CEILING, ABOVE CEILING, or CANNOT DETERMINE, with the reason. Test the weekly amount actually payable under the relevant section. Not normal weekly earnings. Not an annualised average.
Hold column. Any record whose weekly amount changed in the last 13 weeks, or that has only just dropped under the ceiling on a retrospective adjustment, goes to hold until the ledgers reconcile. Paragraph 30(1)(b) needs a settled figure.
Stability evidence bundle. For every record at or below the ceiling, assemble the following, each item cited to a source document. Write "not stated" for gaps rather than filling them.
- Certificate history from [TREATING_PRACTITIONER] and the pattern of stated restrictions, with review dates
- Treatment frequency, and whether it is active or maintenance
- Rehabilitation status, and whether a program is open or closed
- Pattern of actual earnings in suitable employment across the recorded pay cycles
- Any pending reassessment, examination or review
No summary sentence about whether the degree of incapacity is likely to change. The bundle ends at the evidence.
Section 4: the delegate decision points
Decision point 1: the satisfaction under paragraph 30(1)(c). The delegate reads the bundle and is satisfied that the degree of incapacity is unlikely to change, or is not. The reasons record which, and why, against the evidence.
Decision point 2: the lump sum and the determination. The lump sum is worked out under subsection 30(2). The delegate confirms the specified number in force and the pension age date before any figure is settled, and signs the determination.
Before signing, confirm the consequences are understood on file:
- Subsection 23(3) closes further weekly payments under section 19, 20, 21 or 21A for that injury from the day after the determination
- Section 31 is the only way back. It requires incapacity to the extent the employee is not able to engage in suitable employment, and incapacity likely to continue indefinitely, and it pays only the difference between what would have been payable and the amount redeemed
- Section 32 disregards the determination for subsections 23(3) and 31(2) only where it is revoked or set aside, unless a tribunal or court substitutes its own redemption determination
- Section 60 makes this a determination, so section 61 written notice with terms, reasons and the reconsideration statement is required, section 62 reconsideration is available, and the section 62 decision is the reviewable decision
Section 5: what the model never does
- Form the satisfaction. A line reading "incapacity appears stable and unlikely to change" is the statutory test wearing a summary's clothes
- Recommend that the satisfaction be formed. Rank by how complete the evidence bundle is, never by how likely the determination looks
- Model whether a lump sum suits the employee. That is not the statutory question
- Calculate the lump sum, or draft determination reasons
Section 6: the record-keeping line
Log every run, including the nil results. A month with no candidates is evidence the obligation was tested. An unlogged screen is indistinguishable from no screen.
For each run record: the date, the population rule used, the three supplied input values, the candidate count, the hold count, the nil result where applicable, and the delegate who reviewed each bundle.
TheAICommand. Intelligence, At Your Command.