Guide

Certificates of capacity

The certificate is the form your treating doctor fills in about your injury, your treatment and how much work you can do. In the NSW workers compensation scheme, more turns on it than most people are told.

General information, not legal advice. This page sets out how the law generally applies. It does not take account of your circumstances, and you should get advice about your own situation before acting on it. The official sources this page is written from are listed on it; where they differ from anything here, they are the authority.

In short

A certificate of capacity is a standard NSW workers compensation form, usually completed by your nominated treating doctor, recording your diagnosis, the treatment you need and how much work you can do. Weekly payments and treatment approvals run off it.

Find your most recent certificate and look at the period written on it. If that period is close to ending, book the next appointment now: a gap between certificates is a common reason payments stop.

What the certificate is

A certificate of capacity is a standard form used across the New South Wales workers compensation scheme. icare NSW calls it the main channel of communication between your doctor, your employer and the claims service provider, and says you must have a valid certificate to keep receiving weekly payments and treatment services.

It is usually completed by your nominated treating doctor, the doctor you have named as leading your treatment. They record on the form what the scheme runs on:

The capacity section is the part that moves money

Most of a certificate is clinical. One part of it is not, in its effect. What the doctor writes about your capacity for work is the insurer’s starting point for what you are paid, and for what your employer is asked to offer you.

So be precise rather than stoic. Light duties means very little on its own. How long you can stand, how much you can lift, whether you can drive, whether you can concentrate, and whether you can do the job you actually have – those are what make a certificate match your week.

A certificate written quickly at the end of a long appointment can follow a claim for years, because each one joins the ones before it.

The two parts you sign

Most of the form belongs to the doctor. Two parts belong to you.

Read the employment declaration before signing and answer it accurately. It asks about more than your usual job, and a careless answer is harder to explain later than an honest one.

Keeping a certificate current

A certificate covers a set period, and the period is short. There is a cap on how long one certificate can run, and going beyond it needs the claims service provider to accept that the circumstances are special. icare is direct about whose responsibility a current certificate is: yours.

So book the next appointment before the current certificate ends, rather than after a payment fails to arrive. A gap is administrative rather than a decision about your claim, but the effect on a household is the same. If you cannot get an appointment in time, tell the insurer in writing, and keep a copy.

When the insurer takes a different view

A certificate is your doctor’s opinion, not the insurer’s decision. An insurer can form its own view of your capacity for work, and that is a work capacity decision, a term defined by section 43 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW). It can reduce or stop weekly payments while a certificate says something different, and it takes effect unless it is disputed.

Those decisions are made in writing and they can be disputed. Disputes between injured people, employers and insurers in New South Wales are dealt with by the Personal Injury Commission rather than by a court in the first instance. The Commission sorts these matters into pathways – legal, medical, expedited assessment, damages and others.

The legislation was amended in 2025 and again in 2026, with parts commencing across 2026, and whether a change reaches your claim generally depends on when the injury was notified.

Periods for disputing a decision run from the date on the insurer’s letter, and they are short. Which one applies depends on the decision and the document you were given. Confirm the period that applies to you before you rely on it. Take the letter to someone who can read it.

What usually happens

Ask for the form by name

Say the injury is work related and ask for a NSW workers compensation certificate of capacity. Asking by name saves a second visit.

Go through it before you leave

Check the diagnosis, the dates it covers and the capacity section. If any of it does not match what you can do, say so then.

Get it to the people who need it

Give it to your employer and to the insurer managing the claim, and keep a copy before it leaves your hands.

Book the next appointment now

Put the end date somewhere you will see it, and make the next appointment before it.

Keep the whole set

Keep every certificate in order, with everything the insurer has sent you. That sequence is the record of how your capacity changed.

Common questions

Who completes a certificate of capacity?

icare says it is usually completed by your nominated treating doctor, the doctor you have named as leading your treatment. If the first one came from a hospital, settle early who the nominated doctor will be, because that is who the insurer corresponds with.

Can I change my nominated treating doctor?

The nomination is yours, and the arrangements for changing it are set by the scheme. The State Insurance Regulatory Authority regulates the scheme, and the insurer can tell you what is involved. What you should not do is stop attending: a certificate cannot be written for an appointment that did not happen.

What happens if my certificate runs out?

Weekly payments and treatment approvals depend on a current certificate, so a lapse can interrupt both. It is usually administrative rather than a decision about your claim, and it is fixed by getting a new certificate to the insurer. Say in writing when you asked for the appointment.

The certificate says I have capacity, but my employer has no work for me.

Your employer is obliged by law to provide suitable work that matches your capacity where that is possible. If nothing is offered, tell your doctor and tell the insurer, and ask for it to be recorded in the claim file.

Do I need a lawyer to deal with certificates?

Often not. Most certificates are routine and are handled between you, your doctor and the insurer. Free help exists in New South Wales for the problems that are not: the NSW courts list free services, including LawAccess NSW, run by Legal Aid NSW, and community legal centres.

If payments have already stopped

Bring the letter. A written decision from an insurer is usually the thing with a period running against it, and its date shapes what can still be done. A few sentences and your most recent certificate are enough.