You're considered an experience-rated employer if your average performance premium is over $30,000. This means your premium will be impacted by your claims performance.

Premium formula

The formula below shows you how your premium is calculated. Please refer to the table below for definitions of each component.

P

Premium

=

(APP x CPA)

Average Performance Premium

Claims Performance Adjustment

+

D

Dust diseases contribution

+

M

Mine Safety Fund Premium adjustment

-

SER

Safe Employer Reward

-

PD

Performance discount

-

A

Apprentice incentive discount

+

Q

Premiums adjustment contribution

+

CCC

Catastrophic claim contribution

Where a Catastrophic claim contribution is applied, it is charged separately.

*eligibility for the Safe Employer Reward (SER) may be impacted by claim costs.

View formula definition

Note: Cap on premium rate changes

There is a 25 per cent cap on premium rate changes for experience-rated employers whose policy period commences on or after 30 June 2026. The premium rate is calculated by dividing the employer's premium payable (APP x CPA) by Wages and compared to the premium rate for the last policy period.

The cap is only applied if the increase or decrease results from your own claims experience, or due to amendments in the premium methodology. It does not apply if the premium increase or decrease is only due to a change in your Workers Compensation Industry Classification (WIC), business activity or wages. If you qualify for capping this is automatically applied to your premium.

What is premium capping and how does it work?

Calculation example

Two bakers work in a kitchen together. Based on these figures, if Hotloaf Pty Ltd had premium impacting claims costs of $20,000 their CPA rate would be 1.090 resulting in a premium payable before adjustments of $108,128 and the Safe Employer Reward would not apply. Employers whose claims performance is higher than the Scheme will pay a premium higher than their average performance premium.

Hotloaf Pty Ltd is a bread manufacturing company.

WIC 216100 rate for 2025 4.960%
Wages $2,000,000
Average Performance Premium (APP)$99,200
Claims Experience $0
Claims Performance Adjustment (CPA) rate 0.925
Claims Performance Adjustment amount - $7,440
Premium before adjustments (APP x CPA) $91,760

As the employer has no claims history in the last three policy periods, their premium will be reduced by $7,440.

As the employer's claims performance is better than the Workers Compensation Insurance Scheme's performance, the employer will pay less than the average performance premium.

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WICs and premium rates

Claims Performance Adjustment rates

Premium formula definitions

AcronymTermDescriptionDetails
PPremiumTotal premium payable including adjustments.

Premium is calculated twice annually:

  • at renewal (based on estimate of wages)
  • at adjustment (based on actual wages)
APPAverage Performance Premium (previously known as Basic Tariff Premium BTP)
  • wages x WIC Rate (%)

OR

  • number of plates, rides, bouts, drives x WIC rate ($) - for per capita WICs
CCCCatastrophic Claim Contribution
  •  APP x contribution % rate
  • applied when work related incident (or its complications) involves a fatality
  • applied only once per incident, regardless of number of fatalities
  • applied at end of policy year in which incident occurred
  • the CCC is shown as a separate charge in the calculation and is included in the total premium payable.
CPAClaims Performance Adjustment

The CPA rate for the employer is:

  • a decimal number (in the CPA table) at the intersection of an employer's claim performance rate (CPR) AND the employer size or group size (APP or GAPP)

How is CPA calculated?

CPA rates contained in the CPA table are determined by icare's actuaries.

  • CPA is used to adjust (discount or load) an employer's APP based on their claims performance compared to the Workers Insurance Scheme performance

Adaptive Maximum CPA

  • An employer who has a maximum CPA cap for more than one consecutive year will have an increased CPA rate.
  • Adaptive Maximum CPA applies to policy renewal years:
    • 2019/20
    • 2020/21
    • 2021/22
    • 2022/23
CPMClaims Performance Measure

The CPM for an experience-rated employer is:

  • a percentage rate derived by dividing an Employer's individual Claims Costs for the last three consecutive periods of 12 months by the employers total APP for the same three-year period
  • Note: If a prior period is less than 12 months, the APP for the short-term period is annualised.

CPM informs the CPA component and does not appear in the main premium formula.

CPM determines an employer's individual claims performance.

It is compared to the Scheme's performance to determine if a loading or discount should be applied to the premium.

CPRClaims Performance RateA percentage rate derived by dividing an employer's CPM by SPM. 

CPR informs the CPA component and does not appear in the main premium formula.

The CPR and the employer size (or group size, if grouped) will determine the employer's claims performance adjustment rate (CPA).

  • If the employer's CPM is lower than the SPM, the premium will be reduced.
  • If the employer's CPM is higher than the SPM the premium will increase.
SPMScheme Performance MeasureA percentage rate determined by icare's actuaries and used to benchmark an employer's individual claims performance (CPM).

SPM informs the CPA component and does not appear in the main premium formula.

SERSafe Employer RewardAPP x SER%

A performance-based reward applied at policy renewal on the basis of:

  • 3 years of policy history; and
  • no catastrophic claim charge in last 3 years; and
  • a CPR less than 100%; and
  • timely submission of actual wages declarations for prior policy periods.
RTWI (Experience-rated employers)Return to Work Incentive

A percentage discount applied directly to individual claim costs where an injured worker is returned to work (from Date of Injury) between:

  • 0<13 weeks – 15% discount
  • 13<26 weeks – 10% discount
  • 26<52 weeks – 5% discount

The RTWI does not appear in the main premium formula.

  • An incentive to encourage early return to work of injured workers.
PDPerformance DiscountA percentage discount applied to (APP - Apprentice APP)
  • Applied at hindsight adjustment
  • Based on employer's claims performance
  • May not be applied every policy year - depends on Scheme financial performance
QPremiums Adjustment ContributionAdditional levy (available if required by icare)

Set to '0'

  • Not applied to date
DDust Diseases ContributionAn additional amount included in total premium payable
  • Applies to all employers except those with per capita WIC Codes (for example taxis)
  • Dust Diseases Contributions are contained in the premium rates table
  • Paid by icare to Dust Diseases Authority to administer and pay for claims made under the Workers' Compensation (Dust Diseases) Act 1942
MMine Safety Fund premium adjustment
  • Wages x MSFPA%
  • Percentage rate per annum applied to wages of Division B Mining employers (WIC Codes 120000 to 152000)
  • An additional amount included in total premium payable
  • Collected for the Mine Safety Fund
  • Paid by icare to Department of Regional NSW under Mine and Petroleum Site Safety (Cost Recovery) Act 2005
AApprentice incentive
  • Apprentice wages x WIC Code % rate
  • Discounted from premium after premium payable is calculated
  • Eligibility - NSW employers who employ apprentices under NSW Training Services contract
  • Incentive for employers to hire apprentices and address NSW skills shortage

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