Workers compensation (ACT)

What the scheme requires

• Who must insure: An ACT employer must hold a workers compensation policy to cover its workers and display the insurer's return to work program. Employers without a current policy face a $7,500 on-the-spot fine and up to double the avoided premiums, as determined by WorkSafe ACT. ACT · effective 2026-08-13 WorkSafe ACT · 2026-08-13
• Premium basis: The ACT private sector scheme is privately underwritten: policies come from insurers licensed under the Workers Compensation Act 1951 (Allianz, Guild, QBE, CGU and GIO are listed), which set premiums when quoting. WorkSafe ACT licenses insurers and does not provide insurance itself. ACT · effective 2026-08-13 WorkSafe ACT · 2026-08-13
• Certificate of currency process: The certificate comes from your own insurer, not from the regulator — the ACT uses private licensed insurers with WorkSafe ACT licensing them rather than underwriting. Ask your licensed insurer in writing and, under section 160 of the Workers Compensation Act 1951, it must give you a certificate of currency within five business days. It has to state the details you gave the insurer, the period you are insured for, and the period of up to twelve months for which the certificate is current. A free re-issue is guaranteed once every six months, and sooner if the risk details have changed or you reasonably need another — the Act's own example is a certificate destroyed in a fire. The one catch: the insurer need not issue it if you are in default under the policy, provided it tells you so within five business days. Worth knowing which way this cuts on site: section 161 makes it a strict liability offence for an employer not to produce a certificate when an authorised person asks to see it, and an authorised person expressly includes the principal of a worker — the head contractor whose contract the subcontractor's workers are fulfilling. A principal asking a subcontractor for a certificate is exercising a statutory power, not making a commercial request, and there is a seven business day cure window. ACT · effective 2026-08-25 WorkSafe ACT · 2026-08-13
• Small employer exemption: No small-employer exemption is stated: an ACT employer must hold a policy to cover its workers, and the only stated alternative is applying to become a licensed self-insurer — a path used by large employers such as Coles Group and Westpac. ACT · effective 2026-08-13 WorkSafe ACT · 2026-08-13

Who administers it

• WorkSafe ACT — The Australian Capital Territory work health and safety regulator.

The cover this scheme deals with

• Workers compensation insurance — Statutory cover for injury to workers, arranged through each state or territory scheme rather than on the open market.

What this scheme does not do

Scheme cover and a business’s own insurance answer different questions. A workers compensation scheme responds to injury and illness suffered by a business’s own workers; it does not cover injury to members of the public, damage the business causes to someone else’s property, or the business’s own assets.

• Where injury to the public is dealt with
• Who counts as a worker

Sources

• WorkSafe ACT — WorkSafe ACT