1. Your liability claim and your impairment claim are two different claims
This is the one that catches people, because most veterans think of it as one claim.
- Initial liability asks: is this condition service related?
- Permanent impairment asks: how much is it worth?
They are separate claims, with separate numbers, and separate lodgement dates.
A liability claim lodged before 1 July 2026 is decided under the DRCA. But the permanent impairment claim you make after liability is accepted is a new claim, with its own date — and DVA has said DRCA is closed to new claims from 1 July 2026.
What nobody has published is which rules apply to that later impairment claim. It may be assessed under the old Approved DRCA Guide because the liability claim predates transition. It may be assessed under GARP M Chapter 25, with a baseline and a five-point gate. We do not know, and we are not going to guess.
What to do: ask DVA in writing, and ask them to identify the transitional provision they rely on. Asking for the provision turns a question they can deflect into one they must answer with a citation.
Ask this
Where liability for a condition is accepted under the DRCA on a claim lodged before 1 July 2026, is the subsequent permanent impairment assessment made under the DRCA and the Approved Guide, or under the MRCA with the Chapter 25 Step 2 requirement for an increase of at least five impairment points above the Chapter 26 baseline? Please identify the transitional provision relied on.
2. The baseline, and the five-point gate
Under the Guide to Determining Impairment and Compensation 2026 (GARP M 2026):
- Chapter 26 gives you a Baseline Impairment Rating — a number representing impairment you have already been compensated for.
- Chapter 25, Step 2 requires an increase of at least five impairment points above that baseline before further MRCA permanent impairment compensation is payable.
Why this matters more than it sounds. If your baseline is already high, the gate sits five points above it. On a scale that stops at 100, a baseline in the nineties puts the gate out of reach entirely. Further permanent impairment compensation may be arithmetically impossible, no matter how many new conditions are accepted.
Most veterans have never been told their baseline. It is not on your card, not on MyService, and not in your determination letters.
What to do: ask for it, and ask for the working.
Ask this
What is my baseline impairment rating under Chapter 26? Please identify the conditions and ratings used, the Approved DRCA Guide table each was rated under, and the method by which those ratings were expressed as impairment points. Please provide the assessment worksheet.
3. If you withdrew a claim before 1 July 2026
DVA’s withdrawal letters say you are “free to lodge a new claim for these conditions in the future.”
That was true when it was written. It means something different now.
A claim re-lodged today is a new claim under the MRCA — which means the baseline and the five-point gate in section 2. Withdrawing a DRCA claim may have converted a per-condition assessment with no gate into one you cannot clear.
If you withdrew a claim in the last few years intending to come back to it — because a doctor would not complete a form, because you were told to, because you got tired — this affects you.
What to do: do not just re-lodge. Ask first.
Ask this
If I lodge a new claim for [condition], which Act will determine liability, and which Guide will determine any permanent impairment? Was my earlier claim [number] withdrawn, and on what basis?
4. Incapacity payments went up — and that can close the cash-out
Three things changed for people on incapacity payments:
- The ADF salary component is now paid at current military salary rates, instead of being indexed by the Wage Price Index.
- A remuneration loading was added for discharged members.
- The deduction representing a notional superannuation contribution was removed.
Most people saw an increase. That is good news, and for many it is significant. Confirm the arithmetic on DVA’s incapacity payments page.
If two payments now land in the same fortnight, that can be the offsetting change, not a bank error. DVA’s incapacity page says a VEA Disability Compensation Payment you were already receiving continues, and you may also be eligible for MRCA incapacity — both at the same time. From 1 July 2026 only above-general-rate DCP (Special Rate, Intermediate Rate, Temporary Special Rate, or a loss-of-earnings allowance) is reduced because of incapacity. The general-rate amount can still be paid. Veterans on Special / Intermediate / EDA can still have a portion offset; they keep a general-rate equivalent. CSC / MSBS invalidity is a different offset against incapacity and usually still applies.
What not to do: do not ask DVA to “put it back” until you have the calculation sheet in writing. Reversing a lawful uplift is hard. Ask for the workings first — then argue a figure you can see.
Ask this
Please provide the calculation of my current weekly incapacity entitlement and of any VEA Disability Compensation Payment paid with it: normal weekly earnings, remuneration loading, superannuation deduction (if any), each offset (including CSC invalidity and above-general-rate DCP), and the weekly result. Identify the provisions applied from 1 July 2026.
Here is the trap. A redemption — converting ongoing incapacity payments into a single lump sum — is only available if your weekly entitlement is below a ceiling. The MRCA redemption ceiling is $287.94 gross per week (DVA’s MRCA compensation payment rates, current 20 September 2026 to 31 December 2026 (page last updated 11 September 2026; this site last checked 19 October 2026); check the current figure).
If the transition pushed your weekly entitlement above that ceiling, the redemption you were considering is gone — not refused on discretion, but unavailable by operation of law. Nobody is required to write and tell you.
What to do: if you were considering a redemption, or were offered one and did not act on it, ask now.
Ask this
What is my current weekly incapacity entitlement, and what is the current redemption ceiling? Am I eligible for a redemption under MRCA section 138?
5. The reverse trap — a redemption may cost you SRDP
Before you chase a lump sum, know what it may cost.
To be offered the Special Rate Disability Pension, DVA’s own page requires (among other things) that you:
“are in receipt of MRCA incapacity payments or have had your MRCA incapacity payments reduced to nil because of commonwealth superannuation offsetting or because you received a lump sum amount of MRCA incapacity payments”DVA Special Rate Disability Pension page, last updated 1 July 2026
A DRCA redemption is none of those three things.
That matters because of what SRDP eligibility carries with it — see section 6. In short: taking a lump sum may cost you the pathway that reaches your children.
What to do: before accepting any redemption offer, ask what it does to SRDP.
Ask this
If I accept a redemption, what effect does that have on my eligibility for the Special Rate Disability Pension under MRCA section 199?
6. SRDP — eligibility and election are not the same thing
This is the most valuable thing on this page, and almost nobody knows it.
DVA’s own SRDP page says:
“Once you are eligible for SRDP, even if you choose not to receive the SRDP payment, you will receive a Veteran Card - All Conditions embossed with the letters 'TPI' and the high rate of the MRCA Supplement payment. In addition, your dependent children will be eligible for education assistance through the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act Education and Training Scheme (MRCAETS).”DVA Special Rate Disability Pension page, last updated 1 July 2026
So the card, the supplement and your children’s education assistance attach to being found eligible — not to taking the payment.
That matters because the SRDP payment is often worth less than it looks. The maximum weekly rate on DVA’s MRCA page is currently $977.95 (includes Energy Supplement). It is reduced by 60 cents in the dollar of Commonwealth-funded superannuation, and then dollar-for-dollar by the weekly value of permanent impairment compensation already paid — including lump sums paid under the DRCA. For a veteran with a long DRCA payment history, the SRDP payment can come out at nil while incapacity payments continue at a higher rate.
So ask for the eligibility assessment, not the payment.
Three more things:
- The election is irreversible. Once you choose SRDP, you cannot change back.
- You have 12 months from the written offer to decide. Count that clock.
- Financial advice is mandatory before SRDP can commence, and DVA reimburses the cost up to a maximum amount (up to $3,397.18 combined financial and legal advice on DVA’s MRCA rates page, 20 September 2026 – 31 December 2026). Take it even if you intend to decline.
Ask this
Please assess my eligibility for the Special Rate Disability Pension under MRCA section 199. I am asking for an eligibility determination, not a payment.
What we do not know
Being straight with you about the limits of this page:
- Whether a permanent impairment claim made after 1 July 2026, on a liability claim lodged before it, is assessed under the DRCA or under Chapter 25. Nobody has published the transitional provision. This is the single most consequential unanswered question for DRCA veterans.
- How DVA converts old DRCA whole-person-impairment percentages into GARP M impairment points for the Chapter 26 baseline. The Guide sets out cohorts but the conversion is not spelled out.
- Whether the thresholds for the Gold Card, SRDP and additional dependant compensation are tested against your baseline, against a current overall rating, or against a single claim.
If you get a written answer to any of these from DVA, please send it to us through Feedback. It will help every veteran who reads this page.
Before you act on any of this
- Check your own decision letter. It carries your review rights and your deadline. This page does not. What clock am I on?
- An ATDP-accredited advocate is free. If you are heading to the VRB or the ART, get one. Advocacy Register.
- If this is weighing on you, Open Arms is 1800 011 046, 24 hours. In an emergency, 000.