Return-to-work guide
Returning to work after a motor vehicle accident
After a motor vehicle accident, your medical care is directed by your nominated treating doctor. The return-to-work side is usually funded through the CTP insurer under the NSW motor accident scheme, and coordinated separately from your treatment. This guide explains how that return to work is arranged, whether you are heading back to your old job or a new one. It is general information, not medical advice.
How return to work works under the CTP scheme
A motor accident claim is usually funded through the CTP insurer, and a referral to a workplace rehabilitation provider generally comes from that insurer or your case manager. One difference from a workplace injury is that the accident may have nothing to do with your job. You can still get return-to-work support: the scheme funds it, and we coordinate with your existing employer to plan suitable duties while you recover. Where the injury is severe, a claim may be managed under icare Lifetime Care and Support instead. In every case we work to your treating doctor's certificate of capacity, not ahead of it.
Suitable duties, capacity and a possible new direction
A return after a road injury is usually staged. It can begin with modified duties or graded hours and build up as your certified capacity changes. A workplace and ergonomic assessment sets out practical adjustments to the job, and a functional capacity evaluation gives an objective picture of what you can safely do when that is unclear. Sometimes the pre-injury role can no longer be accommodated. Then the focus shifts to a new direction — vocational assessment, retraining advice and structured job seeking toward suitable work with a new employer. The schemes describe this as return to work or return to life, and the plan is built around your capacity rather than a set timetable.
Who is involved and who pays
A return-to-work plan brings together the injured person, the employer where there is one, the insurer and the healthcare team. We coordinate between them and keep the plan moving. For approved services, there is no cost to you — the CTP or icare insurer funds them under the scheme, and we confirm funding before any service begins. Ask your insurer or case manager to refer you to Nexus Rehab. We work across all of NSW, metropolitan and regional.
This is general information about returning to work, not medical advice. Your treating doctor directs your medical care — Nexus Rehab coordinates the return-to-work side and works to their certificate of capacity.