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Apply for victim assistance

You can claim financial assistance if you have been injured by violence that happened in Queensland. We can help pay for the goods and services you need to help you recover. Close family members of homicide victims can also claim financial assistance.

• Who can claim
• What can you claim
• Preparing to make a claim
• How to claim
• Application assistance
• Applications for adults with impaired capacity or people under 18 years old
• Timeframe

Who can claim

Not every victim of a crime gets financial assistance through Victim Assist. We recommend you work though the Who can apply checklist before submitting your application. This checklist tells you if you should apply or not, and guides you to the correct application form.

What can you claim

You should read the information that is relevant to the type of expense you are claiming before you start your application. It will tell you the types of things we can pay for and what supporting information you will need to attach.

• Claim medical expenses
• Claim counselling expenses
• Claim travel to medical and counselling appointments
• Claim damage to clothing (primary victims)
• Claim loss of earnings
• Claim legal expenses
• Claim other recovery expenses (primary victims)
• Claim expenses after a homicide
• Claim recovery expenses as a parent secondary victim
• Claim recovery expenses after witnessing violence

Preparing to make a claim

The application form asks for information about the violence and your injuries. This may be distressing to you. You may want to make sure you have privacy when you complete your application or you may want someone to support you.

It may take you an hour or more to complete the claim process. You will need to complete the application form and attach supporting information. We recommend you gather supporting information before you start completing the form.

• If you are emailing your application, you can attach a scanned copy of your documents or clear digital photographs.
• If you are posting your application, you will need to photocopy supporting documents.

You will need to provide information about:

1. the violence
   1. dates, locations and offender name (if known)
2. reporting the crime (see Reporting requirements - all applicants)
   1. if reported to police – you will need your QP number and the name of the station you reported to.
   2. if you are a special primary victim and you reported the crime to a doctor, psychologist, counsellor or domestic violence service – you will need the contact details for the service or agency you reported to and the first and last name of the person you spoke to.
3. your injuries (see Providing information about your injuries)
4. your expenses (see What can you claim)
5. your banking details
   1. BSB, bank name, account name, account number (if you want to be paid by direct deposit)
   2. Preference to be paid by cheque
6. your identity (See Prove your identity)

Relevant payments

You must tell us if you have received money or are applying to receive money from any other person, agency, organisation, insurer or fund because you were the victim of a crime (including community donations) for the same act of violence that you are claiming financial assistance for.

Penalties may apply if you don’t tell us about a payment you receive, even if you receive it after we have decided your application.

You will need to provide:

1. the name of the person, agency, organisation, insurer or fund
2. their contact information
3. any reference number you have been given
4. the dates of the payments
5. how much you received.

Is someone helping you with your application

We will always protect your personal information and will never share information about your application with anyone without your consent.

If a friend, family member, agency or organisation is helping you with your application, you can opt for them to give and get information about the application on your behalf, but you must give consent.

You will need to provide:

1. a short letter that says who can give and get information about your application
2. their full name and contact information.

Other information you may need to provide

If the violence involved a motor vehicle, you must apply for compensation through compulsory third-party insurance (CTP) or the Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC) and have your claim decided before applying for financial assistance as a victim. You will need to provide your insurance details, claim number and date your claim was decided.

If the violence happened at work, while on a work break, or while traveling to or from work, you should follow the work-related violence instructions.

How to claim

You must complete 1 financial assistance application form per victim.

There are sections to tell us if you have been a victim of more than one crime. There are sections for each type of expense.

You must:

1. complete every page (cross out or write N/A if a section is not relevant for you).
2. Read, sign and date the final page
3. submit all the pages of the form (including any blank ones)
4. attach the required supporting information
5. attach clear, readable photocopies, scanned copies or photographs of:
   1. 1 list (A) document or 2 list (B) documents.
6. email or post your completed forms and supporting information.

Email

VictimAssist@justice.qld.gov.au

If you are attaching photos of forms or documents, please make sure each page is clear and all words are readable.

Post

Victim Assist Queensland
GPO Box 149
BRISBANE QLD 4001

Do not post original documents. You should only post a photocopy of the document. Always include a return address on the outside of the envelope.

Application assistance

We can help you complete the forms if:

• you have trouble reading and writing in English
• you have trouble understanding forms.

Complete our simple Online information request and we will contact you to discuss your needs.

Applications for adults with impaired capacity or people under 18 years old

If the application is for an adult with impaired capacity, please follow the how to apply on behalf of someone with impaired capacity instructions.

If the application is for a person who is under 18, please follow the how to apply on behalf of a child instructions.

Timeframe

Due to the high number of claims already queued, it may be many months before we’re able to assess your application and pay approved expenses.

If you have an urgent expense, and meet the conditions for claiming urgent expenses, we may prioritise the assessment of these expenses. If we decide the expenses don’t meet these conditions, we’ll let you know. Non urgent expenses will be queued for general assessment within normal timeframes.