Apply for victim assistance

You can claim financial assistance if you have been injured by violence that happened in Queensland.

Close family members of homicide victims can also claim financial assistance.

We can help pay for the goods and services you need to help you recover.

• Who can claim
• What you can claim
• How to claim
• Application assistance
• Adults with impaired capacity
• Under 18s
• Timeframe

Who can claim

Not every victim of a crime is eligible for financial assistance through Victim Assist.

You can learn more about who can apply before submitting your application.

What you can 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.

Learn more about claiming:

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

How to claim

You must complete a financial assistance application form. There needs to be one form completed per victim.

There are different processes for different types of victims. Follow the instructions included in the application forms.

Application assistance

We can help you complete the forms if you need support:

• reading and writing in English
• understanding forms.

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

Adults with impaired capacity

Learn how to apply on behalf of someone with impaired capacity.

Under 18s

Learn how to apply on behalf of a child.

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.

Once you receive your ‘notice of decision’ and your claim is approved, electronic payments will be deposited into your nominated bank account within 10 business days.