DVA Impairment Points Table: How Points Affect Your 2026 Payment

What Changed on 1 July 2026

The guide behind every permanent impairment decision was remade this year. Which version applies to you depends on when you lodged.

The current guide is GARP M 2026. It commenced on 1 July 2026 and repealed the 2016 version. It applies to claims made on or after that date.

If you lodged before then, your claim is assessed under the older guide.

Three changes matter most for anyone reading a points table:

1. GARP M is now the only assessment tool DVA uses, rather than each Act carrying its own
2. A new chapter covers baseline impairment ratings, where a condition has been paid before
3. A legal personal representative may now claim after a veteran's death, if a claim was lodged before the veteran died. The lifestyle part is left out

The older Acts are closed to new claims for compensation and rehabilitation. New claims are made under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA). That is the framework this guide describes.

Claims lodged before 1 July 2026 continue under the Act they were made under.

The Points System at a Glance

Under MRCA, impairment is assessed in points. The number is meant to reflect functional impact, not simply the name of the diagnosis.

For most first permanent impairment assessments, DVA looks for at least 10 impairment points before compensation can be paid. A lower starting threshold can apply to hearing loss, loss of taste or smell and loss of a finger or toe.

Those lower-threshold conditions cannot simply be bundled together to make a 5-point result. If you are seeking more compensation after an earlier assessment, DVA usually needs to see a further increase in the overall impairment rating.

Points are only part of the calculation. DVA also considers the lifestyle rating and the type of service connected to the accepted condition.

What the Guide Actually Contains

GARP M is a large document. Knowing which part applies to you makes the rest easier to follow.

The 2026 guide runs to 26 chapters:

• Chapters 1 to 12 cover body systems, such as musculoskeletal, mental health and respiratory conditions
• Chapters 13 to 17 cover impairment that does not sit in one system. That includes intermittent impairment and disfigurement
• Chapters 18 to 21 deal with combining and apportioning impairment
• Chapter 22 covers lifestyle effects
• Chapter 23 turns everything into a payment
• Chapters 24 to 26 cover lump sums, older methods and baseline ratings

Assessment is evidence-based. A doctor rates the conditions DVA has accepted once they have settled and further recovery is not expected. 

Self-reported symptoms alone are not enough, so the quality of your specialist reports carries real weight.

Service Type and the Compensation Factor

The figure that turns points into money is called the compensation factor. Where it comes from is worth knowing.

GARP M Chapter 23 holds two tables:

• Table 23.1 applies to warlike and non-warlike service
• Table 23.2 applies to peacetime service

The two tables sit your combined rating against your lifestyle rating, giving a factor somewhere from 0 to 1. Section 74 of the MRCA sets the maximum weekly amount and the factor is applied to it.

The first table draws a higher factor than the second at every point level under 80. At 80 points, the factor reaches 1.000 in both. The payment is then the same.

Weekly Rates From 1 July 2026

The current MRCA compensation payment rates set the maximum permanent impairment benefit at $447.39 a week from 1 July 2026. The table below applies the GARP M factors to that maximum.

One note on what these figures represent. They follow the upper edge of the shaded band in Tables 23.1 and 23.2. Chapter 22 treats that band as a floor where a veteran neither self-assesses nor completes a Lifestyle Questionnaire.

A delegate may allocate a higher rating in unusual cases.

Two things this table does not show. The GARP M tables carry a row for every whole point from 5 to 80, rather than the five-point steps above. Points are not rounded, so your own figure may sit between two rows.

To model your own numbers, the DVA payout calculator works through points, service type and age. It gives an illustration only, not a figure DVA has assessed. Rates are indexed each July, so check the DVA page above before you rely on one.

Lifestyle Ratings: The Part Most Veterans Get Wrong

Lifestyle rating is the input veterans most often leave to chance. It moves the number more than most people expect.

Chapter 22 uses five tables, not four as often described:

• Personal relationships
• Mobility
• Recreation and community life
• Domestic activities
• Employment activities

The first four are rated 0 to 7. Employment activities are rated 0 to 5.

The method is set out step by step:

1. Take a rating from each of the five tables
2. Compare the domestic and employment ratings, then keep the higher one
3. Add that to the ratings for relationships, mobility and recreation
4. Divide the total by four, then round to the nearest whole number. Round 0.5 up

A Worked Example

Take a veteran assessed at 40 points, from non-warlike service.

Say the veteran neither self-assesses nor completes a Lifestyle Questionnaire. Chapter 22 then directs DVA to the higher of the shaded ratings in Tables 23.1 and 23.2. At 40 points that gives a factor of 0.421, or $188.35 a week.

Now assume the same veteran completes the questionnaire. They are rated 4 for relationships, mobility and recreation. Domestic activities is the higher of the final two, also at 4.

Sixteen divided by four puts the lifestyle rating at 4. That produces a factor of 0.443, or $198.19 a week. The gap is about $9.84 a week, or roughly $512 a year.

Permanent impairment compensation may be payable for a long time, so small differences add up. But the size of this example is not the point.

The questionnaire is the one part of the assessment where your own account of daily life is the evidence. Leaving it blank hands that decision to a default.

Be straightforward about your limits when you fill it in. Service teaches you to play things down, and that instinct does not serve you here. Our guide to the DVA lifestyle rating works through each table in detail.

Key Thresholds Worth Knowing

Certain point levels may open up support beyond the weekly payment. Eligibility always depends on your circumstances.

At 50 points or above, you may be able to claim back the cost of financial and legal advice. The cap is $3,397.18. Weighing a lump sum against regular payments is a decision worth taking advice on.

At 60 points or above, you may become eligible for the Veteran Card - All Conditions. DVA also calls it the Veteran Gold Card. Points are one of three MRCA pathways to that card.

The others are receiving, or being eligible for, the Special Rate Disability Pension or the Additional Disablement Amount.

Eligibility is what triggers the card, so you do not qualify by applying for it. DVA issues it where it already holds evidence that you meet one of the criteria. If you think you are eligible and have not received one, DVA publishes forms and a phone line.

Our explainer on how many points are needed for a DVA Gold Card sets out how the thresholds interact.

At 80 points, the compensation factor reaches its maximum. A further lump sum of $115,175.42 may also be payable for each eligible young person. Our eligible young person payments service page covers who qualifies.

How Several Conditions Combine

Where a veteran has more than one accepted condition, the ratings are combined rather than added. This catches people out.

GARP M uses a combined values method. Two conditions rated 20 points each do not produce 40 points. The method keeps the total inside the scale and reflects overall effect.

Paired organs have their own chapter, so conditions on both sides do not simply double the rating.

This still helps veterans carrying several mid-range conditions spread across separate body systems. On their own, none may reach the threshold. Combined, they may.

That is one reason to lodge a complete picture of what you have had accepted. My list of the most commonly accepted DVA conditions is a useful prompt for anything you have overlooked.

Choosing How You Are Paid

After the assessment lands, you choose how the money reaches you. That choice cannot be undone.

MRCA offers three routes:

1. A lump sum, which converts the entitlement using an age-based factor. A younger veteran converts at a different rate to an older one
2. Periodic payments, which give a regular indexed amount
3. A combination, which splits the two

The choice is final. Anyone assessed at 50 points or above may claim the advice reimbursement first. My guide to DVA payout figures explains how each route plays out over time.

One difference is worth knowing. Where a veteran was receiving, or entitled to receive, periodic payments, a bereavement payment may be payable to a wholly dependent partner. It equals twelve times the weekly rate. A lump sum already paid does not attract it.

If Your Conditions Get Worse

An impairment assessment is not always the end of the matter. Conditions that get worse may support a further claim.

You may seek reassessment if those conditions worsen. More compensation needs your overall impairment to rise by at least 5 points.

Secondary conditions can also develop. An accepted injury may change how you move or sleep, and something else follows. If DVA accepts the link to service, they join the combined rating.

Keep seeing your treating specialists and keep the records. Evidence written at the time carries far more weight than a recollection given years later. The permanent impairment assessment form is the same one used for reassessment.

What Common Conditions Tend to Rate

The ranges below are a guide only. What you rate turns on how a condition affects your function, not on its name.

• Conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder may rate 0 where the effect is minimal. They may reach 50 or beyond where the effect reaches into most parts of everyday life
• Lumbar spine conditions are rated on range of movement and functional loss, not on the diagnosis. No fixed point range attaches to a label such as lumbar spondylosis
• Each knee is rated on its own, but only the highest joint rating carries through. Shoulders are rated in steps that run from 10 up to 50
• Hearing loss uses a formula based on your audiogram, and mild loss often rates 0. Tinnitus is rated on its own, and 15 is the ceiling

Two veterans sharing a diagnosis may still be rated differently. The tables measure effect on function, not the condition itself.

Your Rights and How to Reach DVA

You are entitled to know how your rating was reached. You can also challenge it through the proper channels.

You can ask to see how the figure was built: the assessments relied on, the worksheets behind the calculation and the reasons given for the decision. Where you think the assessment is wrong, review sits first with the Veterans' Review Board, then with the Administrative Review Tribunal.

A review needs proof the first decision got it wrong. A different view of the outcome is not enough. Deadlines are strict, and missing one can cost you the right to review.

You can contact DVA through MyService, by phone on 1800 VETERAN (1800 838 372) or in person at a Veteran Access Network office.

Where Professional Guidance Helps

Working through GARP M without help is possible. The failure points are consistent.

Treating doctors are not always familiar with what the tables require. A report can describe a condition well and still miss the criteria a delegate has to apply.

Veterans also tend to understate their limits. And because GARP M 2026 is so new, much published guidance still describes the old version.

Our permanent impairment service works through the assessment with you. We put you in touch with medical assessors who understand DVA's criteria. I also help you present a lifestyle rating that reflects your circumstances.

DVA publishes average claim processing times for each stage. For the year to 30 June 2026, MRCA initial liability claims averaged 364 calendar days from lodgement to decision. Permanent impairment claims averaged 245 days.

Complete and accurate documents at the outset are the part you can control. For a broader view, my DVA impairment claims guide covers each stage from initial liability onwards.

Working Out What Your Own Numbers Mean

The points table looks technical, but the idea behind it is simple: what your conditions stop you doing, measured against a published standard.

Getting it right is less about the diagnosis than about writing down daily life fully and honestly. With GARP M 2026 now in force, check your figures reflect the current guide and talk it through with our team if you would like help.