Request urgent assessment of an expense
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The information on this page is about claiming financial assistance for victims through Victim Assist Queensland.
- Help for victims
- Urgent and immediate expenses
- How to claim
- Payment process
- Timeframe
- Limitations
- Specialist support services
- More information
Help for victims
Victims of violence can apply for financial assistance for recovery expenses. Each claim needs to be assessed and approved by a government assessor. The time needed to assess a claim varies from case to case.
Our standard process is to queue applications in the order they arrive. But you can ask for urgent and immediate expenses to be assessed sooner.
Urgent and immediate expenses
You can ask for an urgent assessment of an expense, but it must be recent, urgent, relevant and evidenced. Any expenses that do not meet these criteria will be queued for general assessment.
1. Recent and urgent
You must claim the expenses within 6 months of the violence ending or tell us the reason for the delay and why the expense is now urgent.
You must tell us why the expense needs urgent assessment.
2. Relevant
You can claim recovery expenses (the costs of goods and services you need to help you recover). You can claim:
- medical or counselling expenses
- reimbursement of loss of earnings
- incidental travel expenses
- other recovery expenses (e.g. crime scene cleaning, emergency accommodation, relocation, security).
3. Supporting evidence
Past expenses
If you are asking us to reimburse you for an expense that has already been paid, you must include the receipt.
Future expenses
If you are asking us to pay for urgent expenses needed to establish your safety, that haven’t been paid for yet, you must tell us what expense you are claiming. We have included instructions in the application form.
If you have an invoice, you should provide it.
If you are asking us to pay for any other relevant expenses that haven’t been paid for yet, follow the instructions included in the form.
If you don’t include the information we need, we will not be able to make an urgent assessment. In that case, we will have to queue the application for general assessment.
How to claim
To claim financial assistance for the first time, you need to:
- report the violence
- complete the application form—Part A (about you) and Part B (about your expenses)
- attach identity documents
- attach supporting information about your expenses (like receipts, invoices or formal quotes).
When completing Part B of the application, make sure you answer the questions about your urgent expenses.
Payment process
If your claim is approved, we will send you a ‘Notice of Decision’. This notice will list what we have agreed to pay for, who we will be paying and the conditions on the payment. Please don’t tell a service provider that we will pay for something before you get the ‘Notice of Decision’. The ‘Notice of Decision’ will say if we will pay the cost or not.
Common payment conditions
Paid expenses
We must reimburse the person that paid the cost. This may have been you or it may have been a family member, friend, or agency. If someone else paid the cost for you, we need to pay them back. Please provide their name, phone number or email and banking information.
Unpaid expenses
In some cases, the cost hasn’t been paid yet. Please provide an invoice so we can pay the service provider directly. If it is a medical or counselling expense, we must deduct any Medicare and private health rebates first. It is important that the invoice is made out to your name. This is because you received the service or goods. The invoice should not be made out to Victim Assist.
Other conditions (if any) will be noted in your ‘Notice of Decision’.
Approved costs
If your claim is approved, we can pay for reasonable medical expenses and report fees to diagnose or treat injuries caused by the violence. We can only pay out-of-pocket expenses (the gap).
Your health practitioner will need to provide a receipt, invoice or treatment plan. We will pay the rate outlined in the Victim Assist Queensland—Table of Costs or an equivalent overseas rate.
Timeframe
If you have an urgent expense and meet the conditions above, we will prioritise the assessment of the expenses.
If we determine your expense does not meet the conditions above, we will let you know. We will queue the application for general assessment within normal timeframes.
Limitations
We cannot cover every expense you may incur because of violence. We cannot pay for:
- everyday expenses (general living expenses, housing costs, food or utility bills)
- pet expenses (other than necessary relocation)
- stolen property or property damage (other than crime scene cleaning)
- personal debt, per-existing financial commitments or financial loss.
Specialist support services
If you are in financial hardship, we recommend you contact:
Victims of domestic and family violence may have other options available to them.