5.9 DRCA - Service giving rise to injury is Permanent Forces (PF) or Continuous Full-Time Service (CFTS)

The following formula is applicable when either a person:

• was injured in PF and is discharged from PF service; or

• was injured in CFTS and is discharged from all forms of service.

where:

• normal ADF rate of pay means the amount of ADF pay the member would have received for the week if not incapacitated for service; and

• normal pay related allowances means the total compensable pay related allowances that the member would have received for the week if not incapacitated for service (see section 4.6).

The formula for calculating NWE under section 8(1) relies on average weekly hours and pay rates, as PF or CFTS members are not paid by the hour, and their salary does not vary, NWE is instead determined by their full-time ADF rank and salary. 

The military pay scales are used to establish normal ADF pay (which, where applicable, includes Service Allowance). See section 4.5.3 for information on indexing the ADF component of NWE for a discharged member.

As a general principle all periods of Permanent Forces service are treated as a single whole period. Periods of Reserve serivce, whether full-time or part-time, are treated separately. That is, where a person covered by DRCA has separate periods of PF and Reserve service they are regarded separately for the purpose of calculating NWE.

The following examples set out how NWE is determined:

            Permanent Force service gives rise to injury

• A person is injured during PF service and discharges completely and no longer serves with the ADF. NWE is the discharge rank and pay that is indexed in accordance with ADF pay increases until 1/10/2001 and then indexed in accordance with Wage Price Index (WPI) thereafter.

• A person is injured during PF service, subsequently discharges and transfers to Reserves. NWE is the discharge rank and pay from the PF service and indexed in accordance with WPI, even while the person continues to serve in the Reserves. Promotions that are attained during the Reserve service will not be included in the calculation of NWE.

      CFTS gives rise to injury

• A person is injured during a period of CFTS as a Reservist, later they transfer back to part-time Reserves and then discharges. NWE is based on the discharge rank and pay (from the Reserves) but will be the equivalent of the full-time salary indexed in accordance with ADF pay increases until 1/10/2001 or discharge (whichever is the latter), and indexed in accordance with WPI after discharge from the Reserves. Promotions that were attained during the part-time Reserve service will be included in the calculation of NWE.

• A person is injured during CFTS as a Reservist, later transfers back to part-time Reserves and continues to serve. NWE is the equivalent full-time rank and pay as the Reservist’s current rank and pay and indexed in accordance with ADF pay increases. Promotions are included in the NWE calculations. Note: This person is a current serving member and this scenario is covered in Chapter 5.2 of the Incapacity Policy Manual.

5.9.1 Normal Weekly Hours

Normal weekly hours for a former member who was injured in PF or CFTS service is 36.75hrs.