Unlike travel to undertake a rehabilitation assessment (see section 2.8.2 of the Rehabilitation Policy Library [2]), the DRCA and MRCA do not provide specific legislative provisions to cover the travel costs associated with a person's participation in a rehabilitation program.
However, a Rehabilitation Coordinator, in consultation with the approved Rehabilitation Provider, has the discretion to determine whether or not a person's participation in a rehabilitation program will cause that person to incur travel costs additional to normal work-related travel costs, and to ensure that these costs are included in the rehabilitation plan. An example would be where a client is undertaking an approved training course as part of a vocational rehabilitation program, and needs to travel interstate in order to participate in the course. Please note, travel costs associated with a rehabilitation program can only be paid where client travel is included as a third party cost on a rehabilitation plan.
In deciding whether a person should be reimbursed for travel costs, the Rehabilitation Coordinator should consider the following points:
When considering the amount of any reimbursement for travel expenses associated with a rehabilitation program, Rehabilitation Coordinators should use the guidelines provided Chapter 9 [4]of the MRCA Policy Manual [4] in relation to reimbursement of reasonable travel and/or accommodation costs to obtain medical treatment as a benchmark of reasonable costs. It is important to note that there is no mandated kilometre rate for travel associated with attending approved rehabilitation activities. It is however reasonable to expect clients to self-fund any travel that is less than a 50 round trip.
Links
[1] https://clik.dva.gov.au/user/login?destination=comment/reply/21149%23comment-form
[2] https://clik.dva.gov.au/rehabilitation-policy-library/2-legislative-provisions/28-travel-and-accommodation-costs/282-travel-attend-rehabilitation-assessment
[3] https://clik.dva.gov.au/military-compensation-mrca-manuals-and-resources-library/policy-manual/ch-9-other-benefits-under-military-rehabilitation-and-compensation-act-2004/91-compensation-travel-and-accommodation-costs-reasonably-required-or-incurred-under-military-rehabilitati-1
[4] https://clik.dva.gov.au/military-compensation-mrca-manuals-and-resources-library/policy-manual/ch-9-other-benefits-under-military-rehabilitation-and-compensation-act-2004