Apply for financial assistance

The application process

If a person who is a victim of an act of violence needs financial assistance to cover the costs of goods and services required to help their recovery, an application for assistance must be made. 

This is a short guide to how the application process works:

1. Person completes a Financial Assistance Application Form
   An applicant must first fill in a Financial Assistance Application Form (Form 1) (PDF File, 402.1 KB).
   This form can be filled in and printed off from this website. If an applicant needs help filling in a form, they can call Victims LinkUp on 1300 546 587.
2. Doctor completes a Medical Certificate
   The applicant’s doctor must complete a Medical Certificate (Form 3) (PDF File, 130.5 KB) and it must be attached to their application form. 
   This form can be filled in and printed off from this website. 
3. Person sends the completed application form to Victim Assist Queensland
   All original, signed applications with the completed Medical Certificate Form and any other attachments are to be sent to Victim Assist Queensland. The address is Victim Assist Queensland, GPO BOX 149, Brisbane, Qld, 4001. 
4. Government assessor makes an initial assessment of the application
   When Victim Assist Queensland receives the application a government assessor will make an initial assessment as quickly as possible. It is a government assessor within Victim Assist Queensland that also decides the application.
   At this point, if an eligible victim has applied for interim assistance they will be contacted and informed of this assistance which will help with urgent expenses before a final decision on their application is made.
5. Government assessor makes a final assessment
   The assessor will need to gather more information on the act of violence, the expenses being claimed, the applicant or other people mentioned in the application before a grant of assistance can be decided. 
   Applicants will be contacted directly by Victim Assist Queensland if any more information is required from them before the application can be decided. Applicants will be required to fill out a further form called a Claim Form, available through their assessor.
6. Victim Assist Queensland contacts the applicant with the decision 
   Applicants will be informed in writing if they are eligible or not for assistance.
7. Victim Assist Queensland makes payments of assistance to eligible applicant 
   Payment will be made either directly to the victim, to another person who paid for the expense, or to the provider of the services required by the victim to help their recovery.

Application checklist

There are five key things a person must ensure they do when making an application for financial assistance. 

1. Use the correct forms
   An application for assistance must be made on the approved Financial Application Form (Form 1). This form is available to fill in and print off from this website.  The original signed form must be sent to the Victim Assist Queensland address on the application form. If an applicant needs help filling in the form, they can call Victims LinkUp on 1300 546 587.
2. Attach a completed medical certificate
   A medical certificate about the injury or harm caused to the applicant is needed.  It must be completed by a doctor (or dentist if relevant) on the approved Medical Certificate (Form 3) available on this website. This must be attached to the Financial Assistance Application. This is to provide proof that an injury occurred as a result of the act of violence.
3. Attach any supporting documents
   The application will ask for other documents which support the application and these must also be attached to the application wherever possible.  This may include receipts or invoices for expenses incurred.
4. Sign your consent for Victim Assist Queensland to obtain more information
   The applicant must give their signed consent on the application form for Victim Assist Queensland to obtain more information about the victim and the act of violence. An application cannot proceed without this consent.
   Because acts of violence should be reported for a victim to be eligible for financial assistance, a police report will always be sought (consent of the victim is not required) or in the case of a special primary victim a report from their doctor, counsellor or psychologist will be required.
5. Complete the statutory declaration
   The applicant or the person making the application on behalf of the applicant will be asked for a statutory declaration stating that everything in the application forms is true and correct. The statutory declaration must be signed in the presence of an authorised witness. This may be a Justice of the Peace, Commissioner for Declarations, Notary Public or a solicitor. An application cannot proceed without the statutory declaration. 

How to claim Interim Assistance

An applicant must request interim assistance on their Financial Assistance Application (Form 1). They must provide invoices or receipts and other information to support the request. An assessor will then decide if it is reasonable to grant the interim assistance to the victim.

Any interim assistance granted is taken from the total value of assistance available to that victim.

If a victim is granted interim assistance but their application is unsuccessful, they will owe to the Queensland Government any interim assistance amount already paid to them. Also, if the final amount of assistance granted to the victim comes to less than the interim assistance paid to the victim, the excess amount will be owed to the Queensland Government. 

How to claim Funeral Assistance

For a person who is claiming only funeral expense assistance, they must complete a Funeral Assistance Application (Form 2) (PDF File, 276.9 KB).

If a related victim or witness secondary victim is also applying for assistance on a Financial Assistance Application, they can claim for funeral expenses but do not need to fill out a Funeral Assistance Application.

Receipts or invoices with the appropriate details of the payee will always be needed before funeral Assistance expense assistance can be paid.

Any funeral expense assistance granted will come from the total value of assistance available to related victims or witness secondary victims. 

Funeral expenses can be paid to a related victim quickly as interim assistance before the rest of the financial assistance claim is decided. This way it can reach the related victim quickly.

Time it will it take to receive a grant of financial assistance

There is no set time for how long it will take an eligible victim to receive a payment of financial assistance from Victim Assist Queensland.  The time it takes will depend on each individual case. 

An eligible applicant can receive interim assistance before an application is decided. This is to cover urgent expenses for goods and services reasonably needed by the victim before an application is decided. 

All other grants of assistance will be made to eligible victims as quickly as possible once their application has been decided. 

How to help progress your application

When Victim Assist Queensland receives a Financial Assistance Application from an applicant, an initial assessment will be made quickly where an applicant has applied for interim assistance. 

Each application will be different and it will take time for an assessor to gather all the information they need to make a final decision on an application, for example, more information on the act of violence or an applicant’s criminal history (s64-69).  If the assessor intends to seek information on the victim’s criminal history, the applicant will be informed and their consent will be requested.

Victim Assist Queensland is committed to providing a timely service. Applicants can assist this process by providing any information required by the assessor as quickly as possible and ensuring they provide all the information required on the application forms.

How Victim Assist Queensland will pay assistance

Once an application or a grant for interim assistance or funeral expense assistance has been decided, a payment of assistance can be made.

Assistance may be paid:

• entirely to the applicant
• partly to the applicant and partly to a service provider who is assisting or has already assisted the applicant
• entirely to a service provider who is assisting the applicant or who has already assisted the applicant.

If the applicant is granted assistance for expenses, the assistance will not be paid until the government assessor receives a copy of an invoice or receipt for the expenses or costs of the services used.

When a person submits an application for assistance they must include the banking details of a personal account they wish any payment to be paid by Victim Assist Queensland.

An assessor will contact an applicant or service provider if any other payment details are needed.

When an application decision may need to be delayed

Victim Assist Queensland has the right to delay a decision on an application until an assessor can be sure that the victim is eligible for all or part of the financial assistance applied for. 

An example of when an assessor may delay deciding an application may be:

• If there are known potential relatives of a deceased primary victim that may be eligible for assistance, an assessor must wait until all known potential relatives have been given three months to submit an application for assistance.

Or:

• If it is not clear whether the applicant was involved in a criminal activity at the time of the act of violence, the assessor may want to wait until an offenders case has been decided in court before making a decision on an application for victim assistance.

In these cases the applicant will be kept well informed of the status of their application by Victim Assist Queensland. 

Withdrawing or amending an application

Before it is decided

An applicant can withdraw or cancel their application at any time before it is decided (s59).

An applicant can amend their application at any time before it is decided (s60).

If the victim does not make contact with the government assessor dealing with their application for 6 months, the government assessor will give the victim written notice that they have a another 6 months to make contact with the government assessor or their application will lapse (s61). If an application lapses, an applicant can reapply for assistance if they are still within the time limit.

After it is decided

If a person has been granted assistance and the person’s circumstances change or are likely to change, the person may be able to apply to Victim Assist Queensland for an amendment of the grant (s101-106).  For example, to change the amount of assistance granted or to change the conditions imposed on the grant. 

An application to amend the grant of assistance must be made within six years after assistance was first granted or if the assistance was granted to a child, before the child turns 24.  If a further payment of assistance is made it will be within the maximum amount still available to that victim for that act of violence.

Example of when a victim may want to apply to amend their grant of assistance:

‘I was a victim of crime in January 2010.  I received financial assistance for psychologist appointments relating to the act of violence, between March and July 2010.  I stopped going because I thought I had recovered from the effects of the act of violence.  But, in January 2011 I started to experience panic attacks that my doctor thinks are related to the same act of violence in January 2010.  I was referred to a psychologist again.  I contacted Victim Assist Queensland again and the scheme is now providing assistance to cover my latest psychologist appointments.’

Applicants not eligible for assistance

Applicants not eligible for assistance will be notified in writing as soon as possible by a government assessor. Unsuccessful applicants will be told in writing why their application for assistance was not granted.

Even if a person/victim is not eligible for financial assistance, they are still encouraged to contact Victims LinkUp to be referred to other schemes or services that may be able to assist them. Such services may be funded by government and so be available at no cost or limited cost to the applicant.

Appealing against an unsuccessful application

A person unhappy with a decision made regarding their application for assistance may apply to Victim Assist Queensland for an internal review of the decision (s124). 

A request for an internal review must be made to Victim Assist Queensland within 28 days of the person being given notice of the unsuccessful application. A request for internal review must state in detail why the person is unhappy with the original decision.

If the applicant is unhappy with the internal review decision, they may apply, as provided under the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009, to the Tribunal for a review of the internal review decision (s125).