How DVA Turns Your Old DRCA and VEA Ratings Into a Baseline

There is no conversion table that turns a whole person impairment percentage into GARP M points. What there is instead is Chapter 26 of the Guide to Determining Impairment and Compensation 2026, which sets out five cohorts and a different method for each.

Your baseline is the starting line. Your new whole-of-person assessment has to clear it by at least five impairment points or the claim is rejected outright. Everything about whether a claim is worth lodging comes down to where that line sits.

Chapter 26 was registered on 25 May 2026 and applies to every MRCA permanent impairment claim made on or after 1 July 2026.

Find your cohort first

Chapter 26 splits veterans into five groups. The method is completely different depending on which one you are in, so this is the first question to answer.

Note what an old DRCA accepted condition means here. Liability had to have been accepted under the DRCA before commencement. An old VEA accepted condition is narrower. You have to be incapacitated by it and a pension has to be payable under Part II or Part IV of the VEA in respect of that incapacity.

Cohort 1, DRCA only

Four steps.

• Identify every old DRCA accepted condition.
• Identify each whole person impairment rating for those conditions and apply the Approved DRCA Guide Rules Table at Appendix A.
• Express those WPI ratings as impairment points.
• Combine them using Table 18.1 of GARP M.

Appendix A is the part worth understanding, because it does most of the work.

Appendix A suppresses your baseline, and that is good news

Appendix A runs through the 13 chapters of the DRCA guide and applies one rule almost everywhere. Only use the highest rating.

• Cardiovascular system: only the highest rating.
• Psychiatric conditions: only the highest rating.
• Whole of spine: only the highest rating.
• Upper limb function: only the highest rating of that group of tables.
• Lower limb function: only the highest rating of that group.

The effect is that a veteran with multiple DRCA-assessed conditions in the same body system does not get those combined into the baseline. Only the highest one carries.

If you were assessed at 10 per cent WPI on each knee, both sit in the lower limb group and only the higher rating is used. Two spinal levels, only the highest. Three accepted psychiatric conditions, only the highest.

Your new assessment under Step 1 of Chapter 25 combines everything across all body systems. Your baseline under Chapter 26 does not. That asymmetry is where headroom comes from, and it is why DRCA veterans with several conditions clustered in one or two body systems are often better placed than they expect.

There is a second exclusion worth knowing. Compensation received under the Compensation (Commonwealth Government Employees) Act 1971 and the Commonwealth Employees' Compensation Act 1930 is not counted toward the baseline at all. National Servicemen and older reservists covered by the 1971 Act start from zero.

Cohort 2, VEA only

Two steps, and there is no conversion involved.

Identify every old VEA accepted condition. Then take the unrounded impairment rating under the approved VEA guide that was used to determine your last entitlement to a pension under Part II or Part IV. That figure is your baseline.

The word unrounded matters. VEA pension percentages are rounded, and the underlying GARP V impairment rating usually is not a round number. The unrounded figure is what Chapter 26 uses.

If your last VEA assessment is old, that old rating is your baseline regardless of how much you have deteriorated since. Everything above it is claimable.

Cohort 3, both Acts

Five steps, and the sequencing prevents double counting.

• Identify your old VEA accepted conditions.
• Identify your old DRCA accepted conditions that are not also VEA accepted conditions.
• Take the unrounded VEA guide rating for the first group.
• Take the WPI ratings for the second group, apply Appendix A, and express them as impairment points.
• Combine the two sets from highest to lowest using Table 18.1.

A condition accepted under both Acts is only counted once, on the VEA side.

Cohorts 4 and 5, previous MRCA compensation

Two steps and no arithmetic. Your baseline is the last overall impairment rating worked out under Step 1 of Chapter 25, or under an earlier version of the guide, on your last accepted MRCA permanent impairment claim.

What happens once you have the baseline

Chapter 25 does the money. It runs in seven steps and two of them decide most outcomes.

Step 1 works out your overall impairment rating across every service-related condition, including everything brought across by section 24A, and the compensation that would notionally be payable for it.

Step 2 is the gate. If your Step 1 rating is not at least five impairment points above your Chapter 26 baseline, the claim is rejected. Not reduced. Rejected.

Step 3 costs the baseline, and here is a detail that costs veterans money. When working out the compensation attributable to the baseline, the lifestyle rating is set at the top of the shaded area of Table 23.1 or 23.2 rather than at your actual historic lifestyle rating.

Step 4 subtracts the Step 3 amount from the Step 1 amount. What is left is your compensation.

Because the baseline is costed on the most generous lifestyle assumption, the amount subtracted is larger than it would otherwise be. Your own lifestyle rating still drives Step 1. That makes the lifestyle rating in your current assessment disproportionately valuable, because it lifts the top of the calculation without lifting what gets taken off the bottom.

The ceiling that catches veterans with large DRCA lump sums

Steps 6 and 7 apply a cap, and this is why some DRCA veterans with substantial payment histories receive very little.

DVA adds together your Step 4 amount, the notional weekly equivalent of your VEA pension, any previous MRCA permanent impairment weekly amounts already paid, and your historic DRCA lump sums converted into a weekly figure. If that total exceeds the MRCA permanent impairment compensation maximum, the excess is subtracted from what you would otherwise receive.

The DRCA lump sum conversion works by uprating your old lump sum to current value using the ratio of the current section 24 maximum to the maximum when you were paid, then dividing by an age-based number supplied by the Australian Government Actuary for the age you would have turned on your next birthday when the payment was made.

The practical consequence is blunt. A veteran who has taken several hundred thousand dollars in DRCA lump sums over the years is carrying a large notional weekly amount against the ceiling, and there may be very little room left underneath it.

The same mechanic explains why TPI veterans cannot access further permanent impairment compensation. The VEA Special Rate sits above the MRCA maximum weekly rate, so the ceiling is already reached.

The Gold Card is a separate question, and this is where the strategy is

The five point rule governs money. It does not govern the Gold Card.

A DRCA veteran with 60 or more impairment points gets a Gold Card if they meet the MRCA threshold test. That test is satisfied by either a MRCA accepted condition or a five point worsening.

Either. Not both.

That means a veteran who lands at 68 points with only a four point increase receives no additional compensation but still gets a Gold Card, provided they have had a new condition accepted under the MRCA. A veteran who lands at 70 points with a four point increase and no new accepted condition gets neither.

The difference between those two outcomes is whether a new liability claim was lodged alongside the permanent impairment claim. If you are a DRCA veteran sitting anywhere near 60 points, lodging a claim for a condition that has never been accepted is the single most valuable thing you can do, and it works even if that condition adds almost nothing to your rating.

What to do before you lodge

Work out your cohort. Then get the source documents, because the baseline is built from figures on paper rather than from anything you can estimate.

For cohort 1 you need every DRCA WPI rating on file. For cohort 2 you need the unrounded impairment rating behind your last VEA pension determination, which is not the percentage on your payment summary. For cohorts 4 and 5 you need your last MRCA overall rating.

Then map every accepted condition against the body system tables and work out what Appendix A actually does to your baseline. Conditions clustered in one body system compress. Conditions spread across several do not.

Then decide whether you have a new condition worth claiming for liability, because that is what carries the Gold Card question. Our permanent impairment calculator will give you a rough sense of where your new assessment lands.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a formula that converts WPI percentage to impairment points?

Chapter 26 converts WPI ratings to impairment points, but only after Appendix A has been applied to strip out all but the highest rating in each body system group. There is no single multiplier, and the answer depends on which conditions you have and where they sit.

What if my conditions were never assessed under the DRCA?

If there is no WPI rating there is nothing to bring into your baseline for that condition, but it still counts in your new whole-of-person assessment. This is where most of the upside sits for DRCA veterans.

I was compensated under the 1971 Act. Does that count?

No. Compensation under the Compensation (Commonwealth Government Employees) Act 1971 and the Commonwealth Employees' Compensation Act 1930 is expressly excluded from the baseline calculation.

What if I land less than five points above my baseline?

The permanent impairment claim is rejected. Your existing entitlements are unaffected, and depending on your total rating and whether you have a new MRCA accepted condition, a Gold Card may still be available.

Why did another veteran with the same points get more than me?

Most likely the ceiling in Steps 6 and 7. Historic DRCA lump sums are converted to a notional weekly amount that counts against the MRCA maximum, so a veteran with a large payment history has less room underneath it.

Does my old lifestyle rating matter?

Not for the baseline. Step 3 uses the top of the shaded area of Table 23.1 or 23.2 rather than your historic rating. Your current lifestyle rating matters a great deal, because it drives Step 1.

Work out where your line actually sits

Two veterans with identical conditions can get completely different outcomes depending on their cohort, their body system spread, and their payment history. We work out your baseline from the source documents before you lodge, so you know whether you are chasing compensation, a Gold Card, or both.