MCRS Overview

When you are injured, or develop an illness that can be linked to your service in the ADF, you may be eligible to be compensated for that injury or illness. Compensation is commonly associated with a loss. If, due to your injury or illness, you actually incur an expense or lose income, or suffer functional impairment, your employer (the Commonwealth of Australia) may be liable to compensate you for that loss or impairment.

There are four Acts that provide compensation coverage for current and former members of the ADF. They are the:

Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRCA)
Veterans’ Entitlement Act 1986 (VEA)
Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA), and
Defence Act 1903 (DA)

The Military Compensation and Rehabilitation Service (MCRS) within DVA is responsible for administering claims for compensation and rehabilitation under the SRCA and the Defence Act 1903 for members and former members of the Australian Defence Force. If your claim is for an injury, disease or death that is related to service before 1 July 2004, you are likely to be covered by the SRCA. If your claim is for an injury, disease or death that is related to service on or after 1 July 2004, you will be covered under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA). Information about the MRCA can be found on the MRCS web pages. Benefits available under the VEA can be found at the Pensions, Health and Housing pages of this website. Alternatively Fact Sheet MCS 02 provides a comparison of VEA and SRCA benefits. To determine if a claim is covered by the SRCA, you should go to Which Act applies and see the table there.

The SRCA provides for a range of compensation benefits that are explained in detail in the SRCA Benefits page of this website and in the DVA Fact Sheets. The range of benefits available will vary depending on when the injury or disease occurred. Payments and benefits under the SRCA can only be made where there is ongoing effect from a service related incident or disease. This means there will normally be a need for periodic review of payments and benefits that a claimant may be receiving.

Many current and former members of the ADF will have coverage under both the VEA and SRCA. Those members can claim under both Acts and are then able to choose which benefits they wish to receive under either Act. However, members and former members who have "dual eligibility" cannot be compensated twice for the same injury. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, DVA "offsets" benefits from one Act against the benefits of the other Act. For example if you chose to receive a lump sum under the SRCA for a permanent impairment, any disability pension entitlement you have under the VEA will be reduce to take into account the value of the lump sum.

Information on how to claim a benefit under the SRCA can be found by going to the SRCA Claims Process page. Any potential claimants are encouraged to submit their claims as soon as possible after an incident has occurred. This applies even if you are still serving. The sooner a claim is lodged, the easier it is to substantiate the claim since supporting evidence (including witness statement where necessary), is more easily obtained. Once liability has been accepted for an injury or disease, you will be covered for any problems associated with that injury or disease, even if the problems take many years to manifest.