National Redress Scheme

About the National Redress Scheme

The National Redress Scheme (scheme) can give support to child sexual abuse survivors who were abused while in the care of institutions. The package includes:

• counselling
• a direct personal response (apology) from the institution where the abuse occurred, and
• a recognition payment.

The scheme started on 1 July 2018 and will run until 30 June 2027.

Help to apply

Knowmore is a free and confidential legal advice service that provides information and advice to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse about:

• the National Redress Scheme
• victims of crime applications
• other legal issues, including finding your records and civil law claims
• referrals to other support services.

It has lawyers, counsellors, financial counsellors, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers that can help you.

Before you apply for redress, you should contact Knowmore to get advice. You can contact Knowmore by:

• phone, on 1800 605 762 between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday
• email, to info@knowmore.org.au
• online, by filling out the contact form on the Contact us page of the Knowmore website
• calling the National Relay Service on 1800 555 727.

What you can apply for

Counselling

If you accept an offer of redress, Victims Services can help you access up to 22 hours of free counselling. You may be able to apply for additional hours.

To arrange your counselling, you can:

• call Victims Services on 1800 633 063, or
• send an email to vsredress@dcj.nsw.gov.au.

The counselling you receive in an offer of redress doesn’t include the support you need to help you apply for redress.

For more information, see National Redress Scheme on the NSW Government website.

Direct Personal Response (DPR)

A DPR is an opportunity for you to meet with a departmental representative of the responsible institution to:

• tell the representative about your experience, as much or as little as you wish to
• have the representative listen to you and to apologise
• ask questions and seek information from the institution
• request and hear information on what the department is now doing to ensure children are safe and the steps that are being taken to improve responses and support for survivors.

If you receive an offer of redress, you can choose to get a DPR. The National Redress Scheme (scheme) DPR information and support service can give you more information and support you before, during and after your DPR. 

You can contact the service by phone on 1800 737 377 Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm and ask to speak to the scheme’s DPR information and support team. 

For more information, see Direct personal response fact sheet on the scheme website.

If the responsible institution is a NSW Government institution, Victims Services can help coordinate the direct personal response.

For more information, see National Redress Scheme on the NSW Government website.

Redress payment

A redress payment is an amount of money ranging from $10,000 to $150,000.

Payments are decided on an individual basis. The cost of your medical bills, or other items, will not be taken into account when deciding the amount of you should receive.

If you got a payment from a court decision, you can’t get a redress payment.

If you get a redress payment, you may also be eligible for a recognition payment under the Victims Support Scheme. 

Eligibility

You can apply to the scheme if:

• you experienced sexual abuse when you were a child (under 18) and:
  • the abuse happened before 1 July 2018, and
  • an institution brought you into contact with the person who abused you
• you were born before 30 June 2010, and
• you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident unless an exception applies to you as a former child migrant.

You can still apply for a redress payment if you got money from the Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme. The schemes are separate.

From 4 April 2024, you can apply for redress from prison.

You can't apply to the scheme if you:

• did not suffer sexual abuse
• already accepted an offer for redress through the scheme
• received a court-ordered payment from the institution.

For more information, see Who can apply? on the National Redress Scheme website.

Participating institutions

To apply for redress, the responsible institution have joined the scheme.

You can find out if an institution has joined the scheme:

• by checking the Search for institutions that have joined the Scheme page on the National Redress Scheme website
• by calling the scheme on 1800 737 377.

If the institution has joined the scheme, they may be referred to as a 'Participating Institution'.

If the institution has not taken all the required steps to join, the scheme will not be able to assess your application. If the institution is not participating in the scheme, you can have your application reassessed when that institution later joins the scheme.

The scheme will contact you to confirm they have your application. They will explain the process to you and may give you information about whether the institution has fully joined the scheme.

If you haven’t heard from the Scheme within three weeks of lodging your application, you should call them on 1800 737 377.

For more information, see Institutions on the National Redress Scheme website.

If you can't remember the name of the institution, you may still be able to apply. Once the scheme receives your application, they will get in contact with you to go through some of your options.

Serious criminal convictions

If you have a serious criminal conviction, you will need to go through a special assessment process before you can be eligible to access redress.

You have a serious criminal conviction if you were:

• sentenced to five years imprisonment or more for unlawful killing, a sexual offence, a terrorism offence or an offence that is substantially similar to a terrorism offence, or
• sentenced to five years imprisonment or more and the Scheme Operator decides you should undergo a special assessment.

You need to complete a Serious Criminal Convictions Additional Information Form. 

For more information, see Serious criminal convictions on the National Redress Scheme website.  

How to apply

You can apply for the scheme:

• online through MyGov, or
• in writing, by downloading a copy of the Application for Redress form.

You can also call the scheme to get a copy of the application sent to you.

You can get a blank copy of this form from the Application pack page on the National Redress Scheme website.

You will need to confirm your identity to have your application processed. To do this, you need to take your original identity documents to a Services Australia service centre. You can find your nearest service centre on the Find us page on the Services Australia website.

For more information, see Start or continue an application on the National Redress Scheme website.

If your contact details change, it is important that you notify the scheme so that you can be contacted about your application.

You can withdraw your application at any time before a decision is made. If you withdraw your application, you can make a new application to the Scheme.

The National Redress Service Charter

The National Redress Service Charter was introduced on 1 September 2022. It explains what you can expect from the scheme and the redress process including:

• principles that everyone who delivers a service related to the scheme should follow
• commitments about what the scheme does to support each stage of the redress journey
• service standards to create consistency and accountability for how you are supported through the redress process
• how the scheme is meeting commitments
• ways you can contact the scheme.

For more information, see Service Charter on the National Redress Scheme website.

The scheme is separate to the Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme.

Choosing a nominee

You can choose someone to act on your behalf with the scheme. This person or organisation must agree to act on your behalf and be in Australia. 

This can be a family member or friend. You should pick someone that you feel comfortable talking to about your abuse. They can be your assistance nominee. They can help you with forms, speak to the scheme, ask questions about your application, and get mail from the scheme for you. Although assistance nominees can help you with forms, they can’t apply for redress or accept an offer without you.

If you have a power of attorney, guardian, financial manager/administrator or Centrelink nominee, they will be your legal nominee.

You can have a nominee the whole time you are dealing with the scheme, or you can specify a timeframe for them to represent you.

You need to complete:

• a Redress Nominee Form.

You can get a copy of this form from the Application pack page on the National Redress Scheme website.

If you are in prison, you may want to choose someone to act on your behalf with the scheme. It should only be someone that you can trust.

Changing your nominee

You can change your assistance nominee anytime. To discuss changing your representative, you should call 1800 737 777.

A legal nominee can only be changed if:

• your legal arrangements change
• your representative requests a change, or
• the scheme decides to change the arrangement, for example, if your representative doesn’t follow the rules.

The decision

When the scheme get your application, they will call you to let you know they have it. They may also ask you for more information if they need it.

If you haven’t heard from the Scheme within 3 weeks of lodging your application, you should call them on 1800 737 377.

An Independent Decision Maker (IDM) will then consider your Application for Redress. The IDM considers all the information provided in your application and information supplied by the institution. You can provide more information or change your application up until a determination is made by the IDM. The assessment can take up to 12 months.

Each application is considered on an individual basis.

If the IDM decides that the events are likely to have happened, then an offer of redress will be made. The scheme will call you and send you a letter about the outcome of your application, which explains:

• what you are entitled to
• how to accept or decline the offer
• how to request an extension to accept or seek a review of the decision.

Any earlier payments made in recognition of your sexual abuse will be deducted from the redress offer, which may have included payments under other redress schemes, victims of crime schemes and out of court settlements.

For more information, see What happens next? on the National Redress Scheme website.

Advanced payment

If you are terminally ill or elderly, your application can be actioned quickly so you can receive redress as soon as possible.

The scheme may offer an advance payment of redress for some elderly or terminally ill applicants. You do not need to ask for this payment, the scheme will contact you if you are eligible.

For more information:

• contact Knowmore, or
• see this fact sheet National Redress Scheme $10,000 advance payment on the Knowmore website.

Responding to an offer

If you receive an offer, you can accept any or all of the things offered to you, or you can ask for a review within six months of the date of the offer.

You can ask for more time to decide by calling the scheme. If you do ask for more time, the review period will also be extended.

The scheme will contact you when you have 30 days left to accept an offer, to see if you need more time.

If you accept an offer of redress, you have to sign a legally binding agreement that you won’t take any further civil action against the responsible institution, it's officials and any institutions associated with it. This means you will no longer have the right to take further legal action against the institution, such as seeking compensation or taking the institution to court, for matters relating to the sexual abuse you may have suffered. This does not include the people that abused you.

For more information, see What happens next? on the National Redress Scheme website.

Apply for a review

You have six months from the date of the outcome to accept, decline or seek a review of the outcome.

If you are not happy with the outcome, you can ask for a review. You will need to fill out an Application for Review of Determination form. You can provide new information and supporting documents with your completed form to help show why a different decision should have been made.

If you ask for a review, another IDM will consider your application. When completing the review, they can consider:

• the information and documents available to the person who decided your original application
• any new information and supporting documents that you provide with your application for a review
• any additional information they request from you
• any additional information they request from the institution.

A redress offer can’t be less than the amount of the original offer. You will be notified of the outcome by phone and in writing. You can choose to accept or decline your review offer.

If your offer is the same, you have two months to accept or decline the offer. If your offer changes, you have six months to accept or decline the offer and the previous offer will be withdrawn. You can ask for an extension if you need more time.

For more information, see What happens next? on the National Redress Scheme website.

Centrelink, NDIS and child support

If you receive a payment under the National Redress Scheme this may affect your Centrelink Benefits. You must tell notify Centrelink within 14 days of receiving the payment.

It will not affect your eligibility for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Your payment can’t be taken and used to pay any child support debts that you owe. However, it can be included in a child support assessment, and you may have to pay more child support.

Payments under the scheme are not taxable, so you don’t have to declare them in your tax return.

If you need help managing your money, you should get advice from a financial adviser. For more information, see Financial advice on the Moneysmart website.

You can also get free and confidential information to help you manage your finances from the Financial Information Service.

For more information, see Financial Information Service on the Services Australia website.

Social housing

If you receive a payment under the scheme this will not affect your eligibility for social housing. However, any interest you earn on the money you received may affect your rent payable calculations and you may have to pay a higher amount of rent.

If you have received a payment under the scheme and you are living in social housing, you should get urgent legal advice.

Outstanding debts and fines

If you receive a payment under the scheme, it can’t be used to repay debts owing to the NSW or Commonwealth Governments, including Centrelink debts, HECS/HELP debts, taxation debts, and infringements.

You should act to clear any debts you may owe before you even apply to the scheme. This is because if you owe debts to other non-government organisations, they can take legal action against you to recover the debt from your payment.

Knowmore has financial counsellors who can help you with this.

If you are bankrupt, a redress payment will be exempt from creditors.

If you need help to manage your debts, you can get free and confidential financial counselling from Knowmore Legal Service or the National Debt Helpline.

If you have an outstanding fine, Revenue NSW may put your fine on hold or write off your fine. You can give the scheme permission to contact Revenue NSW on your behalf or speak to an advocate at Revenue NSW.

If you owe money to a business or organisation and have received a payment under the scheme, you should get urgent legal advice.

Settlement agreements

Abuse in custody

If you experienced child abuse while you were in prison, you can apply to the court for compensation. You can do this even if you previously agreed to a settlement or applied to the court. If it is fair and reasonable, the court may decide to set aside the earlier settlement or judgment.

Setting aside an agreement

If you entered into a settlement agreement about child sexual abuse, you may be able to apply to the court to set aside the agreement where, at the time the settlement was made, there were certain legal barriers that stopped you from being able to get fair compensation.

This includes:

• if a statute of limitations applied at the time of your settlement and you were outside that time limit to apply
• if you were abused as a child while in prison and the law at the time did not allow you to make a claim.

The court can set aside:

• a contract, deed or other agreement
• an order of the court (in some cases).

It can’t set aside:

• a deed of release where you accepted an offer under the scheme, or
• an agreement that settled a cross-claim between 2 or more defendants, or where one defendant indemnified (paid) another defendant
• a contract of insurance.

The court can set aside earlier court judgments made before the law changed.

When the court is deciding whether to set aside any settlement or order, the court can consider:

• the amount of compensation agreed on
• the bargaining position of the parties
• the conduct of the parties during settlement other than the person making the application, and of the lawyers other than the lawyers of the person making the application.

Having a settlement set aside means that it no longer applies to you, and the court can make an order for you to be paid a higher amount of compensation.

Last updated: March 2026