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Invalidity benefits

Follow this link to the quick guide to DFRDB Invalidity Benefits or view an online seminar on Invalidity Benefits (link to Online seminar page when applicable).

Invalidity benefits are designed to meet the possibility of your retirement from the Defence Force due to a physical or mental incapacity to carry out your duties. Invalidity benefits may also assist your subsequent resettlement into the civilian workforce.

If you are discharged from the Defence Force as medically unfit for further service, you may be eligible for an invalidity benefit from the Scheme. However, you will not be eligible for an invalidity benefit if you deliberately bring about your invalidity, or if you are absent without leave for a period exceeding 60 consecutive days, and your invalidity occurs after this period.

Although ComSuper is responsible for paying your DFRDB invalidity benefits, compensation and repatriation benefits are provided by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA).

Entitlement to invalidity benefits

If you are retired on invalidity grounds, the DFRDB Authority will decide whether you are entitled to an invalidity benefit. If you are entitled, the Authority is then required to determine the percentage of your incapacity in relation to your ability to perform civilian employment.

When deciding whether or not you are entitled to an invalidity benefit, the Authority (or its delegate) has regard only to the following:

  •  your vocational, trade and professional skills, qualifications and experience
  •  the kinds of civil employment which a person with the skills, qualifications and experience referred to in (a), but without any incapacity, might reasonably undertake
  •  the degree to which the physical or mental impairment that was the cause of the invalidity retirement has diminished your capacity to undertake the kinds of civil employment referred to in (b).

Having determined the degree of your incapacity, the Authority is required to classify you in accordance with a percentage of incapacity as follows:

  • Class A 60% or more
  • Class B 30% or more but less than 60%
  • Class C less than 30%.

How much?

If you are classified Class A, you will receive invalidity pay based on 76.5 per cent of your annual rate of pay for Scheme purposes.  If you are classified Class B, you will receive invalidity pay based on ½ a Class A pension (38.25 per cent.). However, if you have completed 23 or more years of effective service and are classified Class B, your invalidity pay will be higher as it is based on the number of years you have actually served, up to a maximum of 40 years.

A Member who is classified Class A or Class B has no entitlement to elect to commute.

If you are classified Class C, and you have less than 20 years service you will receive a lump sum benefit and, in some cases, a gratuity as well. Your lump sum will consist of a refund of your contributions from the Scheme multiplied by 1.5.

If you are classified Class C but you would have been entitled to retirement pay if you had retired on grounds other than invalidity, that is you have 20 years of service or have reached retirement age for rank you will receive a benefit equivalent to retirement pay, at a rate determined by your length of service if this is greater than your invalidity benefit. In this situation, if you are classified Class C, the commutation option is available. 

Review of invalidity cases

The DFRDB Authority is required to review all Class A and Class B invalidity classifications to see if there has been any change in the impairment that caused your retirement. Depending on the results of the review, your classification and your level of benefit may change. However, this only applies if you are classified Class A or Class B at discharge. If you are classified Class C at discharge, your classification and benefit are not subject to review.

If you have a Class A or Class B invalidity classification, the Authority may require you to undergo a medical examination and to provide information about possible employment. In the event that you do not comply with a request by the Authority to provide information or to attend a medical examination, your pension may be suspended for a period pending compliance with the request.

If you are classified Class B (or are Class C, having been given that classification after a previous review downwards from Class A or B), you do not have to wait for the Authority to review your classification. If you think that the impairment that caused your retirement has become worse since you were first classified, or since you were last reviewed, you can request that your classification be reviewed. If you want a review, all you have to do is write to the Authority and request one. The Authority’s address is:

DFRDB Authority
PO Box 22
BELCONNEN  ACT  2616

You can appeal against any decision that the DFRDB Authority makes regarding your scheme entitlements. For information on appeal procedures, see Complaints, Appeals and FOI.

Forms and Fact Sheets

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