Queensland Injury Scale Value (ISV) Lookup

Last updated 29 September 2026 · Reviewed by Sean Roche, Principal, Roche Legal

In Queensland, compensation for pain, suffering and loss of amenities of life is known as “General Damages”. In a personal injury claim, general damages is calculated from an Injury Scale Value – a number between 0 and 100 assigned by reference to Schedule 3 of the Civil Liability Regulation 2025 (Qld).

The lookup below shows every injury category, the ISV range the Regulation assigns to it, and the approximate dollar range for general damages in the current financial year. Each injury entry also links to Queensland court decisions relevant to that type of injury and ISV range. Read more about how ISVs are assessed ↓

How Injury Scale Values work

Since the Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld) came into force, general damages in Queensland personal injury claims – the money a court awards for pain, suffering, and loss of amenities of life – are no longer calculated at large. Every injury is translated into an Injury Scale Value, or ISV: a whole number between 0 and 100 that reflects the severity of the injury and its adverse impact on the injured person.

An ISV of 0 reflects an injury too minor to warrant an award of general damages. An ISV of 100 reflects the most severe injuries a person can sustain – spinal injuries causing total paralysis, catastrophic brain injuries requiring assisted ventilation, or multiple comparably devastating injuries in combination. The dollar value of each ISV point is set by a formula in the Act and indexed annually.

Where the ISV sits in a personal injury claim

General damages are one component of a personal injury payout. The other heads of damage – past and future economic loss, past and future medical and care costs, superannuation, and interest – are calculated separately and, in most cases, are significantly larger than the general damages component. A working-age plaintiff who cannot return to their pre-injury occupation will usually see economic loss dwarf the amount claimable for pain and suffering. Non-working plaintiffs, and those who recover quickly enough to return to work, may find that general damages form the larger portion of their claim.

The ISV determines general damages only. It tells you nothing about the dollar value of your economic loss, your medical expenses, or your superannuation shortfall.

How the range is chosen

Schedule 3 of the Civil Liability Regulation 2025 (Qld) lists injuries across ten Parts – from central nervous system injuries through to dermatitis – and assigns each an ISV range.

Cervical spine injuries, for example, are divided into five items:

• Extreme (ISV 41–75),
• Serious (16–40),
• two Moderate categories (5–15, depending on whether there is fracture, disc prolapse, or nerve root involvement, or only soft tissue damage), and
• Minor (0–4).

Where within a range the injury sits is determined by the court having regard to the factors listed against that item in the Regulation – things like the presence and extent of pain, level of function, degree of independence, residual cognitive or sensory impairment, and secondary medical complications. The Regulation also requires the court to give greater weight to medical assessments of whole-person impairment based on the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (5th edition – known as AMA 5).

For mental disorders, the assessment uses a different scale: the Psychiatric Impairment Rating Scale (PIRS), which rates permanent impairment across six areas of functioning and converts to a percentage impairment. A PIRS rating is only accepted by a court if it is assessed by an appropriately qualified medical expert (typically a psychiatrist) and provided in an independent medico-legal report.

Multiple injuries

Most claims involve more than one injury. The court starts by identifying the dominant injury (the injury with the highest maximum ISV range) and assesses the ISV within that range. To account for the combined impact of the other injuries, the court may uplift the ISV above what the dominant injury alone would warrant. The uplift is generally capped at 25% above the dominant injury’s maximum unless the court provides detailed written reasons for a larger increase. The overall ISV cannot exceed 100.

From ISV to dollars

Once the court settles on a whole-number ISV between 0 and 100, section 62 of the Civil Liability Act, read with the Civil Liability Indexation Notice in force at the time the injury arose, converts it into a dollar figure. The scale is non-linear – each point is worth more at the top of the scale than at the bottom – so an ISV of 30 is worth considerably more than three times an ISV of 10. The dollar amounts are adjusted each 1 July in line with Queensland full-time adult persons’ ordinary time earnings.

What the lookup can’t tell you

Our lookup tool shows which Schedule 3 category matches your injury, the ISV range the Regulation assigns to it, and the corresponding dollar range for general damages under the current Indexation Notice. That’s the framework.

A higher ISV does not make you any more likely to prove negligence and win your claim.

The ISV does not determine the total value of a personal injury claim – the total value is actually most influenced by the injured person’s loss of earnings. An ISV of 10 might cause one person to be totally and permanently disabled from an employment standpoint, whereas it might be a mere inconvenience to another with no consequence to their earnings.

Within general damages itself, the lookup also can’t tell you where in the ISV range your particular injury sits. That depends on medical evidence, the factors the court must consider under Schedule 2 of the Regulation, and judgment about how a court is likely to treat your particular combination of facts. A moderate cervical spine (soft tissue) injury, for example, sits in the ISV range 5–10 and a dollar range of roughly $10,050 to $21,850 for injuries arising on or after 1 July 2026 – but whether yours is a 5 or a 10 has a larger practical impact than the range itself.

The tool also doesn’t apply the dominant-injury-and-uplift process for claims with multiple injuries, and the dollar ranges shown are for the current financial year only. Injuries arising before 1 July 2026 use the lower figures fixed by the Indexation Notice that applied at the time.

If you have been injured in Queensland, a proper and full analysis is best done with a personal injury solicitor who runs these cases regularly. Request a free claim assessment by Roche Legal – no cost, no obligation.