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GARP Chapter 25: If You Already Had a VEA or DRCA Condition

Your old compensation gets deducted, and your overall rating has to rise at least 5 points to be paid anything. That changes how you should claim.

Veterans Health Centre · 7 September 2026 · 5 min read

This chapter matters if you have been compensated before, under an older scheme.

It stops the same impairment being paid for twice. In practice it means a deduction, and it is worth understanding.

Who it applies to

You, if you have:

an old VEA accepted condition — you get a disability pension under the Veterans' Entitlements Act, or
an old DRCA accepted condition — you were paid under the Defence-related Claims Act (or the old SRCA)

and you make an MRCA permanent impairment claim on or after 1 July 2026.

How it works

Five steps, in plain terms:

Rate everything. All your service-related conditions together, under this Guide, as at today. That gives your overall rating and the compensation it would produce.
Work out your baseline. That is what you have already been compensated for. Chapter 26 explains how.
Check the gap. Your overall rating must be at least 5 impairment points higher than the baseline. If not, the claim is rejected.
Work out what the baseline alone would be worth under this Guide.
Subtract. What is left is what you are paid.

The 5 point rule

This is the one that catches people.

It is not enough for the new condition to be genuine and accepted. Your overall rating has to have moved at least 5 points above your baseline.

Practical consequence: claiming one small condition at a time is a poor strategy. If you have several conditions to claim, claiming them together is far more likely to clear the 5 point step than claiming them one by one.

Which table your old conditions use

For working out the compensation factor:

an old VEA condition is treated as warlike or non-warlike service
an old DRCA condition is treated as peacetime service
a condition that is both is treated as warlike or non-warlike

That favours old VEA conditions, which sit on the higher paying table.

The cap

There is also an overall cap, so that the total of your MRCA payment plus what you already receive under the old schemes does not exceed the MRCA maximum. If the sum would go over, the MRCA amount is reduced.

What this means for you

Find out your baseline before you claim. It tells you what you have to beat.
Claim conditions together, not one at a time. The 5 point step applies to your overall rating.
Get your old paperwork out. VEA pension percentage, DRCA whole person impairment figures, old assessment dates.
Do not assume a rejection means the condition was not accepted. It may simply mean the 5 point step was not cleared.
Read Chapter 26 next. The baseline calculation is where the number comes from.

Common questions

Am I losing money I already had?

No. Your existing payments continue. This prevents the same impairment being paid twice under two schemes.

My claim was rejected but the condition is accepted. How?

Most likely the overall rating did not rise 5 points above the baseline. Adding other unclaimed conditions may change that.

Does this apply to everyone?

No. Only if you have an old VEA or old DRCA accepted condition. If all your conditions are MRCA, this chapter does not apply to you.

Next in this series

Chapter 26: working out your baseline — the last in this series.

Want a hand with yours?

If you have a permanent impairment assessment coming up, we do these every week. Call 0429 146 039 or email reception@vhc.org.au.