What is the GARP? A Plain English Guide for Veterans

The GARP is the rule book DVA uses to work out how badly a condition affects you, and how much you get paid for it.

Its full name is the Guide to Determining Impairment and Compensation 2026. People just call it the GARP. The current version started on 1 July 2026 and replaced the 2016 one.

This article explains it in plain English. No legal words.

What does the GARP actually do?

It turns your medical problems into a number.

That number is called impairment points. It runs from 0 to 100. Zero means no effect. A high number means a very serious effect.

Once DVA has your points, they look up a table. The table tells them how much money you get per week. You can usually swap some or all of that weekly money for a lump sum.

The one thing most veterans get wrong

The GARP does not care much about your diagnosis.

It cares about what you can and cannot do.

Two veterans can both have "lumbar spondylosis" written on their file. One gets 5 points. One gets 25 points. The difference is not the scan. The difference is how long they can stand, how far they can walk, and how much pain they are in while resting.

So when a doctor asks how you are going, saying "yeah, not too bad" costs you money. Say what actually happens.

How the rating is built up

It works like this.

Each accepted condition gets its own points. Your knee gets a number. Your hearing gets a number. Your PTSD gets a number.
The numbers are joined together. Not by adding. There is a special chart for it. More on that below.
You get a lifestyle rating too. That is a separate score from 0 to 7 about how your life has changed.
Points plus lifestyle equals money. The two numbers go into a table and out comes a weekly amount.

Why 20 + 20 does not equal 40

This one surprises everybody.

The GARP treats you as a whole person. If one condition takes away 20% of you, only 80% of you is left. The next condition can only take a share of what is left.

So 20 points and 20 points come to 36, not 40. Then the next one takes a slice of what is left after that.

The higher your points get, the harder it is to add more. That is not DVA being difficult. It is how the chart is built. It is Chapter 18 if you want to look it up.

Two ways to score the same condition

Most chapters give you two goes at it.

Functional loss. What you can no longer do. How far you walk. How long you sit. How much you hear.
Other Impairment. A shortcut based on your diagnosis and treatment. For example, being on daily insulin, or having had a heart attack.

You get the higher of the two. Not both. This is a good rule for veterans, and it is worth making sure the assessor has checked both.

Age can change the number

Some tables are "age adjusted". Joints are the big one.

A stiff shoulder matters more at 30 than at 75, because a 30-year-old has more life left to live with it. So the younger you were when it happened, the higher the number can go.

Each table says whether age adjustment is allowed. Most do not allow it.

How many points do you need?

You generally need at least 10 impairment points before permanent impairment compensation is payable. A lower threshold of 5 points applies to some conditions. DVA will tell you which one applies to your claim.

This is why small conditions still matter. On their own they may be worth 2 or 5 points. Joined with the rest, they can push you over a line.

What about accepted versus not accepted?

You only get paid for conditions DVA has accepted.

But the assessment often has to look at everything first, then take the non-accepted part back out. There is a whole chapter for that (Chapter 19). If your report does not clearly separate the two, someone else will guess the split. They rarely guess in your favour.

What this means for you

Answer the questions honestly and specifically. Minutes, metres, flights of stairs, pain out of ten.
Describe a bad week as well as a good one. The assessment is meant to reflect your usual state, not your best day.
Get your tests recent. Some, like lung function and hearing tests, must be less than six months old.
Do not leave small conditions off. They add up.
Ask for both tables to be checked — the function one and the Other Impairment one.

Try it yourself

We built a free tool that walks you through the questions and shows you the tables it used: the PI points calculator. It is an estimate, not a decision, but it will show you roughly where you sit.

Common questions

Is the GARP the same as the Statements of Principles?

No. The Statements of Principles decide whether a condition is service related. The GARP decides how much it is worth once it has been accepted. Different jobs, different documents.

Can my points go down?

Your paid rate does not drop if you improve. But a reassessment has to find at least 5 more points before extra compensation is payable.

Do I need a lawyer?

No. You need accurate medical evidence. Most claims that come out low come out low because the report was vague, not because someone argued badly.

Who does the assessment?

A doctor. It should be one who uses this Guide regularly, because most of the errors we see are the assessor missing a table, not the veteran missing a symptom.

Next in this series

The chapter map — which chapter covers your condition.

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.