Supporting families after a workplace death: what's changed under Victoria's 2025 WorkCover reforms

Losing a family member in a workplace incident is one of the hardest things anyone can go through, and the practical and financial fallout often arrives while a family is still absorbing the loss itself. Victoria's WorkCover scheme changed in 2025 with that reality in mind.

The Workplace Injury Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment Act 2025 passed Parliament on 31 July 2025 and took effect on 6 August 2025. It followed two government-commissioned reviews — one into how WorkSafe manages complex claims, the other specifically into whether families of workers killed at work were being adequately supported — and it responds to feedback from people with lived experience of a workplace death or serious injury.

This article sets out what the reforms actually do.

Why the scheme needed to change

The reforms trace back to an independent review of WorkSafe's handling of complicated claims, led by Judge Peter Rozen, and a separate review into the adequacy of support for families of workers whose death was work-related. The Workplace Incidents Consultative Committee — made up largely of people who have themselves lost a family member at work, or been seriously injured — also fed directly into the changes.

"It is really important for us to hear and understand the lived experience of people who either are related to or close to or indeed themselves have experienced some form of workplace injury." — Victorian Parliament debate, July 2025

Broader access to counselling and support services

Family members can now access WorkSafe-approved counselling, therapy and other support services under a wider definition than before, recognising that grief support looks different for different people. Where a worker is first seriously injured and later dies from that injury, the family is not limited to a single allocation of support — they may be able to access support both after the injury and again if the worker later passes away.

A new entitlement: forensic cleaning

Where a work-related death occurs at the worker's home or at a family member's home — for instance, an incident on a home farm or in a home workshop — the cost of forensic cleaning is now a recognised entitlement in its own right, rather than something families have to seek separately or cover themselves.

More time, and fewer barriers, for interim payments

Provisional payments exist so that a grieving partner isn't left without income while a claim is being finalised. The scheme now allows these payments to run for longer, and they can extend to cover therapy, support services and forensic cleaning as well as income replacement. A previous restriction that prevented provisional payments where a death was a suicide has also been removed, meaning families in these circumstances are no longer excluded from immediate support.

New forms of financial recognition

The reforms introduce two new payments that didn't exist before: one intended to recognise economic loss for dependants who are neither the worker's parent nor their child — a group the previous scheme largely didn't provide for — and a separate payment intended to recognise grief and loss, available to a defined group of close family members under a new legislative definition (partners, parents, guardians, step-parents, grandparents, siblings and stepsiblings, and children in a parental relationship with the worker, where there was a genuine personal relationship at the time of death). Unlike some existing entitlements, this second payment isn't shared out and capped as a single pool — each eligible family member may be able to receive their own payment.

Support for dependent children

From a date still to be set by the government (no later than 1 July 2027), the way pensions are calculated for dependent children will also change, intended to provide a fairer share of support to families with more children.

Entitlements at a glance

New rights for claimants, not just new payments

The Act now writes fair, respectful and dignified treatment into the objectives of the scheme itself, applying to everyone who deals with it — injured workers, bereaved families, employers, claims agents and independent medical examiners alike.

A Code of Claimants' Rights may now be approved by the Minister, setting service standards for WorkSafe and its agents and giving claimants a formal way to raise concerns if those standards aren't met. The scheme must also now be independently reviewed at least once every five years, with the first review due by 31 December 2025. The Code is still in draft at this time, though submissions have closed.

Changes employers should be aware of

Return to work coordinators — the people employers appoint to support injured staff back into the workplace — will be required to complete approved training within a timeframe set by the Minister, and employers will need to give them the time and resources to do that properly. Smaller employers may face lighter obligations than larger ones. Penalties can apply for non-compliance, and company officers can be held personally liable where they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent a breach.

Other changes worth knowing about

If you're dealing with a claim at the moment

Timing can matter here. Most of these changes apply from 6 August 2025 onward, but the increased counselling and support cap explicitly extends to family members who were already entitled to services before that date. If your circumstances arose before August 2025, it may still be worth having your WorkCover entitlements reviewed rather than assuming the earlier limits are the final word.

This article is general information about Victorian law as at August 2026 and isn't legal advice for your specific situation. Entitlements depend on individual facts — please seek advice before relying on anything above.