Key Takeaway
Mental health conditions accounted for 12.0% of all serious workers’ compensation claims in Australia in 2023-24, or 17,600 claims. That is up from 9% in 2020-21 and 2021-22, and it is the benchmark the SafeMinds Psychosocial Risk Cost Calculator uses for the psychosocial share of claims.
Current Proportion Data
Serious Claims, 2023-24
Safe Work Australia’s Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025 reports 146,700 serious claims in 2023-24 (preliminary data). Mental health conditions accounted for 17,600 of them, or 12.0%.
| Measure | Mental health conditions | All serious claims |
|---|---|---|
| Serious claims, 2023-24 | 17,600 (12.0%) | 146,700 |
| Median time lost, 2022-23 | 35.7 working weeks | 7.4 working weeks |
| Median compensation paid, 2022-23 | $67,400 | $16,300 |
Median time lost and compensation are reported for 2022-23, the most recent year in which enough claims have closed.
The Trend
- Over the year: mental health claims rose by 2,300, or 14.7%, in 2023-24.
- Over ten years: they rose by 10,900, or 161.1%, the largest change of any injury or disease group.
- Two years earlier: mental health conditions were 9% of serious claims in both 2020-21 and 2021-22, about 11,700 claims a year (Safe Work Australia, Psychological health and safety in the workplace, February 2024).
What Causes These Claims
Safe Work Australia also classifies claims by mechanism. Mental stress caused 16,800 serious claims in 2023-24, or 11.5%. The most common types were harassment and workplace bullying (33.2%), work pressure (24.2%) and exposure to violence and harassment (15.7%).
Within mental health conditions, anxiety and stress disorders made up 45.8% of claims in 2021-22 (Safe Work Australia, February 2024).
Why This Proportion Matters for Enterprise Risk
The share is rising, not settling. For organisations:
- Benchmarking: 12% is the current national reference point for comparing your own claims profile. Expect it to move again.
- Resource planning: around one in eight serious claims now relates to mental health, and these claims need different return-to-work approaches from physical injuries.
- Financial exposure: mental health claims keep people off work almost five times longer than the median claim and cost more than four times as much in compensation.
Data Source and Methodology
Dataset
The figures come from Safe Work Australia’s National Dataset for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS), which draws on workers’ compensation data from every Australian jurisdiction. The 2023-24 figures are preliminary and may be revised.
Definition of Serious Claims
“Serious claims” are accepted workers’ compensation claims involving one or more working weeks lost, excluding fatalities and journey claims.
How the Calculator Uses It
The calculator multiplies the overall claims rate by this share to estimate psychosocial claims, then applies it to premiums and backfilling. The default is 12%; you can replace it with your own organisation’s share.
Frequently Asked Questions
What percentage of workers’ compensation claims in Australia are for mental health?
Mental health conditions accounted for 12.0% of serious workers’ compensation claims in Australia in 2023-24, or 17,600 claims, according to Safe Work Australia’s Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025.
Is the share of mental health claims increasing?
Yes. It rose from 9% in 2020-21 and 2021-22 to 12.0% in 2023-24. Over the ten years to 2023-24, mental health claims rose by 161.1%, more than any other injury or disease group.
What types of mental health claims are most common?
By cause, harassment and workplace bullying (33.2%) and work pressure (24.2%) lead the mental stress claims recorded in 2023-24. By condition, anxiety and stress disorders made up 45.8% of mental health claims in 2021-22.
References
- Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025. 2023-24 data are preliminary.
- Safe Work Australia, Psychological health and safety in the workplace, February 2024.
- Safe Work Australia, National Dataset for Compensation-based Statistics.
Updated 24 September 2026 with the 2025 Safe Work Australia statistics.