25. Variation of FAS assistance

A variation application is a request to change the assistance paid by the FAS. The FAS can vary assistance for many reasons; this could be because the victim needs:

• to materially change the conditions of the assistance, such as needing to attend a different service provider who provides a different service to their original service provider
• to change the amount of assistance, such as needing an increase in assistance to cover an increase in a service provider’s costs, or
• a new type of assistance, such as where a victim’s needs or circumstances have changed or they have fresh evidence, and they would now like to request different or additional assistance.

These examples are not a complete list, and the FAS can vary assistance for many different reasons to respond to victims’ needs.

An applicant does not need to seek a variation if they are changing a service provider, if the new service provider is providing a ‘like for like’ service, treatment or therapy and has the same qualifications. A variation is only required if the cost per session is higher than what was originally approved, or if the service provider is providing a different service than what was originally approved.

For the avoidance of doubt, if an applicant does not have all the necessary evidence on hand to submit a full and complete application, they can apply for interim assistance (i.e. safety-related, counselling or medical assistance, or funeral expenses) to meet any initial needs they may have and then, if that application is approved and finalised, make a variation application for any additional assistance once they have all the necessary evidence on hand (effectively delaying the full submission of their application and submitting it as a variation).

The FAS can only vary and pay assistance up to an applicant’s maximum assistance cap as was in place at the time of the original decision¹.

Maximum assistance caps by financial year

To assist the FAS in reviewing a variation application, applicants should generally provide the following information:

• any fresh evidence that has become available since the decision to pay assistance was made or last varied
• any change of circumstances that has occurred since the decision to pay assistance was made, or last varied or that is likely to occur, or
• anything else they believe would assist the FAS in determining their variation application.

Footnotes

[1] These amounts are indexed each financial year in accordance with section 72 of the Act.