For information on varying an award made by Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (VOCAT), see the applications at VOCAT page.
Variations
After you receive the outcome of your application, you may want to apply for a change to your financial assistance. This is also known as a variation.
You can ask for a variation because you need:
- to change the conditions of the assistance (for example, needing to see a new psychologist or counsellor with a different cost)
- to increase the amount of assistance (for example, needing more money because a service provider’s costs have gone up)
- a new type of assistance if your situation has changed, and you now require something different or extra.
For both the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal (VOCAT) awards, the FAS can only pay assistance up to an applicant’s maximum assistance cap, which is $61,499 for primary victims and $51,249 for secondary and related victims.
Variation of FAS assistance
Applicants can apply to the FAS to vary their assistance through the online portal once they have received a final decision about their application for assistance.
You can also contact the FAS Helpline on 1800 161 136 between 8:30am – 5:30pm Monday to Friday (except public holidays) for information on how to apply.
Prior to 9 September 2025, applicants were able to apply for a FAS variation by submitting the FAS variation form PDF to the FAS via email. Applicants who had already applied for a FAS variation by this process on or before 8 September 2025 do not need to take any further action. The FAS will digitise their variation application and they will receive a confirmation via the portal when this has occurred.
These applicants will then be able to access their financial assistance directly from the FAS online portal. Until then, these applicants should continue to communicate with the FAS by email about their variation application and related payments.
When applying to FAS for a variation, you must:
- have already received assistance from FAS
- apply within the relevant time limits
- have new evidence or changed circumstances explaining why further assistance is needed, and
- explain how the further assistance will assist in their recovery from the violent act.
For a variation decision, FAS will take into account:
- any new evidence that is available since the decision to pay the assistance was made
- any change of circumstances that has occurred since the decision to pay the assistance was made
- anything else that the scheme decision maker considers relevant.
See our legal guidelines for more information on Variation of FAS assistance.
Time limits for FAS assistance variations
If you were 18 years or older when the original decision to pay the assistance was made, you must apply for a variation within 10 years of that original decision.
If you were under 18 years old when the FAS made the original decision, you have until you turn 28 years old to apply for a variation.
Updated