How future earning capacity is valued
Your injury may affect what you can earn for years to come, not just now.
Loss of future earning capacity is worked out using a formula, not a guess. It is called the multiplicand and multiplier method. A road accident claim can include this head where the injury affects a working-age claimant.
The multiplicand is your income at the time of injury. The multiplier is a number of years set by your age.[1]
The two parts of the formula
The multiplicand is generally your income at the time you were injured. It does not include any pay rise you received later.[2] The multiplier is a number representing years of working life affected. It depends on your age when injured.
How the multiplier is generally set
For a claimant aged 30 or under, the multiplier is generally 16 years.[2] For a claimant aged between 31 and 59, it is generally worked out as 60 minus your age, divided by two.[2]
Why age 60 is the cutoff
This claim generally cannot be made once the injured person is aged 60 or over. A 2019 change in the law raised the previous cutoff of 55.[1] The reasoning reflects a general view of when working life ends, applied consistently rather than case by case.
What changed in 2019
Before the 2019 amendment, a claimant also had to show they were in good health but for the injury. That requirement was removed.[3] This made the head of loss somewhat more accessible than before.
What this formula does not tell you
This page stops short of applying the formula to a figure. Your own deductions for living expenses still need assessing on your facts. So does the medical evidence of how the injury affects your ability to work. How compensation is worked out explains how this head sits alongside the others.
What to do next
Loss of earning capacity explains what this looks like in practice, for someone whose injury has genuinely changed what work they can do. A specialist medical report for your claim is the evidence that connects the formula to your specific situation.
Common questions
Can this page tell me what my multiplier would actually be?
This page explains how the multiplier is generally worked out by age, but applying it to your own claim depends on your exact age, income and medical evidence, which is why no specific figure is given here.
Does the multiplier use my income at trial or at the time of injury?
Generally your income at the time of the injury, not any pay rise or promotion that happened afterwards. This is one reason gathering your pre-accident income evidence matters so much for this head of loss.
I am 62. Does that mean I cannot claim anything for this head?
Loss of future earning capacity generally cannot be claimed once you are aged 60 or over, though other heads of loss, such as pain, suffering and past lost earnings, can still apply to your claim.
Is this the same as the multiplier used for a dependency claim after a death?
No, they are separate calculations for different situations. This page covers a living claimant's own reduced earning ability, while a dependency claim after a death is assessed using a different method.
Sources
- Skrine, The Civil Law (Amendment) Act 2019 Age limit raised from 55 to 60, in force 1 September 2019 (Act A1591) (accessed 2026-09-22)
- s.28A(2)(c) analysis, Universiti Teknologi MARA (accessed 2026-09-22)
- Skrine, The Civil Law (Amendment) Act 2019 (accessed 2026-09-22)