Independence Allowance

   54. Independence allowance---(1) Subject to this section, every person
 who has cover under this Act is entitled to receive an independence
 allowance where the person's personal injury has resulted in a degree of
 disability of 10 percent or more.

   (2) Any entitlement to the independence allowance shall commence not
 earlier than 13 weeks after the date on which the personal injury
 causing that disability was suffered.

   (3) The independence allowance shall be paid by the Corporation
 quarterly in advance, and no action shall be taken to recover any
 quarterly payment (or part thereof) in respect of any person who dies or
 whose disability lessens or ceases during that quarter.

   (4) The amount of the independence allowance shall be $40 per week for
 persons who have a degree of disability of 100 percent, and shall be at
 such lesser graduated rates as are set by regulations made under this
 Act in respect of those persons with lesser degrees of disability.

   (5) The Corporation shall not pay any independence allowance unless
 the assessment of the degree of disability of the person in respect of
 whom it is to be paid has been made in accordance with---
   (a) Scales prescribed under this Act which may be based on impairment
         or disability or a combination of impairment and disability; or
   (b) In the absence of the scales referred to in paragraph (a) of this
         subsection, the American Medical Association Guides to the
         Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (Second Edition)---

 and any such allowance shall be payable from the date of the assessment
 or the date determined under subsection (2) of this section, whichever
 is the later.

   (6) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (5) of this section, if the
 assessment has not been made within 13 weeks after the date on which the
 personal injury causing that disability was suffered, but the
 Corporation is satisfied that---
   (a) The assessment has not been completed (whether or not it has been
         commenced) for reasons beyond the control or responsibility of
         the injured person; and
   (b) If the assessment had been completed the degree of disability of
         the injury would have entitled the person to an independence
         allowance---

 the Corporation shall pay an independence allowance as if the injured
 person's degree of disability had been assessed at a percentage
 estimated by the Corporation.

   (7) No independence allowance shall be payable under subsection (6) of
 this section for a period exceeding  12 months from the day on which the
 personal injury was suffered.

   (8) Where an independence allowance is paid to a person under
 subsection (6) of this section and that person's degree of disability is
 subsequently assessed to be greater than that estimated by the
 Corporation, that person shall be entitled to receive the independence
 allowance as if that assessment had been made 13 weeks after the date on
 which the personal injury was suffered.

   (9) The Corporation shall be entitled to recover any amount paid under
 subsection (6) of this section if the assessment subsequently
 establishes that the degree of disability is less than that estimated by
 the Corporation.

   (10) The assessment of the degree of disability shall be undertaken on
 behalf of and at the expense of the Corporation.

   (11) Without limiting subsection (12) of this section, the Corporation
 shall reassess the degree of disability of each injured person at
 intervals not exceeding 5 years.

   (12) The Corporation may, on its own motion, or at the request of the
 injured person, reassess the degree of disability of that person and
 make any appropriate adjustment to the independence allowance payable as
 from the commencement of the next quarter, but not more than 1
 reassessment may be undertaken in any 12-month period.

   (13) In any assessment of disability under this section, any
 disability that does not arise from personal injury covered by this Act,
 or personal injury by accident covered by the Accident Compensation Act
 1972 or the Accident Compensation Act 1982, and in respect of which a
 claim has been accepted by the Corporation, shall be disregarded.

   (14) Where any person who has received a payment under section 119 of
 the Accident Compensation Act 1972 or section 78 of the Accident
 Compensation Act 1982 is assessed for the purposes of establishing an
 entitlement to an independence allowance, the person's disability
 assessed under subsection (5) of this section shall be reduced by the
 percentage or percentages of permanent loss or impairment of bodily
 function upon which any payment or payments under section 119 of the
 Accident Compensation Act 1972 or section 78 of the Accident
 Compensation Act 1982 were based.

   (15) For the purposes of assessments under this section, regulations
 made under this Act may---
   (a) Extend or modify the American Medical Association Guides to the
         Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (Second Edition) or any
         subsequent edition of those guides that may be prescribed for
         the purposes of this section:
   (b) Prescribe scales other than the American Medical Association
         Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (Second
         Edition) to be used for the purposes of this section, which may
         be later editions of those guides, or other scales.
     Cf. 1982, No. 181, ss. 78, 80 (1)