Can I claim TPD after trying part-time administrative duties?

Short answer

Often yes. A period of part-time administrative duties after leaving frontline work does not automatically prevent a TPD claim. The key is whether the role was genuinely sustainable and whether medical and work evidence supports permanent work-capacity limits under your policy definition.

Why this scenario can still support a claim

• Modified role context: administrative-only duties may be materially different from your pre-injury frontline role.
• Reduced hours: part-time capacity may show significant ongoing restriction rather than full work capacity.
• Unsuccessful sustainability: if symptoms or treatment demands meant the role could not be maintained, that can be important evidence.
• Policy wording control: outcomes still turn on whether your evidence matches the exact own-occupation or any-occupation definition.

Evidence that usually matters most

• A clear timeline showing transition from frontline to administrative duties, hours worked, and final cessation date.
• Employer records describing accommodations, productivity limits, and why part-time arrangements ended or remained unstable.
• Treating-doctor and specialist reports describing functional limits despite the administrative trial.
• Consistent explanations across TPD, workers compensation, and income protection materials where relevant.

Common risk points

• Records that make the administrative period look like a successful long-term redeployment.
• Inconsistent language about capacity (for example, “fit for suitable duties” in one forum but “no reliable capacity” in another without context).
• Submitting before obtaining specialist opinions on likely durability of work capacity.
• Ignoring insurer arguments that part-time office duties prove broad alternative occupation capacity.

Related guides

Can I claim TPD after a short return to work on reduced duties? · Can I claim TPD after a failed return-to-work attempt? · Can I claim TPD while receiving workers compensation weekly payments?

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