Please be aware this update contains material that could be confronting or distressing. Sometimes words or images can cause sadness or distress or trigger traumatic memories, particularly for people who have experienced past abuse or childhood trauma.

Support is available to help you if you need it. To find out more, visit the Redress Support Services page on our website.

If you need immediate support, 24-hour telephone assistance is available.

Redress Support Service Spotlight: Blue Knot Foundation

Thinking about applying to the National Redress Scheme, or supporting someone who is?

The Blue Knot Foundation can give free, trauma informed and culturally safe support to survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.

Blue Knot provides free information, referrals and casework support. They can support you at any stage of your redress journey, including people still deciding if they want to apply.

Blue Knot can support you to tell your story and apply to the Scheme. They can also provide casework support while you wait for a redress outcome. After you receive a redress outcome, Blue Knot can support you to organise a Direct Personal Response.

If you seek casework support, an experienced trauma counsellor will help you through your whole redress journey. Counsellors focus on safety, trust, choice and collaboration. You can decide how you want to be supported. The Blue Knot Helpline can provide counselling support in between casework appointments.

Blue Knot can support people in urban, regional and remote areas across Australia.

Contact details:

• Phone: 1300 657 380
• Email: redress@blueknot.org.au
• Website: blueknot.org.au/survivors/redress-information-and-application-support
• Operating hours: 9am–5pm AEST/AEDT, Monday to Sunday

You can choose the Redress Support Service that best suits your needs. If Blue Knot is not the right fit, a full list is available on the Redress Support Services page.

Scheme data

• As at 30 April 2026 there have been 78,821 applications to the Scheme
• 28,179 applicants have had their outcomes advised. Of these 22,348 payments have been made totalling approximately $1.99 billion dollars
• 4,849  applications have been withdrawn or closed
• 45,793 applications are yet to have their outcome advised. Of which:
  • 29,347 applications are actionable by the Scheme.
    • 10,036 applications are being validated with the initial contact being made
    • 12,502 applications are in the information gathering stage
    • 6,231 applications are with an IDM for determination
    • 578 applications are being prepared for delivery of the outcome
  • 9,955 applications are unable to be actioned by the Scheme. Of these:
    • 7,944 are awaiting the applicant to provide additional information
    • 2,011 are undergoing special assessment for serious criminal conviction
  • 6,491 applications are on hold
• Over the last six months 332 reviews have been requested and 157 have been completed. Of those completed 24.8% resulted in an increase in redress payment.
• Over the last six months the Scheme has received an average of 1,455 applications per month

• There were an average of 357 applications received per month in FY18-19, 262 per month in FY19-20, 316 per month in FY20-21, 499 per month in FY21-22, 894 per month in FY22-23, 1,360 per month in FY23-24, 1,644 per month in FY24-25, and 1,484 per month in FY25-26.

For the month of April:

• 912 applications have been resolved
• 34.0% of survivors have identified as a First Nations person
• 31.6% of survivors have indicated they are living with a disability
• 34.0% of survivors are Care Leavers*
• 60.0% of survivors accepted a Direct Personal Response (DPR) as part of their redress offer
• 10 survivors completed a DPR with 10 institutions
• 15 survivors made contact with 23 institutions to begin the DPR process

*Care leavers are defined as applicants who indicated any of the following on their application: they were a foster child, in relative kinship, court-ordered care or a child migrant.

Note: Counts provided will slightly differ from previous versions as closed cases are now included. Closed cases include applications that are not eligible to apply to the Scheme.

As at 1 May 2026, participating institutions were invoiced approximately $96 million, with payment of approximately $0.147 million outstanding, equivalent to 0.15% against a target of 5% or less.

Participating institutions update

The National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Declaration 2018 (the Declaration) is an official list of all participating institutions. It is updated when new institutions join the Scheme as either fully-participating, partly-participating or defunct institutions, or the status of a participating institution changes. No updates were made to the Declaration in the month of April 2026.

As at 30 April 2026, there are 702 fully-participating institutions, 171 defunct institutions and 27 partly-participating institutions declared as participating in the Scheme.

Updates to the Declaration are available on the Federal Register of Legislation(Opens in a new tab/window). For the latest information about institutions, visit the Institutions page on our website. If you have concerns because of an institution’s participation status with the National Redress Scheme, please contact the National Redress Scheme on 1800 737 377 to speak to someone about your application.