Work and Development Orders

What is a WDO?

If you can’t pay your fines, a work and development order (WDO) can help you  reduce your NSW fines debt by up to $1,000 a month.

A WDO involves doing an activity to pay off some or all of your fines. It may include:

• doing unpaid work
• completing a course
• counselling
• receiving treatment.

To complete a WDO, you must have a WDO sponsor. This is a person or organisation who can supervises WDOs. A sponsor can be an organisation, social worker or health practitioner. Revenue NSW must approve your application before you start any activity to pay off your fines.

Types of fines can you pay with a WDO

You can apply for an WDO to pay off all NSW fines. This includes an unpaid order for restitution.

You can only apply for a WDO if an enforcement order has been made against you. An enforcement order is made when an overdue fine is not paid. It allows Revenue NSW to take action to collect the money owed.

If your fines aren’t overdue but you want to apply for a WDO, you can choose to apply for an enforcement order.

You can apply to enforce your court fines in your WDO application.

If you apply for voluntary enforcement, you won’t be charged for enforcement costs. Revenue NSW won’t take enforcement action against you, unless your WDO is cancelled.

Fines that are not eligible

You can’t use an WDO to pay off fines from another state or territory, or a corporation.

Who can apply

You can apply for a WDO if you:

1. meet one or more eligibility criteria, and
2. are experiencing hardship, and
3. don’t own or have access to large assets. 

This includes:

• both adults and children
• people living interstate (with a NSW fine debt)
• people on a permanent or temporary Australian visa (with a NSW fine debt).

Eligibility criteria

You must be experiencing: 

• a mental illness
• an intellectual disability or cognitive impairment
• a serious addiction to drugs, alcohol or volatile substances
• homelessness, or
• acute financial hardship.

Hardship

You may be experiencing hardship if you: 

• have low income or are struggling to pay bills or repay your loans and debts
• cannot afford basic items or services
• lack capacity, opportunities or choices to improve your situation
• are experiencing difficulty in participating in economic, social or cultural activities.

Approved activities

What activities you can do will depend on your personal circumstances. The approved activities include:

• voluntary unpaid work
• educational/vocational or life skills course
• financial or other counselling, or case management 
• medical or mental health treatment
• drug or alcohol treatment
• mentoring programs (all ages).

If you are only eligible because of a serious addiction, you must complete alcohol or drug treatment as part of your activities.

If you are eligible for any other reason, you can complete any activity to repay your fines.

These activities will count towards your fine at a rate of up to $1,000 per month. You can do more than one activity at a time. However, you can’t earn more than $1.000 WDO credit per month.

Your WDO must be approved before you start the activity, or it won’t count toward your fine.

Finding a sponsor

Before you apply for a WDO, you must find an approved sponsor to support your application. A WDO sponsor may be from outside of NSW.

To find a sponsor:

• see Search WDO sponsor on the NSW Government website
• call the WDO Hotline on 1300 478 879
• ask a community organisation or h​ealth practitioner that you already know
• email the WDO Service at Legal Aid NSW for help to find a sponsor in your area – wdo@legalaid.nsw.gov.au.

Your sponsor will need to:

• check that you are eligibility for a WDO
• get a copy of the documents relating to your application
• submit your application and monthly activity reports through the WDO self-service portal
• keeps records of the activities you complete.

How to apply

Your sponsor will apply for a WDO on your behalf.

You will need to provide:

• your date of birth
• your address and contact details
• your driver licence number and the state it was issued in
• your customer reference number (CRN), if you receive a Centrelink benefit
• your supporting documents, such as payslips or bank statements.
• a signed privacy and consent form.

Revenue NSW must:

• give you their decision in writing, and
• tell you that you can appeal this decision to the Fines Hardship Review Board if your application is refused.

Before you appeal, you should get legal advice.

Supporting documents

Mental illness

If you have a mental illness, you need to provide documents that show the length, nature, seriousness and effects of your mental illness. These documents should be from your treating doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist, mental health nurse, or a professional from the relevant government or non-government agency. They can include:

• a letter
• case notes
• medical certificates
• documents evidencing financial distress
• Mental Health Treatment Plan.

These documents must be dated within one year of the WDO.

Intellectual disability or cognitive impairment

If you have an intellectual disability or cognitive impairment, you can use:

• a job capacity assessment report if you’re on the Disability Support Pension
• NDIS assessment or plan if you’re on the National Disability Insurance Scheme
• letter or other document clearly describing your disability or impairment from disability support services, school, Department of Education, NSW Trustee and Guardian, employment services provider or relevant government or non-government agency.

Homeless

If you are homeless, you can provide a letter from a support worker, case worker, homeless service provider or lawyer that explains:

• your current living situation
• type of homelessness, and
• how long you have been homeless.

The letter must be dated within the last three months.

Serious addiction (drug or alcohol)

If you have a serious addiction, you can provide a letter or document that explains the length, nature, severity and effects of your addiction. It can be from:

• a drug and alcohol services provider
• a drug and alcohol nurse
• your treating doctor
• a residential rehabilitation service provider
• a psychiatrist
• a psychologist
• a social worker or case worker
• a drug and alcohol counsellor.

The letter must be dated within the last six months.

Acute economic hardship

If you are in financial hardship, you can provide:

• a letter or document from Centrelink that confirms that you are receiving Centrelink benefits
• a copy of your most recent bank statements and payslips
• a copy of your Medicare card if you have dependent children
• evidence of child support payments (if you are paying child support).

Exceptional circumstances

If you do not fit into any of the above categories but you are in hardship, you can ask your WDO sponsor to consider sending an exceptional circumstances form for you.

You will need to explain the exceptional circumstances and give evidence about it.

Once a sponsor is satisfied that they have enough information, they can lodge an application with Revenue NSW on your behalf. The sponsor can apply online through the WDO portal on the NSW Government website.

Failure to complete a WDO

If you don’t follow your WDO, Revenue NSW can cancel it. Revenue NSW will talk with your sponsor before they cancel your WDO.

You have four weeks to challenge Revenue NSW’s decision to cancel your WDO.

If your WDO is cancelled, you will need to deal with your overdue fines. If you don’t, Revenue NSW will try to recover the overdue amount from you.

For more information, see What if I do nothing?

Changing or cancelling a WDO

If you want to change your WDO, you must speak to your sponsor first.

You can ask to change your WDO if:

• your work, treatment or number of hours completing your activities has changed
• you want to include new fines in your WDO.

Your sponsor can ask to change or cancel a WDO through the online self-service portal.

If your circumstances have changed and you can’t complete the agreed activities, you must notify Revenue NSW as soon as possible.

Effect of a WDO

If your WDO is approved, no action will be taken against you to collect the fines that relate to the WDO.

If your licence was suspended or your vehicle registration was cancelled due to the fines included in your WDO, you will get your licence and registration back.

If your licence was suspended or disqualified for other reasons, a WDO won’t let you get your licence back.

If you receive new fines after the WDO is made, action can be taken against you in relation to those fines, unless they are included on the active WDO.

Last updated: June 2026