If you were hurt in a crash in Nova Scotia and your injury has been called minor, one number now sits over a large part of your claim. For an accident in 2026, the most recoverable for pain and suffering is $10,862.
The cap covers pain and suffering and nothing else. It also does not apply where the injury caused a serious impairment, and the test for that is written down, in three parts, in the regulations.
There is one more rule worth knowing on day one, because it catches people who are doing nothing wrong: in Nova Scotia, not seeking and following treatment can make an injury minor by default.
How much is the cap in 2026?
$10,862, for an accident between 1 January and 31 December 2026. The Superintendent of Insurance sets the figure each January by the Nova Scotia consumer price index and published this year's on 22 January 2026.
The amount for a calendar year applies only to accidents that happen during that year. A crash in 2024 keeps the 2024 figure no matter when it settles.
| Year of the accident | Most recoverable for pain and suffering |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $10,862 |
| 2025 | $10,642 |
| 2024 | $10,402 |
| 2023 | $10,000 |
| 2022 | $9,300 |
What the cap does not touch
It limits damages for non-monetary loss, the part meant for pain, suffering and what the injury takes out of your life. These are claimed separately and are not capped:
- Income you have lost, and income you will lose
- Treatment costs your insurer will not cover
- Care and help at home you did not need before
- Mileage, parking, prescriptions and equipment
Section B accident benefits are separate again, and they move faster than anything else here. Our page on Nova Scotia Section B claim deadlines lists each one.
Which injuries can be capped?
Three, and only three. Under the Automobile Accident Minor Injury Regulations, a minor injury is a sprain, a strain or a whiplash-associated disorder injury that does not result in a serious impairment.
Each of those has a definition. A sprain is an injury to tendons or ligaments. A strain is an injury to muscles. A whiplash-associated disorder injury is a whiplash-associated disorder other than one showing neurological signs that are objective, demonstrable, definable and clinically relevant, or a fracture or dislocation of the spine.
Read that last one twice. A whiplash injury with those neurological signs on the record is outside the definition, so the cap has nothing to attach to. What your file says decides that, not how the pain feels to you.
Anything that is not a sprain, a strain or a whiplash-associated disorder injury is not a minor injury at all. And where you were hurt in more than one way, the regulations require each injury to be assessed separately, so one capped injury does not pull the rest of them down with it.
What makes an injury more than minor?
A serious impairment. The regulations define it as an impairment of a physical or cognitive function that meets all three of the following.
- It leaves you substantially unable to do the essential tasks of your work, or of training or education you were enrolled in, or the normal activities of your daily living, despite reasonable efforts to accommodate you and your own reasonable efforts to use that accommodation.
- It has been ongoing since the accident.
- It is expected not to improve substantially.
Two more rules sit beside that test. The sprain, strain or whiplash injury has to be the primary factor causing the impairment. And your pre-existing medical history is taken into account, which cuts both ways: it can explain your limits, and it can be used to argue your limits were already there.
Notice what all three parts are made of. Tasks, continuity and prognosis. None of them shows up on a scan, and all of them live in a record kept over months.
The rule that catches people out
Nova Scotia ties the cap to treatment. If you suffer a sprain, strain or whiplash-associated disorder injury and, without reasonable excuse, do not seek and comply with diagnosis and treatment under the province's diagnostic and treatment protocols, the injury is treated as minor even where it did cause a serious impairment, unless you can show the impairment would have happened anyway.
People miss treatment for ordinary reasons. Shift work, childcare, no car, a waitlist, feeling slightly better for a week. None of that is carelessness, and some of it may well be a reasonable excuse. But the reason has to be known, and the only way it is known later is if you wrote it down when it happened.
So go, and when you cannot go, record why on the day.
What if some injuries are minor and others are not?
Then they are added up under a rule of their own. If the injuries that are not minor would be worth more than the cap on their own, the award is assessed for those injuries and the minor ones are added subject to the cap. If they would be worth less than the cap, the total cannot exceed the cap.
What should you write down, starting today?
Five things, and each one answers a part of the test rather than filling a diary.
- The essential tasks you cannot do. The lift, the reach, the hours standing, the drive between sites. Add what your employer offered instead, whether you tried it, and what happened when you did. The test asks about accommodation on both sides.
- The normal activities you have lost. Groceries in one trip, sleeping through the night, the rink on Saturday, lifting your child. Dates rather than adjectives.
- That it has not let up. Ongoing since the accident is part of the definition, so the gaps in a record are what get argued about. A line a week through a better stretch keeps the thread unbroken.
- Every appointment, and every one you missed. Note what was recorded at each visit, and beside a missed one, the reason, on the day.
- What anyone has said about the future. Expected not to improve substantially is the third part of the test, and it is met with clinical opinion. Write down who said what and when.
That is a few minutes a day. It is also the only account of your recovery that will exist when someone decides which category you belong in.
How long do you have?
Two clocks, running at different speeds. Section B deadlines arrive in days and weeks, which is why they come first: our Nova Scotia Section B page sets them out. A court claim against the other driver falls under Nova Scotia's Limitation of Actions Act, which allows two years from the day you knew or ought to have known you had a claim. Separate rules apply to children.
What to read next
Recovering after a car accident in Nova Scotia covers the whole route and is free to read. The other two Maritime provinces cap on the same idea at different figures: the minor injury cap in New Brunswick and the minor injury cap in Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland and Labrador went the other way entirely, with no cap and a $5,000 deductible instead. Anywhere else in Canada, start with the guides by province and territory.
Every figure here comes from a named source.
Last verified: September 2026.
Verified against: Bulletin 2026-01 of the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance for Nova Scotia, dated 22 January 2026, and the Automobile Accident Minor Injury Regulations made under the Insurance Act.
The amount changes every January. If you find something out of date on this page, write to Recovery@hurtsquare.ca and we will correct it publicly.
This is general information for people in Nova Scotia. It is not legal or medical advice. Whether the cap applies to a particular injury is a legal question decided on medical evidence, and it is worth getting advice before you settle anything.
