Nova Scotia's minor injury cap limits what can be paid for pain and suffering when a crash causes a sprain, a strain or a whiplash injury that has not seriously impaired you. For an accident in 2026 the cap is $10,862. It does not touch your Section B benefits, lost income or treatment costs, and an injury that seriously impairs your work or daily life is outside it. What decides which side of that line you are on is the record of your recovery, so start keeping it now.
Nova Scotia recorded 567.6 road injuries for every 100,000 people in 2023, according to Transport Canada's collision statistics. This article covers what the cap is, what it leaves alone, and what to write down while you recover.
What is the minor injury cap in Nova Scotia?
It is a ceiling on one kind of damages: non-monetary loss, the part of a claim against the at-fault driver meant for pain, suffering and the things the injury takes out of your life. The Automobile Accident Minor Injury Regulations set the base amount and index it every 1 January to the Nova Scotia consumer price index.
For an accident between 1 January and 31 December 2026, the cap is $10,862, as published in Bulletin 2026-01 of the Superintendent of Insurance on 22 January 2026. The figure for 2025 was $10,642. The amount that applies is the one for the year of your accident, not the year your claim settles.
What counts as a minor injury under the regulation?
Three injuries, and only when they do not result in a serious impairment.
- A sprain, an injury to one or more tendons or ligaments.
- A strain, an injury to one or more muscles.
- A whiplash-associated disorder injury, which excludes a whiplash injury showing objective, demonstrable, definable and clinically relevant neurological signs, and one involving a fracture or dislocation of the spine.
A serious impairment is an impairment of a physical or cognitive function that substantially stops you doing the essential tasks of your work, your training or education, or your normal daily activities despite reasonable accommodation, that has been ongoing since the accident, and that is not expected to improve substantially. All three parts have to be met.
Our article “They Called My Injury Minor!” | What Is the Minor Injury Cap in Nova Scotia? goes through each part of that test in more detail, including how multiple injuries are assessed.
Why does treatment matter so much in Nova Scotia?
Because the regulations link the cap to care. If you have a sprain, strain or whiplash-associated disorder injury and, without a reasonable excuse, do not seek and follow diagnosis and treatment under the province's protocols, the injury is treated as minor unless you can show the serious impairment would have happened anyway.
The Automobile Accident Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols Regulations let treatment for these injuries begin without waiting for insurer approval, where you and your practitioner both choose to use them. They allow 10 combined visits for a first or second degree sprain or strain or a Whiplash I injury, and 21 for a third degree sprain or strain or a Whiplash II injury, plus an assessment visit. The protocols stop applying 90 days after the accident.
Missing an appointment for an ordinary reason is not carelessness. A shift you could not swap, a child home sick, no ride. Write the reason down on the day, because later it may be the difference between a reasonable excuse and an unexplained gap.
What does Section B still pay?
Section B is the accident benefits part of every Nova Scotia auto policy, paid by your own insurer whoever caused the crash. The cap does not reduce it. Under Schedule 2 of the Automobile Insurance Contract Mandatory Conditions Regulations, it pays:
- Medical and rehabilitation expenses up to $50,000 per person, incurred within four years of the accident.
- Income replacement of the lesser of $250 a week or 80 per cent of your gross weekly income, where you cannot do the essential duties of your work within 30 days of the accident for at least seven days, for up to 104 weeks in most cases.
- $100 a week for up to 52 weeks for a principal unpaid housekeeper who is completely incapacitated.
- Funeral expenses up to $2,500, and death benefits.
Lost income beyond Section B, treatment costs it does not cover and help at home are claimed separately against the at-fault driver, and none of those are capped either.
What are the timelines?
The first ones arrive quickly.
- 10 business days: the claim form under the treatment protocols goes to the insurer, or as soon as practicable.
- 30 days: written notice of your Section B claim, or as soon as practicable after that.
- 90 days: proof of claim for Section B, or as soon as practicable after that.
- 1 year: to sue your own insurer over a Section B benefit, counted from when the cause of action arose, usually the day a benefit was refused or stopped.
- 2 years: generally, for a claim against the at-fault driver, counted from when the claim was discovered.
Our Nova Scotia Section B claim deadlines article lists every clock and what starts it.
What should you write down?
The cap turns on facts that only you see every day. Keep a few lines a day on:
- Your symptoms, in your own words, with the date each one first appeared. Numbness, tingling or weakness are worth noting the day you notice them.
- Tasks you cannot do at work, named plainly: the lift, the reach, the hours on your feet. Add what your employer offered instead and how it went.
- Daily activities you have stopped, with the date you stopped: groceries in one trip, sleeping through the night, picking up your child.
- Every appointment, who you saw, what they recorded, and the reason for any you missed.
- Anything said about the future, by whom and when, since the test asks whether the impairment is expected to improve.
- Every call and letter from your insurer, with the date and the name of the person.
Keeping the record
Whether an injury is minor is decided months from now, from what was written down in the weeks after the crash. A short daily note keeps your recovery in your own words and makes the dates easy to find. The National MVA Recovery Guide gives you a place for that daily record, and the Nova Scotia MVA Companion Guide keeps the provincial dates and forms together. For the whole route, read Recovering After a Car Accident in Nova Scotia, and if you live across the border, see our article on a New Brunswick car accident injury claim.
Why use Hurt Square?
Because in Nova Scotia, treatment and the record of it can decide whether an injury is capped. Hurt Square guides give you one place to keep it all.
- Treatment and symptoms, with dates. The National MVA Recovery Guide has daily pain and symptom tracking, every appointment, medication, expenses and time away from work.
- The Nova Scotia rules, in plain words. The Nova Scotia MVA Companion Guide holds the deadlines, forms and insurer routes that apply in Nova Scotia.
- Made for hard days. 192 pages and more than 1,600 fillable fields that work on your phone, tablet or computer, in plain language.
Both guides, $39 until 22 November. The National MVA Recovery Guide and the Nova Scotia MVA Companion Guide, with the discount applied at checkout. Bought separately: $63.99.
Get both guidesSources
- Office of the Superintendent of Insurance, Nova Scotia, Bulletin 2026-01, 22 January 2026
- Automobile Accident Minor Injury Regulations, N.S. Reg. 94/2010
- Automobile Accident Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols Regulations, N.S. Reg. 20/2013
- Automobile Insurance Contract Mandatory Conditions Regulations, Schedule 2, Section B
- Limitation of Actions Act, S.N.S. 2014, c. 35
- Transport Canada, Canadian Motor Vehicle Traffic Collision Statistics 2023
Last verified: 14 October 2026. The cap changes every January. If you find something out of date here, write to Recovery@hurtsquare.ca and we will correct it publicly.
This article is general information for people in Nova Scotia. It is not legal, medical or insurance advice.
