Release of an Employment Services Assessment (ESAt) report to customer 001-02320050

ESAt reports must not be released if:

• a DSP new claim or review of decision is in progress. This is because these reports are considered as draft. Further changes may be made to the report before the claim is finalised, or
• there is an unfinalised Disability Medical Assessment (DMA) report on the customer's record, or
• the Assessor has indicated that releasing the report may cause harm to the customer, or
• the ESAt status is 'Submitted' and early finalisation is not appropriate

Formal Request

A formal Freedom of Information (FOI) request can be made if:

• the ESAt report does not yet have a status of 'Finalised', early finalisation of the report is not appropriate and the customer is not willing to wait for the report to be finalised, and/or
• it has been indicated within the report by the Assessor or Government Contracted Doctor (GCD) that release of the report would be detrimental to the customer's mental or physical health or well-being

If the customer has:

• requested a formal release of the ESAt report under Freedom of Information Act 1982, go to Step 9
• made in informal request, decide if an ESAt report can be released, go to Step 2

Does the customer have a DSP new claim and/or current review of decision on their record?

• Yes, a formal FOI request is needed, go to Step 11
• No, go to Step 3

View ESAt report.

To open the report in:

• Process Direct:
• go to the Referral Summary (RRSUM) screen
• check the History of referrals section
• select the ESAt report
• check the Referral Status field
• Customer First:
• launch the ESAt Referral Workflow under Referrals
• the ESAt Report View Referral Window appears
• select the ESAt report
• check the Report Status field

Obtain the following details from the customer's record:

• The date of the assessment based on the relevant claim/review of decision the customer is enquiring about. The assessment date usually reflects the date the customer attended the assessment interview or the date of the paper-based assessment
• The author who completed and submitted the ESAt

Note: the ESAt remains in 'Submitted' status for 28 days after acceptance. It then becomes 'Finalised' from day 29. 'Finalised' means that no further changes can be made to the report. See Checking and actioning Employment Services Assessment (ESAt) reports if report has not yet been accepted.

Does the ESAt report have a status of 'Finalised'?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 4

A staff member with the relevant access can request early finalisation of the ESAt report if required. This should only be used in limited cases as the normal 28 day timeframe for finalising a submitted ESAt report allows time for:

• Employment Services Providers to discuss recommended referrals with the Assessor, and
• further details to be added to a submitted report, where the information in the report is relevant to decisions about income support payments. The submitted report may need to be returned to the Assessor in this case

Applying a manual finalisation just to release the report should only occur after checking this will not affect the customer's referral to an Employment Services Provider. Note: providers have 28 days to dispute referral recommendations after the report is submitted. In some cases the Assessor may review their recommendation before the report is finalised.

Has the Service Officer requested an early finalisation of the ESAt report?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, a formal FOI request is needed, go to Step 11

Check whether the report contains a statement by the Assessor about whether the release of the report would be detrimental to the customer's mental or physical health or well-being. This will be at the bottom of the Assessment Summary.

Has the Assessor indicated that the release of the report would be detrimental to the customer's mental or physical health or well-being?

• Yes, a formal FOI request is needed, go to Step 11
• No, the ESAt report may be released under Informal Access. Go to Step 6

Do any previous reports indicate concerns that releasing the report to the customer would be detrimental to the customer's health/wellbeing?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 8

When previous report(s) indicate concerns that releasing the report to the customer would be detrimental to their health/wellbeing, staff must contact Assessment Services to discuss and consider if the report(s) should be released.

After discussion with Assessment Services, if:

• one or all of the reports can be released under Informal Access, go to Step 8
• Formal Release is needed:
• tell the customer that a formal request in writing is required under the Freedom of Information Act 1982
• go to Step 11

Customers can access their own ESAt reports online by using the Request a document service. If they do not have a myGov account, encourage them to set up an account and link Centrelink.

Can the customer access the Request a document service:

• Yes:
• Tell the customer how they can access the report online
• Document the record
• Procedure ends here
• No, release the report for the customer in:
• Process Direct, go to Step 9
• Customer First (if Process Direct is not available), go to Step 10

Open and review the report:

• Select > Release Medical Assessments
• On the Release Reports screen update the Requester Details field
• From Available Reports select the Report Type to view and select Display Reports
  Note: only finalised assessments will be available for selection. An error will appear if there are no reports available with a 'Finalised' status
• Review the report to make sure it is suitable for release
• Select the hyperlink under the Report Name field. This will open the medical assessment in a new window

Is the report suitable for release:

• Yes:
• Select Release and Print
• Select Next
• Select printer and the declaration box
• Select Confirm
• The medical assessment report will open
• Print the report
• Go to the HS screen, open and locally print the Cover letter PDF
• Attach the Cover letter to the report before sending it to the customer
• A Note will automatically generate, check Documents List (DL) screen / Notes to make sure the text shown is correct
• Procedure ends here
• No:
• Select Not Releasable
• Select Next
• On the Summary screen, update text with the reason why the report is not suitable for release
• select Finish
• The system will generate a Note, check DL screen / Notes to make sure the text shown is correct
• Contact the customer/nominee to tell them we are unable to release the report
• Tell the customer/nominee they can request the report under formal release by submitting a written request to the Freedom of Information (FOI). Go to Step 11

DOC the customer's record, and include the following text:

'I have reviewed the ESAt report, and I am satisfied the release of this document will not have a detrimental impact in the health or wellbeing of the customer'

Make sure the DOC contains the assessment date of the report and the Assessor that submitted the report. This will help other staff identify which specific report was released to the customer and when it was released.

Complete a Q888 Release of Medical Assessment report letter. See Creating a Q999 or Q888 letter.

Print the ESAt report locally from Document Tools with the Q888, and post the report to the customer.

Procedure ends here.

A Formal Release of an ESAt report is a request made under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

The Resources page has a link to the Freedom of Information - Request to access or change documents (SI031) form.

When a Formal request is received, go to Requests lodged under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.