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

Formal Request

A formal 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.

Informal Request

If the customer contacts the Smart Centre about requesting access to their ESAt report, refer the enquiry to an APS4 Service Officer or above.

If the customer contacts the Service Centre, refer the enquiry to an APS4 Service Officer or above.

If an APS4 Service Officer or above:

• is not available to help decide if an informal release is appropriate when the customer is in the office, do not issue the report
• It is advisable to have the customer make a formal FOI request or make a written statement
• Advise the customer that the request will be actioned by the Service Centre informally if possible. However, it may need to be forwarded to the FOI team to be processed formally under the FOI Act
• Advise the customer they will be contacted by the appropriate Service Officer
• is available to decide if an ESAt report can be released, go to Step 2

Has the new claim and/or review of decision been completed?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, the report cannot be released under informal FOI process, go to Step 9

View ESAt report:

• Launch the ESAt Referral Workflow in Customer First under Referrals
• The ESAt Report View Referral Window appears
• Select the ESAt report
• Check the Report Status field

Obtain these 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 written FOI request will be required, go to Step 9

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, the ESAt report can only be released as a result of a formal FOI request. Go to Step 9
• No, the ESAt report may be released under Informal Access. Go to Step 6

If previous reports indicate concerns that releasing the report to the customer would be detrimental to the customer's health/wellbeing, Assessment Services must be engaged to consider if the report(s) should be released.

The outcome of this discussion may be either to continue with release under Informal Access for one or all of the reports, or to advise the customer that a formal request in writing would be required under the Freedom of Information Act 1982.

Does the APS4 Service Officer have concerns about the release of the report or are there discrepancies?

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

Contact Assessment Services to discuss and consider forwarding to the FOI team to process formally.

What is the outcome of this discussion?

• Proceeding with the release under Informal Access, go to Step 8
• Proceeding with the release under Formal Release, go to Step 9

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. This has been approved by [include the logon of the APS4 Service Officer or above who has given approval to release the report]'.

Note: ensure that the DOC contains the assessment date of the report and the Assessor/GCD that submitted the report. This will assist other staff to identify which specific report was released to the customer and when it was released.

Telephone request by customer to Smart Centre Staff

Smart Centre staff are to:

Complete a Q999 letter with the following text:

'You recently contacted us to ask for a copy of your assessment. Please find enclosed a copy of your:

Employment Services Assessment (ESAt) report.'

Print the ESAT report locally from Document Tools with the Q999, and post the report to the customer.

Request is in person by a customer at a Service Centre

A Service officer is to print the ESAT report and hand it to the customer.

Procedure ends here.

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

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