Checking and actioning Employment Services Assessment (ESAt) reports 001-02320020

Go to the Referral Summary (RRSUM) in Customer First (CF) to check the status of the ESAt.

Where the ESAt has a status other than 'Submitted', for example 'New', it has not been submitted. For more information refer to Understanding Employment Service Assessment (ESAt) reports.

Where the ESAt report is 'Submitted', check the report to make sure it has been accepted. There are a number of ways to confirm if the ESAt report has been accepted:

• There will be no NSS/JCA activity on the Activity List (AL) screen
• Check the Medical Conditions (MC) screen is coded with an ESAt line for the new ESAt
• Check the Work Capacity (WC) screen contains data for the new ESAt
• Check for a Display on Access (DOA) DOC on the document list (DL) screen for the new ESAt titled ESAt Outcome
• Review Document Tools to determine if a new ESAt report has been scanned to the record

An accepted ESAt report will remain in submitted status for 28 days after acceptance. It will automatically change to finalised status from day 29. If required, staff with relevant access can request early finalisation of the ESAt report. This may be required if another ESAt or JCA needs to be arranged immediately. Once staff select the report for finalisation, it will change to finalised status overnight.

Staff who are allocated the work item ZIAM_DIS_ESAT (displays as NSS/JCA on the AL screen) must check the Document List (DL) screen to determine what action is required. When a DOC titled 'ESAt Report query' presents on the DL, go to Step 6 in Table 2.

If the above checks confirm:

• the new ESAt report has been accepted, go to Table 2 Step 9
• the new ESAt report has not yet been accepted, go to Step 2

Is there an NSS/JCA activity on the Activity List (AL) screen?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 4

APS3 or above has the delegation to accept outstanding ESAt reports. By accepting the report, the delegate has identified the outcome as meeting internal consistency and quality standards. The user will not be able to return/reject this report after selecting ‘accept’.

The ESAt report is usually accepted within 14 days of the submission date. Customers may ask for this to be completed 'immediately' because:

• Jobseeker Payment (JSP) is suspended due to failing to attend ESAt appointment
• Customer is awaiting assessment of:
• Youth Disability Supplement (YDS)
• independence for YA jobseekers with a partial capacity to work

Does the staff member have the appropriate delegation, capability and capacity to accept the ESAt report in the first instance?

• Yes, see Table 2
• No:
• tell the customer the activity will be allocated to a skilled officer for checking and actioning
• if the request is outside 14 days of the submission date and/or the customer’s circumstances meet the above 'immediate’ criteria, add the keyword ESAT14 to the NSS/JCA activity for a suitably skilled staff member to action

Procedure ends here.

Escalate to the Level 2 Disability Helpdesk. See Resources for a link to the new Level 2 Enquiry form.

• Select Create New Level 2 Enquiry
• Select Disability from the CSAQuery drop down box
• Select JCA/ESAt from the CSAEnquiry drop down box

To access the ESAt report in Customer First:

• Workspace > Employment Services or Job Capacity Assessment referral information, or
• Enter 'JCA' in the Next: field
• View Report > Show Report

Read through the report to check:

• it has been completed with sufficient information to determine work capacity and/or appropriate assistance, and
• it is internally consistent. Identify the following:
• Any internal inconsistencies
• Any major inconsistency (outside the range of possibility) between medical condition details and the work capacity details
• Cases where it is highly likely that the recommendations do not match with the circumstances
• A referral recommendation has not been made and no valid reason is stated

If the referral reason was Participation Failure Pending (PFP), the report must contain an assessment of the job seeker's 'risk of non-compliance' rating. If this is not present, contact the Assessor and reject the report. Go to Step 2.

How was the ESAt conducted?

• face to face interview (including video conferencing or phone)
• file assessment

Go to step 3.

Check the customer was advised of Information Sharing arrangements, if applicable.

Face to face Assessments

At every ESAt appointment:

• in the Assessment Details, check the response to the information sharing is ‘Yes’
• read the Information Sharing statement, explaining how ESAt information can be shared and with whom

File Assessments

• in the Assessment Details, check the response to the information sharing is ‘No’.

Go to step 4.

Reasons for not accepting the report include the following:

• The report is not internally consistent
• A referral recommendation has not been made and no valid reason is stated
• A referral recommendation for DES where 'with intervention' work capacity is 30+ hours per week
• The Assessor's referral actions are not clear
• Other errors or reasons as discussed with the Assessor
• The Assessor requests return of the report
• Inappropriate or prejudicial information is included in the report
• The Assessor has not advised the job seeker of the information sharing arrangement, it may be a breach of privacy to accept the report
• The report does not address all the job seeker's medical conditions
• The report indicates eligibility for DSP but is not upgraded to a JCA, see Item 1 in Table 2 on the Resources page

Can the report be accepted?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, go to Step 5

Send an email to the Assessment Services Quality Team. The Resources page contains a link to contact details.

• Subject line: ESAt query
• Include:
• customer CRN, and
• information regarding the quality issue/ error, or
• clarification required
• CC Team Leader into the email
• Create a DOC on the record
• Extra Details: ESAt Report query
• Text: ESAt has been escalated to Assessment Services Quality Team due to [include reason, for example, Quality issue/error. ESAt activity held for 7 days, awaiting response]
• Hold the NSS/JCA activity on the AL screen for 7 days
• Once a response has been received from the Assessment Services Quality Team, the staff member or Team Leader must:
• immediately return to the record, and
• annotate the DOC titled 'ESAT Report query', to include relevant information

Procedure ends here.

Where Assessment Services Quality Team have received an email to reassess the report, the DOC titled 'ESAt Report query' will include their response. Staff must review the DOC and check the report.

Can the report be accepted?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, consult with Assessment Services, then go to Step 7

Select the Return report button:

• Select a reason from the drop down list
• Add comments asking the Assessor to further consider their assessment. If the rejection has not been discussed with the Assessor:
• provide sufficient details in the Notes: field explaining the reasons for rejecting the report, and
• send an email to the Assessor to alert them that the report has been returned and action needs to be taken

The Assessment Results (AR) screen displays to complete the NSS/JCA activity created when the report was opened. The report is sent back to the Assessor who will:

• review the comments and any additional information
• provide additional comments at the end of the report about whether they agree to change their decision (or not) and why
• resubmit the report

Is there still disagreement with the report, or the Assessor has not resubmitted the report?

• Yes, consult with a senior staff member APS 5 or above. Changes to the work capacity can only be made with agreement from the senior staff member after considering any consequences the change may have. Go to Step 8
• No, do not change the assessment. The report must be accepted. Go to Step 8

Select the Accept report button to accept the report.

Once an ESAt report has been accepted by Services Australia, it will be automatically attached to the job seeker's electronic Medical Information File Envelope (MIFE).

The Medical Conditions Details (MC) screen and the Work Capacity (WC) screen are displayed with information updated from the report. The Date of Event (DOV) on the MC screen may need to be changed if payments are affected. See Table 3, Steps 1 and 2.

If the report indicates eligibility for DSP and is upgraded to a JCA, see Table 3, Step 4 for DSP invite to claim.

Note: if a Disability Support Pension (DSP) customer is volunteering for employment assistance and the ESAt referral has been made using a DSP Volunteer referral code, acceptance of the ESAt will have no impact on their payment.

For a Job Seeker Snapshot initiated ESAt, any ESAt flag raised is finalised automatically when the report is submitted.

An accepted ESAt report will remain in submitted status for 28 days after acceptance. It will automatically change to finalised status from day 29. If required, staff with relevant access can request early finalisation of the ESAt report. This may be required if another ESAt or JCA needs to be arranged immediately, for example, to allow assessment of a DSP new claim. Once staff select the report for finalisation, it will change to finalised status overnight.

Once the ESAt report is accepted, it will automatically generate a DOC which will include details such as:

• a Disability Employment Services (DES) referral was recommended and actioned
• a DES referral was recommended and not actioned/requires action
• a DES referral was recommended and deferred as the job seeker has a temporary reduced work capacity (TRWC)
• the date a TRWC is expected to end

Go to Step 9.

When an ESAt report is accepted, the system creates a DOA DOC with the ESAt Outcome.

The ESAt assessment is valid for 2 years and the DOA DOC should remain open for this period, except where:

• a customer has a subsequent ESAt in the 2 year period, or
• a duplicate DOA DOC is created for the same ESAt report

When accepting the ESAt report or finalising a claim, staff must check DOA DOCs and expire any old ESAt Outcome DOA DOCs. See Creating, reviewing and deleting documents (including Fast Notes and DOA DOCs) for more information.

Go to step 10.

Check the Referrals section of the ESAt.

Refer the job seeker to the service/s or requirement/s recommended in the ESAt report if the report shows the customer:

• is not exempt from mutual obligation requirements, and
• does not have a partial capacity to work (PCW) or temporary reduced work capacity (TRWC) of less than 15 hours per week

Note: even if customer does not accept a referral, they must still be referred.

When referring a job seeker with mutual obligation requirements to a service recommended by the ESAt report:

• Tell the job seeker about the:
• requirement to attend an interview with the recommended provider/s, and
• possible consequences if they fail to attend
• Record this notification in a DOC
• See Job Seeker Compliance Framework for CDP (Community Development Programme)
• See Targeted Compliance Framework for DES/TTW/WFA

Procedure ends here.

YDS is payable (regardless of whether conditions are diagnosed, reasonably treated and stabilised (DTS)) if:

• the report indicates baseline, and
• even with intervention, work capacity is less than 30 hours per week within the next 2 years

When the report is accepted:

• YDS will be automatically calculated as part of the Youth Allowance (YA) or ABSTUDY rate
• check if the payment needs to be backdated
• issue a manual advice

See Youth Disability Supplement (YDS).

For YA partial capacity to work, go to Step 2.

If the ESAt report indicates eligibility for DSP, go to Step 4.

A Youth Allowance (YA) (job seeker) may be considered independent when they are assessed as having a partial capacity to work (PCW) as determined by an ESAt. The customer will be eligible for independent status for the period they are assessed as having a PCW.

Note: this assessment of independence does not apply to YA (students/Australian Apprentices) or Disability Support Pension (DSP) customers.

The commencement date for the independent status is to be one of the following:

• New claims -
• The PCW status should be the new claim start date if the customer's disability/illness/incapacity was identified, and the ESAt or Job Capacity Assessment (JCA) referral was required as part of the new claim processing
• Where the above is the case, the event date on the Medical Conditions Details (MC) screen should be corrected to match the start date on the Start Date Calculator (NDC) screen, or
• Payment current -
• The PCW status start date should be the ESAt or JCA referral date (which is the date the disability/illness/injury was identified), and
• The event date on the Medical Conditions Details (MC) screen should be corrected to match the ESAt or JCA referral date
• Transfer from YAL-STU to YA (job seeker) -
• if the job seeker already has a PCW assessed, code the commencement date as the date they transferred to YA (job seeker)

For coding instructions, go to Step 3

Code independence on the system:

• Key 'S' in the NSS/JCA activity on the Activity List (AL) screen that has been used to accept the ESAt/JCA. Before pressing [Enter], key AR in the Nxt field as this will keep the user in the activity
• The Independent/Homeless/Away from Home Details (NIH) screen can now be updated within the activity
• Go to the NIH screen
• On the NIH screen, key IND in the Act field
• Key the commencement date for the independent status in the Start date field

Note: the NIH start date must match the date from which the customer is confirmed as having a PCW. This is the date shown on the Customer Target Category Summary (CTCS) screen. If the dates do not match, the error E516NM - This customer is eligible for the Independent Rate of YAL, will prevent further updates.

• Key the current independent status in the Start/Reject Reason field as PCW
• Complete the Source and DOR details as appropriate
• Press [Enter] to update the screen details
• Go to the Accommodation (AC) screen - if the customer is living with their parent/s, key LWP in the Sharer Status field
• Finalise the activity on the Assessment Results (AR) screen

Tell the customer they have been granted independent status for the period they are assessed as having a partial capacity to work. An auto letter will issue.

Note: if there is a change to the customer's work capacity, an automatic review is created to reassess their eligibility for independent status. For further details, see Reviews of independence for Youth Allowance.

Record details on a DOC.

Return to Table 2, Step 8.

ESAt report indicates eligibility for DSP.

Where the Assessor has sufficient medical evidence to assign an Impairment Rating, an ESAt can be upgraded to a JCA.

Check the report meets all the following requirements to invite a claim for DSP:

• The report shows the customer attracts an Impairment Rating of 20 points or more, for a condition(s) that is likely to persist for more than 2 years, and is diagnosed, reasonably treated and stabilised (DTS)
• The report indicates the customer has actively participated in a Program of Support (POS), or has a severe impairment and is exempt from the active participation in a POS requirement
  Note: if the active participation in a POS question is answered N, the Assessor will not be able to assess the DTS work capacity fields for this customer
• The report indicates a future work capacity of less than 15 hours per week with intervention in the next 2 years, and
• the customer does not have a current DSP claim

Invite the customer to claim if both the following apply:

• they do not currently have a claim for DSP in progress
• they meet non-medical eligibility requirements for DSP

To invite them to claim, see the Inviting a current income support customer to claim DSP table on the Assisted tab.

Return to Table 2, Step 8.