Assessment Services 008-06000000

Assessment Services and Smart Centres Coordination Branch provides effective and accurate assessments for use by other staff and/or Employment Service Providers to make sure appropriate customer outcomes for income support and/or employment services assistance.

The Australian Government funds a range of organisations to deliver the services and interventions required to assist job seekers gain employment. The role of Assessment Services and Smart Centres Coordination Branch is to refer the job seeker to the correct service that will deliver the required interventions.

There are 4 types of assessments an Assessor may conduct:

• Job Capacity Assessment (JCA)
• Employment Services Assessment (ESAt)
• Medical Assessment Recommendation
• Specialist Assessment

An ESAt is to:

• make sure job seekers are referred to the most appropriate employment service assistance
• consider barriers to finding and keeping a job due to disability, injury, illness, or other disadvantage
• identify interventions to assist in overcoming those barriers
• consider capacity to work

ESAts may also be used by Services Australia to make decisions on income support payment qualification such as Mobility Allowance and mutual obligation participation requirements.

Job seekers may be referred for an ESAt by Services Australia or an employment services provider.

This referral is based on an assessment of the impact of medical conditions and/or other identified barriers on the job seeker's capacity to participate in work or employment services.

There are 2 types of ESAt:

• non-medical ESAt is an assessment of job seeker circumstances that determines the most appropriate service where no medical condition is identified
• medical ESAt is an assessment of job seeker circumstances to determine work capacity and the most appropriate service where a medical condition/s is identified

A JCA is a comprehensive assessment of an individual's level of functional impairment and work capacity and is usually conducted to determine Disability Support Pension (DSP) eligibility.

The assessment identifies:

• level of functional impairment resulting from any disability or medical condition that is diagnosed, reasonably treated and stabilised and that is likely to persist for more than 2 years
• work capacity
• barriers to finding and maintaining employment and any interventions/assistance that may be required to help improve their current work capacity
• Continuing Inability to Work (CITW)
• active participation in a Program of Support (POS) when applicable

The Medical Assessment Team (MAT) assess the medical evidence lodged for a DSP claim to determine if:

• manifest medical eligibility criteria is met
• the customer is manifestly medically ineligible
• insufficient medical evidence prevents assessment of medical condition/s and functional impacts
• there are doubts about the medical evidence authenticity.
  Note: MAT or HPAU must investigate further by contacting treating health professionals (THPs) listed in the evidence to confirm the diagnosis and prognosis
• a current and valid assessment can be used for the claim determination, or
• a Job Capacity Assessment (JCA) referral is required to determine medical eligibility

A DSP Medical Assessment Recommendation report may be completed by an Assessor and uploaded to the customer's record (UNSSPOC/SA479) to clearly document:

• the recommendation
• evidence taken into account, and
• if applicable, supporting evidence from the customer, their THP/s and/or HPAU
• a work item is allocated to a DSP Officer to assess non-medical eligibility

Specialist Assessments can be arranged to help with completion of a JCA report or, in some cases, an ESAt report, particularly where medical evidence supplied to the Assessor indicates the individual may be eligible for Disability Support Pension (DSP) and in which case the ESAt would change to a JCA.

Specialist Assessments may also be requested by an external Government Contracted Doctor (GCD).

As Employment Services Assessments (ESAt) and Job Capacity Assessments (JCA) are demand driven, referral volumes vary across locations. Assessment Services has adopted a national flexible service delivery model. This flexible servicing identifies the most appropriate mode of assessment, utilising telephone by default, file assessments and face-to-face assessments where other modes are inappropriate. It provides equitable access to appointments for customers regardless of where they live.

This model allows services to be delivered by appropriately skilled service delivery employees, in any location and at any time, based on pre-determined priorities, routing and business rules.

The flexible service delivery model assists with:

• meeting demand and appointment coverage nationally
• increasing session availability for customers
• the achievement of Key Performance Measures (KPM)

Assessors employed by Assessment Services are Health and Allied Health Professionals with the relevant experience and skills to conduct high quality assessments and reports.

An Assessor's qualifications generally align with the Impairment Table/s relevant to a customer’s primary medical condition. In situations where they do not align, a secondary Contributing Assessor holding a professional qualification that aligns with the relevant Impairment Table/s reviews the medical evidence and assessment recommendations.

In some cases where the primary assessor needs specialised assistance during a JCA, a Contributing Assessor will provide discipline specific input to the assessment, as well as reviewing the conclusions drawn about certain aspects of the assessment.

The team provides administrative support for Assessment Services including:

• booking customer appointments
• diary management - session availability and rescheduling
• pre-assessment reminder
• interpreter bookings
• external specialist assessments
• inbound enquiries, and
• various other duties

The HPAU is a team of health professionals, including medical practitioners, employed to provide and/or facilitate medical advice and opinion where this information is not available from any other source.

The HPAU:

• strengthens decision making by providing expert advice to key stakeholders, including Assessors, Review Officers, Legal Officers, Random Sample Officers, Specialists and Disability Branch staff involved in Disability Support Pension (DSP) claims, reviews, appeal assessments and determinations
• provides advice to International Services staff including for foreign pension assessment, portability extension requests due to a medical condition and entitlement to indefinite portability of DSP under the no future work capacity portability provisions
• provides advice relating to ministerial complaints, media related cases and high profile matters
• provides medical advice on Carer claims, Australian Victim of Terrorism Overseas Payment (AVTOP), People Support Branch cases and other matters

From 1 April 2023, a new version of Impairment Tables was introduced. The new Tables are used to assess a customer's medical eligibility for all DSP claims lodged on or after this date. See The Impairment Tables.