Employment Services Assessments and Job Capacity Assessments

15.127 On 1 July 2011, new arrangements were introduced with respect to the JCA program, with the introduction of Employment Services Assessments (ESAt). A job seeker is referred to an ESAt or JCA where the results of the JSCI indicate ‘significant barriers to work’ and there is a potential need for intensive assistance.

15.128 Both an ESAt and a JCA can determine eligibility for employment services through a JSA or DES provider.^[83] An ESAt is a streamlined assessment that focuses on identifying the type of employment service or other assistance that can best help a job seeker to prepare for, obtain or retain employment. A JCA involves the use of Impairment Tables and determines the impact of any medical conditions or disabilities a job seeker has on ability to work and whether the job seeker can benefit from employment assistance.^[84]

15.129 An ESAt or JCA may be used for the purposes of employment services, or by Centrelink to inform decisions regarding income support payments and participation requirements.

15.130 JCAs were previously conducted by a range of private health and allied health professionals, such as registered psychologists or rehabilitation counsellors employed by Centrelink, CRS Australia, HSA Group and 15 non-government providers.^[85] However, as of 1 July 2011, JCAs and the newly introduced ESAts will be conducted by health and allied health professionals ‘employed by a single Government Provider under the DHS portfolio’.^[86]

Employment Services Assessments

15.131 An ESAt is designed to recommend the most appropriate employment service assistance based on an assessment of a job seeker’s barriers to finding and maintaining employment and work capacity.^[87]

15.132 There are two types of ESAt, both of which involve an assessment of the job seeker’s circumstances to determine the most appropriate service:

• Medical Condition ESAt—which also determines a job seeker’s work capacity, where one or more medical conditions are identified. ESAts are similar to the previous standard JCA for potentially highly disadvantaged job seekers with disability, injury or illness. In a Medical Condition ESAt the assessor must rely on the available medical evidence.

• Non–Medical Condition ESAt—where no medical condition is identified. A non–medical condition ESAt is normally less complex than an ESAt for a job seeker with disability, injury or illness, and will be streamlined to meet the individual’s needs.

Job Capacity Assessments

15.133 From 1 July 2011, JCAs are now largely used for Disability Support Pension claims and reviews and are not primarily employment services driven.^[88] JCAs are not diagnostic in nature. The JCA assessor must rely on medical evidence available to assess the impacts of any medical condition or disability on the capacity of a job seeker to work and whether the job seeker can benefit from employment assistance.^[89]

Issues arising

15.134 In the Employment Law Issues Paper, the ALRC asked what, if any, improvements to the JCA referral process would provide better support to jobseekers experiencing family violence. In response, stakeholders criticised the way JCAs are conducted arguing, amongst other things, that there is a need for JCAs to better capture the needs of victims of family violence without treating only the medical manifestations of family violence.

15.135 In light of submissions, this section of the chapter considers:

• whether a ‘significant barrier to work’ under the JSCI should automatically trigger referral to an ESAt or JCA;

• ESAt and JCA assessors;

• ways in which an ESAt or JCA can consider the impact of family violence; and

• what recommendations an ESAt or JCA assessor can make in relation to stream placement or referral to DES to account for the needs of a job seeker experiencing family violence.

Referral to an ESAt or JCA

15.136 A job seeker may be referred for an ESAt or JCA in a number of circumstances. The focus of this chapter is on circumstances triggering referral and in particular, whether family violence should trigger an automatic referral.^[90]

15.137 Primarily, a job seeker will be referred to an ESAt or JCA where the JSCI indicates significant barriers to work. In this case, in addition to serving a stream placement role, the JSCI is intended to identify job seekers ‘who have barriers that are so serious or complex that they may require additional assessment which, when appropriate to their needs, will result in referral to specialist employment services’.^[91]

15.138 Centrelink has primary responsibility for identifying and actioning referrals for an ESAt or JCA for job seekers in Streams 1–3.^[92] However, a JSA provider may decide to refer a job seeker for an ESAt using the factors referred to in the Referral for an ESAt Guidelines.

15.139 A job seeker’s disclosure of family violence may be—but apparently is not always—considered a significant barrier to work, automatically leading to a JCA.^[93] Some stakeholders suggested that family violence should automatically constitute a significant barrier to work and therefore result in referral to a JCA.^[94] Other stakeholders suggested that the JCA is ‘inadequate’ in dealing with job seekers who are experiencing family violence.^[95]

15.140 Overall however, there is a need to balance the desire to ensure job seekers experiencing family violence receive appropriate support, which could potentially be provided through an ESAt or JCA, with the effect of ‘tagging’ all job seekers experiencing family violence as having significant barriers to work.

15.141 Other stakeholders commented more broadly about the purpose of referral to a JCA, suggesting it should ‘form part of an informed consultation with the victim about their options’.^[96]

ESAt and JCA assessors

15.142 ESAts and JCAs will be conducted by health and allied health professionals, even in the case of a Non-Medical ESAt. In 2010, the report of the Independent Review commented that, in submissions, providers expressed concerns that JCAs ‘are not necessarily conducted by a person with significant expertise in the key issues which need to be examined’. However, the report recognised that upcoming reforms (which have now been introduced) may address some of these problems.^[97]

15.143 In submissions to this Inquiry, stakeholders expressed concerns about JCA assessors, in particular with respect to their lack of knowledge or understanding of family violence, and their tendency to focus on isolated medical aspects of the job seekers’ circumstances rather than conduct the JCA in a more holistic manner.^[98] In consultations, some stakeholders suggested that job seekers who disclose family violence should be referred to JCA (and by extension ESAt) assessors with specialist expertise or experience in family violence.

ESAts, JCAs and family violence

15.144 In identifying the most appropriate type of employment service or other assistance, or in determining the impact of any medical condition or disability on ability to work, the ESAt and JCA play a crucial role in the JSA and DES systems.

15.145 In response to the Employment Law Issues Paper, stakeholders expressed a range of concerns about the adequacy of JCAs (as ESAts were introduced following the release of the Issues Paper), in taking into account, or responding to, family violence. Concerns centred on the reliance of the JCA on medical verification which ‘medicalises’ family violence under the JCA system.^[99]

15.146 For example, WEAVE highlighted that, in their experience, the usual process for a victim of family violence is that:

physical and mental illnesses arising from violence are recognised and the victim is treated as a medical case with referrals for a Job Capacity Assessment focusing on their health concerns. The process of leaving a violent [partner] who may be continuing to threaten, stalk, harass and abuse becomes reduced to an issue of the victim needing anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications so they can jobsearch.^[100]

15.147 Similarly, Myjenta Winter submitted that, on the basis of research she had conducted for her PhD:

the Job Capacity Assessment was inadequate in dealing with person that had experienced and were affected by violence. The job capacity assessment assesses a job seekers capacity to work. The assessment relies on medical verification, which in the case of domestic violence, apart from physical injuries, manifest in mental health conditions, such as posttraumatic stress disorder which is difficult to diagnose as it is often masked by depression and anxiety … The job capacity assessment mainly assesses medical conditions and takes in account social issues such as drug and alcohol problems, but domestic violence has less significance.^[101]

15.148 A range of other concerns were expressed in consultations, including the appropriateness of a JCA in circumstances of family violence, given the often fluctuating impact of family violence on a job seeker’s ability to work.

ESAt and JCA outcomes

15.149 There are a range of outcomes available as a result of an ESAt or JCA. For example, a job seeker may be referred to a specialist DES provider, to Stream 4, or (where they do not require referral to a specialist service) to JSA and allocated to services Streams 1, 2 or 3, as determined by their JSCI score.

15.150 The focus of this chapter is on these stream placement and DES outcomes. However, there are also a range of other outcomes, including recommendations about tailoring EPPs, the use of the EPF or access to services, which are considered in Chapter 7.

ALRC’s views

15.151 The ALRC would be interested in stakeholder feedback about whether disclosure of family violence should automatically constitute a significant barrier to work and therefore result in referral to an ESAt or JCA, or whether there are other, more appropriate, ways to ensure job seekers receive the necessary support, for example as outlined earlier in this chapter in relation to JSA provider responses.

15.152 The ALRC considers the introduction of a Medical ESAt and a Non-Medical ESAt may be a positive development. On face value it appears that it may address some of the ‘medicalisation’ of family violence concerns raised by stakeholders in this Inquiry. However, given the ESAt system was introduced on 1 July 2011, the ALRC is unable to predict exactly how it will operate in practice.

15.153 With respect to concerns expressed about the expertise of assessors in understanding family violence and its impact on job seekers, the ALRC considers that referral of job seekers who disclose family violence to ESAt or JCA assessors with particular speciality or experience in family violence may address some of the concerns raised by stakeholders. However, such a move may require additional resources, increase delays and present difficulties in terms of access to those assessors, particularly in rural and remote areas. Education and training of all assessors, as proposed below, may assist in this respect.

15.154 The ALRC welcomes stakeholder feedback on the capacity of the ESAt and JCA to consider the impact of family violence on a job seeker’s readiness to work. In particular, the ALRC would be interested in hearing whether the new ESAt will address some of the concerns addressed in submissions to this Inquiry, and if not, what changes could ensure that ESAts and JCAs capture, assess and address the circumstances of job seekers experiencing family violence.

15.155 Further, the ALRC would be interested in comment on whether, in practice, recommendations made by ESAt or JCA assessors account for the needs and experiences of job seeker’s experiencing family violence, to the extent that they relate to stream placement or referral to DES.