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Work Capacity Assessment

Reducing Your Assessed Capacity to Work
If you have a medical condition, disability, or other barrier that affects your ability to work you can
request an assessment (ESAt) to see if you have a
reduced capacity to work. If your circumstances have recently changed or you think your initial capacity
assessment was wrong, you can ask to be referred for an assessment by your job service provider or by contacting Centrelink.
If you are a new participant in Disability Employment Services, you are exempt from Mutual Obligation
activities while waiting for this assessment. Additionally, if you have been in Employment Services in any
program without an assessment for 78 weeks, then you will also be exempt from further Mutual Obligation activities while waiting for an assessment.
What Happens at the Assessment?
Someone will talk to you about the barriers to work you have and any help or services you are currently
receiving or may benefit from. They may also require a medical certificate from any health professionals you are seeing and may want to contact them for more
details.
After the assessment is complete, the assessor will
write up a report detailing any barriers to work you may have and how they affect your ability to work. You can ask for a copy of this report and, in most cases, you will be provided with one.
Reduced Capacity to Work and Mutu- al Obligations
If you have been assessed as having a reduced capacity to work you may be given a temporary exemption from mutual obligation requirements or be confirmed as
having a partial capacity to work.
If your capacity is assessed to be between 15-29 hours per week you will continue to have mutual

obligation requirements and need to engage with your employment service provider. However, they must take into account your capacity to work and make
adjustments to your job plan and mutual obligations that reflect this.
If you have a partial capacity to work of 15-29 hours per week and are currently doing 15 hours of paid work or
approved study, you are fully meeting your requirements and are not required to look for work or engage with a
provider.
If your capacity is assessed as being less than 14 hours per week you can fully meet your mutual obligations by attending an interview with Services Australia once every 3 months. You do not need to look for work or
engage with a provider.
Please note that there are two assessed capacities:
1) Baseline capacity, which is your current capacity determined at the time of assessment. 2) Capacity after two years of intervention by a program of
support. For the above thresholds, Services Australia takes the higher of these numbers e.g. if you have a baseline capacity of 8-14 hours, but a capacity of 15- 22 hours after two years’ intervention in a program of
support, then your capacity to work for the purpose of determining your Mutual Obligations will be 15-22 hours capacity.
Further Help
If you need help arranging a capacity assessment or are having trouble with getting your barriers to work recognised you can contact the National Customer Service Line on 1800 805 260 or get in touch with us at auwu.org.au or on our National Advocacy Hotline on 1800 289 848 (Monday-Friday 10am-2pm eastern time)

1800 289 848	auwu.org.au