Disability support pension eligibility is a contentious issue, and assessing it isn’t always a black and white task. Problems with the process are compounded when elements such as under-qualified assessors and disability prejudices are included.

“If you’re putting people into positions for which they are not qualified and there is no matching of their skills with what they are actually doing, you are going to get an awful lot of mistakes. Combine that with work pressure and you’ve got a disaster ready to happen,” said Denny Rosey, Editor of disability magazine Link, in an interview on ABC Radio’s Life Matters.

“We need to rethink the whole job capacity assessment process,” she said.

Having a physiotherapist assess a person’s mental illness, for example, can lead to diagnoses being missed and disability support pensions being unfairly rejected. This creates an enormous amount of stress for the person suffering that illness, who has to contend both with their condition and the prospect – while unable to work – of being ineligible to receive government financial support.

Certainly, a case put forward for the eligibility of a disability pension should be subject to scrutiny. The better managed a claim is the stronger its system of support, and the better protected its claimants. Assessors have the vital role of determining the validity of these claims, and so it is essential that they are equipped with the right expert knowledge to assess accurately and fairly.

Centrelink, the body initially responsible for assessments, is under-resourced according to Rosey. She stated that almost a third of Centrelink’s cases end up at the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (where the majority of decisions are overturned).

While it’s appeasing to know that there is an effective and independent option for assessment appeals, the added stress of an appeals process would obviously be better avoided, and not everyone has the time, confidence or knowledge to approach tribunal.

The Rudd Government has acknowledged how serious a matter pension eligibility assessment is. Minister for Human Services Joe Ludwick is currently undertaking a review of the job capability assessment process.

Assessors responsible for decision-making should be highly qualified and as well equipped with relevant expertise as possible. Accessing disability support shouldn’t be a simple process. People with severe disability, however, shouldn’t have to contend with avoidable stress when accessing financial support for which they are eligible.

Links:
ABC Radio - Life Matters Disability support pensions: is the bar too high?
ABC Radio - Life Matters Bill Shorten: disability support pensions debate