Deciding permanence and severity - existing assessments

In order for you to grant Supported Living Payment you need to be satisfied from the information available to you that your client is:

• both permanently and severely restricted in their capacity for work because of a health condition, or injury or disability, from accident, or condition they have had since birth or
• totally blind

You can determine if your client's illness or impairment is permanent from their diagnosis. Remember not all types of existing assessments will contain information on your client's diagnosis and you should use all information available to you.

Where the assessments signal that your client's condition or disability is permanent you can grant Supported Living Payment. Generally, your client would be considered to have a permanent health condition or disability when:

• they have been accepted for ongoing assistance through the Ongoing Resourcing Schemes (ORS) from Ministry of Education, Special Education (if they are attending or have recently left school) or
• they have a Needs Assessment Service Co-ordination (NASC) assessment or
• an assessment from their specialist has enough information to decide whether their health condition or disability is permanent

If you don't have enough information to decide if your client's condition or disability is permanent, or the information is unclear refer to your Regional Health Advisor or Regional Disability Advisor [no link find out why] for advice.

For more information see:

• Diagnosis not available in existing assessment

Existing assessments may not talk directly about the impact of your client's ill health or impairment on their ability to work. Where your client is clearly eligible for Supported Living Payment it is reasonable to translate from the impact on their daily life and decide severity for the purpose of benefit entitlement.

Some existing assessments will have information on how your client's illness or impairment impacts on activities in their everyday life (for example, NASC reports). You can use this information to decide if your client meets the severity criteria.