Amount of income exemption

When it is determined that a client is severely disabled consider if they should have all or part of their income from employment disregarded for benefit purposes.

The amount of the income exemption depends on the client's individual circumstances after considering the guidelines - exemption for severe disablement and should be:

• a reasonable amount as an incentive to recognise the personal effort that a severely disabled person has made to participate or continue in employment
• any additional costs that a severely disabled person has incurred to participate or continue in employment
• a reasonable amount to ensure that a severely disabled person is not disadvantaged by participating or continuing in employment

Note the client may be entitled to receive other types of assistance, for example Disability Allowance for transport costs to work or employment assistance.

Fully document the decision by recording the reasons and the amount of the exemption in the CMS note template, Income exemption.

Contact Helpline if help is needed with the assessment.