Delegates should be aware that an assessed entitlement to a disability pension under the VEA does not imply any entitlement to weekly incapacity payments under the SRCA. The SRCA and VEA do not award weekly payments on the same basis (i.e. for the same type of loss) or using the same medical criteria for assessment. Decisions made by delegates of the VEA have no standing under the SRCA.
Delegates should use the utmost caution in cases where clients offer those medical reports that have been prepared in relation to VEA entitlement criteria, in order to support a case for SRCA incapacity benefits. While delegates may of course use information gleaned from such reports for a number of purposes they should not be used without qualification – i.e. on their own – as medical certification of incapacity for work. This also applies to any determination under the VEA that a joint client is 'Totally and Permanently Incapacitated'.
- Relationship of SRCA weekly incapacity payments to 'Special Rate' disability pensions under the VEA (i.e. Totally and Permanently Incapacitated (TPI) Pension) is dealt with at 20.11.