The delegate should be satisfied that the person's injury prevents him/her from undertaking the requested household services.
Provision of household services may be provided to address short term, or ongoing longer term needs. Longer term services may be required where a person has seriously incapacitating conditions or where the person is prevented from undertaking a task they were previously able to perform due to the nature of their accepted conditions, and the delegate determines that the service is reasonably required. For example, a person may have an accepted knee condition which means they are able to undertake household duties such as cooking and cleaning but are unable to undertake heavier household duties such as lawn mowing. In this example, while the knee condition alone would not be considered ‘seriously incapacitating’, as the person is no longer able to mow their lawn due to their accepted condition, household services can be considered. Compensation for household services is only payable for those duties that the person is not able to perform because of their service related injuries or diseases. If there is any doubt about the person's ability to perform the specific household duties, medical evidence or evidence from another suitably qualified professional (e.g. an Occupational Therapist) should be obtained. Advice should also be obtained about the provision of any ergonomic aids (under Part 3 of Chapter 3 of the MRCA or section 39 of DRCA) which might assist a person to carry out household and gardening tasks themselves.
The requirement for household services must be specifically linked to the medical condition(s) for which liability has been accepted.