Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 section 300A

Opinion of medical assessor

Section 300A sets out the role of medical assessors in determining a person's entitlement to social welfare benefits, assistance, or a carer's support grant, and specifies the types of medical questions on which their opinion may be sought.

• A medical assessor's opinion may be sought when deciding entitlement to benefits, assistance, or a carer's support grant, covering a wide range of medical questions including incapacity for work, extent of disablement, and whether injuries or diseases arose in the course of employment.
• The questions put to a medical assessor are not limited to those listed in the section and can extend to any relevant medical matter, including work capacity restrictions, eligibility for carer's payments, blindness-related assessments, and disability-related employment restrictions.
• When asked to provide an opinion, the medical assessor must consider all relevant information available and give an opinion on the specific question referred to them.
• A deciding officer must have regard to the medical assessor's opinion when making a decision on the person's entitlement, though the opinion is one factor in the overall decision rather than being automatically binding.