Occupational assessment for lost earning capacity: define the assignment

Identify the work question the assessment must resolve

Ask why an occupational expert is needed now. Do you need help towards adapted work, an assessment of feasible jobs or support for future income assumptions? AKC distinguishes guidance from assessment; a report on gradually returning to work does not automatically address earning capacity over many years. Identify the specific unresolved issue, such as whether the original duties remain possible with adjustments. This makes the assignment assessable.

The general income guide helps collect payment figures. This guide concerns the preceding stage: which duties and opportunities can reasonably form the starting point? Record who commissions the work, who is heard and what information is used. A joint assignment may help, but the word joint alone does not establish the report’s legal significance or who pays for it.

Separate medical, occupational and financial questions

A doctor assesses medical limitations within their expertise. An occupational expert compares those limitations with duties, education and employment options. A calculation expert can then work out the financial implications of scenarios. Ask where the limitations profile comes from, its assessment date and its uncertainties. Do not let an occupational expert silently replace a missing medical opinion with a diagnosis of their own or an impression from one meeting.

The table helps identify the answer that is actually missing. A UWV assessment may contain relevant information, but serves a different statutory purpose and is not automatically the final answer to a civil claim. A permanent impairment percentage is also different from a percentage of lost income. Where findings differ, ask about assessment purposes and assumptions before comparing their conclusions directly.

Describe the actual work rather than just the job title

Make an ordinary working week concrete: duties, duration, pace, breaks, physical demands, concentration and responsibility. A title says little about how much someone actually lifts, drives, consults or checks without errors. Include available equipment, the workplace and colleagues’ support. Variable duties may require a representative series of weeks. Do not present an unusually demanding shift as every normal working day without explanation.

Include the job description, schedules and relevant working arrangements. Note where practice differs from the paperwork and who can explain this from direct observation. A workplace visit may be worth discussing, rather than automatically necessary. Describe successful adjustments as well as setbacks. This shows what makes a duty possible, instead of providing only a list of things you can no longer do.

Make functional capacity and actual activity verifiable

Record attendance, duties actually performed and recovery after work separately. Four hours at the workplace with substantial rest are not automatically four hours of normal output. Conversely, a difficult start does not prove that gradual improvement remains impossible. Use concrete records and the agreed medical channel. Discuss medical uncertainty with the appropriate doctor; do not simultaneously send every diagnosis unfiltered to employer, insurer and occupational expert.

A temporary return-to-work plan is not an established final condition. Ask which changes may justify reassessment and which period is representative. Honestly mention relevant earlier limitations, including what you could do then. The medical assessment guide explains the roles. Avoid calculations based on an old limitations profile when a significant change is already known but not yet incorporated.

Support the position without the accident and possible alternatives

Lost earning capacity requires comparison with the reasonable position without the accident. The Supreme Court emphasises that future developments cannot be proved with complete certainty. This does not remove the need for supporting information. Bring earlier contracts, training, appraisals and concrete career steps. Distinguish a documented step, a likely development and a general ambition. The highest salary range in a vacancy is not a personal career prediction.

For suggested alternative jobs, ask about requirements, hours, salary basis, availability and necessary training. A theoretical role is not, without explanation, sustainable and feasible work for you. Investigate travel and practical limitations where relevant. Discuss favourable and unfavourable prospects and identify what the answer depends on. The future-loss guide helps assess scenarios later without presenting the best or worst possible future as certain.

Prepare for meetings and assessment without steering performance

Bring a short timeline, a duties overview and the document list. Ask beforehand how long the meeting lasts, whether a workplace assessment follows and what adjustments, such as breaks or an interpreter, are needed. Give a balanced picture of good and bad days. Do not rehearse answers to appear either fit or unfit. You can say that you do not understand a question or need to check a date.

Agree who receives factual additions and how you learn which information is missing. Ask about opportunities to flag incorrect personal details or descriptions of work; not every occupational report has the same rights as a medical examination report. A meeting is not a promise to fund suggested training or placement. Clarify the assignment, funding and implementation separately in writing.

Check assumptions before the calculation expert adopts them

Read the report alongside its assignment and your sources. For a possible job, does it specify salary, working hours and a transition period? Has necessary training been included, or is immediate availability assumed? Note the passage, missing support and specific question. A calculation expert can accurately calculate an incorrect duty or hours assumption without correcting the underlying error.

Discuss what the parties accept and where medical or legal disagreements remain. The expert-report guide helps distinguish evidence from calculations. Keep wages, benefits and advances recognisably separate; their treatment is not solely an occupational decision. Where needed, request alternative calculations using the same data. This shows which disputed assumption matters and prevents double counting income, pension or support.

Turn the report into a next action with an identified owner

After receipt, ask about the next step: clarification, medical information, a work trial, a training proposal or a damages calculation. Record who organises it, who pays and when feedback is expected. These are practical agreements, not automatically statutory deadlines. Separately confirm responsibility for legal time limits. Waiting for assessment does not itself protect a claim or a challenge to another decision.

Use the meeting preparation tool to organise questions and the income tool only for comparable figures you supply. For the significance of a disputed report or a final offer, you can seek legal help. Ask about the assignment and costs. An occupational assessment can guide rehabilitation and damages work, but promises neither placement, a fixed income nor higher compensation.

• Record purpose, commissioning party and specific questions.
• Collect duties, schedules, adjustments and actual activity.
• Check the source and date of the limitations profile.
• Support the career without the accident and feasible alternatives.
• Record assumptions, unresolved issues, costs and the owner of the next step.