Vocational assessment is the foundation of future vocational choices available to a person with a disability. In a compensable environment with potential for litigation, the assessment process becomes more complex and challenging for claimant, practitioner, and other stakeholders. The purpose of forensic (medicolegal) vocational assessment in Australia is reviewed. Comparison of ethics, qualifications, and experience of Australian forensic assessors (practitioners) and their North American counterparts points to an urgent need for an accreditation framework. This paper discusses microaccreditation as an independent model of training and credentialing of Australian forensic vocational practitioners. Credentialing the forensic vocational practitioner serves to underpin the quality and rigor of vocational assessments undertaken in a highly scrutinized legal market.

Employability assessment was developed to help claims professionals decide total and permanent disability insurance claims, yet it has not been empirically evaluated. This descriptive study sought formative knowledge about employability assessment from claims professionals working in the multibillion-dollar Australian life insurance total and permanent disability market. Claims assessors (n = 53) and technical advisors (n = 51) responded to a nationwide online survey. Participants found employability assessment was cost effective and very useful in deciding claims. Having an objective, realistic, and clear picture of a claimant’s employment prospects was important. Highly rated components of employability assessment included transferable skills analysis; summary of education, training and experience; job match rationale; and labour market analysis with employer contact. Face-to-face claimant interviews were favoured by 56% of participants, particularly when there was legal involvement. Standardised provider training and certification were recommended to improve report quality and withstand scrutiny of the courts. Billing time estimates are higher than extant costs for assessment tasks. More than half (56%) the participants considered rehabilitation counsellors were best qualified to conduct employability assessments. The study findings contribute new knowledge to this emergent field and point to further research into quality and cost of employability assessment, and provider accreditation.