Work Capacity Medical Certificate
Medical and Nurse practitioners: When someone applies for a benefit from us, you may need to complete a Work Capacity Medical Certificate (WCMC).
The WCMC helps us to:
- understand the impact of the person's health condition, injury or disability on their ability to work or study
- understand what help they might need to get into suitable work or training
- decide which benefit is most appropriate (if they meet the criteria), and
- whether or not a person will be required to look for suitable work (full or part-time).
A medical certificate doesn't affect whether a person is eligible for financial support from Work and Income.
When completing our medical certificates, you should follow the standards set out by the Medical Council of New Zealand:
Medical certification (Medical Council of New Zealand)external
Who can complete it
The following people can complete a Work Capacity medical certificate:
- medical practitioners, and
- nurse practitioners.
They need to be registered to practice within New Zealand and have a current Annual Practicing Certificate.
The following people can complete a Work Capacity Medical Certificate in certain situations:
- Dentists - if the origin of the injury or disability is dental-related.
- Midwives - where the person's incapacity relates to pregnancy.
Where to find it
Online
You can access, complete and submit the Work Capacity Medical Certificate on HealthLink's HISO online forms.
HealthLink's HISO online formsexternal
Hardcopy
Work Capacity Medical Certificates are also available as a hard copy pad of forms. You can contact your Regional Health and Disability Advisor to get a pad of copies sent to you.
Contact details are available on the Work and Income Community Health Pathway.
Pads must be kept in a secure place to prevent misuse or fraud.
Completing questions 10-14 and 21
Q10 - Treatments, supports and services the person is getting
Please give us as much detail as you can, for example:
- any medication the person is taking, directly related to their health condition, injury or disability
- how often they see you or any other health providers, e.g. therapists
- any other current, previous or planned treatment or support you think is relevant.
We'll use this information to check how else we might be able to support your patient.
Q11 - Assisting the person into suitable employment
Give us as many ideas as possible so we can better support them into employment or training, for example:
- retraining in another type of work
- flexible hours including the ability to work from home
- specific equipment
- workplace modifications
- social skills training
- advice on what type of work they might be suitable for.
We can match the person to the best support available.
There's more space in Q19 to provide your answers.
There's more information about the benefits of work and how we help people into work on our page Helping people into work.
Q13 - Their capacity to work in the next 2 years
If you note the person cannot work 15 hours or more a week in the next 2 years, we'll check if they can get Supported Living Payment.
If someone is getting Supported Living Payment, we do not routinely engage with them around training or work. However, they can opt in for employment or training support if they wish to.
If you're not sure, you can either:
- set a review date of less than 2 years, which means they will be assessed for another benefit, e.g. Jobseeker Support, rather than Supported Living Payment
- discuss it with the Regional Health or Disability Advisor, or
- request a second opinion (see 'Requesting a second opinion' section below).
Q14 - When to review a person's work capacity
It's better to be optimistic with your expectation. Evidence shows us that the longer someone is out of employment, the less likely they are to move back into it.
Q21 - Requesting a second opinion
You're encouraged to request a second opinion on work capacity if you think it would be beneficial.
If you request a second opinion, we'll refer the client to be assessed by a designated health practitioner.
Sending Work Capacity Medical Certificates to us
You can send the Work Capacity Medical Certificates to us through a secure network using HealthLink’s HISO online forms. You'll get a confirmation message within a few seconds that it has been received. Please let your patient know that we have it.
Can't use HealthLink
If for any reason you cannot use HealthLink please:
- print a copy for your patient (if you're not using the hardcopy form), and
- ask them to take it to their local Work and Income Service Centre, or
- ask them to upload it onto MyMSD.
Please keep a copy for your own records, which should be scanned into the patient's records.
You can also send the Work Capacity Medical Certificate by email, if your patient gives you a suitable email address to use.
Contact us
If you have any questions or if there's something you'd like to discuss, your Regional Health and Disability Team's details are available on your regional Work and Income Health Pathway.