What does a Decisions Officer do?

Hayden O'Brien
Team Leader, Decisions

Hayden O'Brien is a Decision Team Leader leading seven Decisions Officers.

During his time at Veterans' Affairs, he has made more than 4,000 decisions.

But what does a Decisions Officer do? The role of a Decisions Officer is to assess any claim received from either a veteran or their family for an entitlement under the Veterans' Support Act 2014.

"We will assess all of the information provided with the application and gather any additional information that we believe is necessary in order to make a well-informed decision." says Hayden.

The claim could be for a health condition that a veteran believes to be service-related or a claim for some other entitlement, like Weekly Compensation or for Funeral Expenses. Once the information is collected, a Decisions Officer will assess it against the requirements of the Veterans' Support Act and determine whether the claim can be accepted.

Hayden points out that some claims can take longer to process than others.

"The most common reason for this is when we need further clinical information. Sometimes that information requires an assessment by a specialist, and they can take a while to get back to us. The other reason is that sometimes we have a situation where for us to accept a claim, we first have to establish that another condition that is being claimed for is service-related." says Hayden.

The Decisions Officers are part of Veterans' Affairs' Applications and Entitlements team. This team is responsible for the claim application process from the time the application is received through to the payment of entitlements.

Hayden enjoys his role. "I go home at night knowing that my work and that of my team will have a positive impact on our veteran community. It makes for a rewarding and enjoyable job."