Functional Assessments & Reports
Independent assessment of activities of daily living, with a written report for a clearly agreed purpose - fees and scope confirmed in writing before any visit is booked.
This is a specialist service offered where your local occupational therapist's training and scope of practice cover independent functional assessment and report writing - check availability for your area on the county page.
What it is
A functional assessment and report is an independent, evidence-based assessment of someone's activities of daily living - washing, dressing, cooking, moving around the home, managing medicines and getting out of the house - carried out for a specified purpose - for example, to support a funding decision, an insurance process, or another third-party request. Before any visit is booked, your occupational therapist will confirm in writing whether the request falls within their scope, the fee, and exactly what the report will and will not cover.
Who it helps
- Individuals or families who have been asked to arrange an independent OT assessment
- Solicitors, case managers or insurers requesting a functional assessment for a specific purpose
- Organisations needing a written, evidence-based assessment of someone's daily functioning
- Anyone who needs a clear, professional report rather than general advice
What a home visit involves
- Agreeing the purpose, scope and fee in writing before the visit is booked
- A structured assessment of the relevant daily activities, at the person's home
- A written report addressing the agreed purpose, within the OT's scope of practice
- Clear communication about timescales and any limitations of the assessment
What an independent report can and cannot settle
The word independent is doing the work here. An occupational therapist commissioned to carry out a functional assessment sets out what they found, in the terms of the question they were asked: what the person can do, what they cannot do unaided, what help or equipment is involved, and what the evidence for each of those is. That is a statement of professional findings. It is not a decision, and it cannot commit the council, housing provider, insurer, case manager or employer who reads it to any particular outcome.
That cuts both ways, and it is worth understanding before commissioning one. A report that simply repeated whatever the person paying for it hoped to hear would carry no weight with the organisation it was written for, which is exactly why those organisations ask for an independent assessment in the first place. The findings may support the case being made. They may also turn out more mixed than expected. The obligation is to record what was actually observed.
Assessments arranged through this site are written to support applications and to inform other professionals. They are not expert witness reports for court proceedings, which is a separate discipline with its own duties and is not offered here.
Why the purpose is fixed before the visit, not after
A functional report answers a specific question for a specific reader. An assessment commissioned to support a care funding request examines different tasks, in different detail, from one commissioned to show how someone is managing at work, or whether a property still suits them. The structure, the language and the depth of evidence all follow from the question being asked.
This is why scope and purpose are agreed in writing before a visit is booked, and it is also why a report usually cannot be recycled. If a second organisation later asks for something the report was never written to address, the honest answer is normally a fresh piece of work rather than a covering note stretched over the old one. Getting the question right at the start is the cheapest part of the whole process.
It also protects you from paying for the wrong document. Occasionally the right advice is that an occupational therapy report is not what the requesting organisation actually needs, and it is far better to establish that in an email than after a visit has taken place.
Function on the day, and function over time
Much of the value in a functional assessment comes from watching real tasks rather than asking about them. What someone says about making a drink, getting out of a chair, climbing the stairs or managing washing and dressing, and what happens when they do it, are not always the same thing. A report resting only on what was reported is easy for a reader to discount.
Fluctuation then has to be handled honestly. Many conditions are better in the morning than the evening, or better in a good week than a bad one, and a single visit sees one point in that range. A report worth reading says so: what was observed, when, and what the person and those around them describe on other days, rather than presenting one afternoon as though it were the whole picture.
Four assessments people ask for interchangeably, and are not
Enquiries for this service arrive under at least four names, and the four are genuinely different pieces of work. Getting the right one named at the outset saves everybody a wasted visit.
An <strong>activities of daily living report</strong> - what this page describes - answers an agreed question about how somebody manages everyday tasks: washing, dressing, cooking, moving about their home, managing medicines. It is the broadest of the four and the one most third parties actually want.
A <strong>housing or rehousing report</strong> answers a question about a property rather than a person: whether this home can be made to work, or whether a prospective one would. If the decision in front of you is about bricks, that is the assessment you need, and it has its own page.
A <strong>functional capacity evaluation</strong> is a specific, standardised assessment of work-related capacity, usually commissioned by an employer or insurer and often needing particular equipment and a suitable setting. It is not a synonym for a home assessment, it is not offered on every provider's list, and asking for one by name is worth doing if that is genuinely what is required.
A <strong>diagnosis</strong> is none of the above and is not an occupational therapist's to give. An OT describes function; a medical practitioner names a condition. A report can say what somebody can and cannot do without ever asserting why.
None of the four is an expert-witness report for court proceedings, which this network does not provide - see the scope note at the top of this page.
What this can achieve
- A clear, evidence-based report matched to the agreed purpose
- Confidence that scope, fees and timescales were agreed upfront
- An independent, professional assessment rather than a second-hand opinion
- A report the requesting party can rely on for its stated purpose
See this service in your area
Find your local occupational therapist and see current pricing for Functional Assessments & Reports.
Other services
Frequently asked questions
Is this the same as a functional capacity evaluation?
No. An FCE is a specific, standardised assessment of work-related capacity, usually needing particular equipment and a suitable setting, and it is not offered by every provider. What this page describes is an assessment of activities of daily living. If an employer or insurer has asked for an FCE by name, say so when you enquire so the right thing is quoted for.
Can the report give a diagnosis?
No. An occupational therapist assesses and describes function - what someone can and cannot do, and under what conditions. Naming a medical condition is for a doctor. A useful report often does not need a diagnosis in it at all.
What if the assessment does not support the case I am making?
Then the report will say so. An independent assessment is only worth commissioning because it is independent, and a report shaped to order would be recognised as such and disregarded by the organisation reading it. If it becomes clear during the process that the findings are unlikely to help, that is a reasonable thing to discuss with your occupational therapist, but the findings themselves are not negotiable.
Can I use a report I already have for a different organisation?
Sometimes, where the new reader wants the same question answered. Often not. Reports are written to a stated purpose on a stated date, and organisations tend to reject anything that reads as though it were prepared for something else, or that has been overtaken by a change in the person's condition. Send what you have and ask before assuming it will do.
Does the person being assessed have to agree to it?
Yes. The assessment involves observing someone in their own home doing personal, everyday things, and it cannot go ahead without their informed agreement, or, where they are not able to give it themselves, a properly authorised decision made in their best interests. Who the finished report is shared with is settled on that basis before the visit rather than afterwards.
How long does the report stay usable?
There is no fixed shelf life, and anyone quoting one is guessing. What matters is whether it still describes the person accurately. A report on a stable, long-term situation can remain relevant for a long time; one written before a hospital admission, a deterioration or a house move can be out of date within weeks. Organisations will often say what recency they expect, so it is worth asking them rather than assuming.
Who carries out the Functional Assessments & Reports visit?
A qualified, HCPC-registered occupational therapist covering your area carries out the assessment and any follow-up visits in person, at your home.
How is Functional Assessments & Reports priced?
Your occupational therapist confirms their fee for Functional Assessments & Reports before you book - see our prices page for current guide pricing.
Will I get anything in writing?
Where relevant, you'll receive a written summary or report of the visit, agreed with you at the outset - particularly for equipment recommendations, adaptations or reports for a third party.
What happens after the first visit?
Your occupational therapist will agree next steps with you directly - this might be a follow-up visit, a set of recommendations to action yourself, or referral on if something falls outside their scope.