C19/1998 ISSUING OF THE 1998 DVA PENSIONER CONCESSION CARD (PCC) TO DISABILITY PENSIONERS BEING PAID DSS AGE PENSION BY DVA

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction (DI) provides information on the issuing of the 1998 Pensioner Concession Card (PCC) to those Australian veterans who have chosen the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) to act as their agent to pay both their DVA disability pension (DP) and the Department of Social Security (DSS) age pension.  This group are referred to as the ‘Bring Em Backs' (BeBs).

BeB Overview

The Government announced in the August 1996 Federal Budget, that veterans receiving DP from DVA, and age pension from DSS, will have the choice of either DSS or DVA to pay their age pension.  This means DVA will be an ‘agent' of DSS, for the administration and payment of age pension to this group of veterans.  Eligible partners of these veterans may also choose to receive their age (or wife) pension from DVA.

The implementation date of this 1996/97 Budget Initiative, where DVA will pay & administer age pension under the Social Security Act, for certain disability pensioners and their partners, will be DVA payday 26 March 1998

PCC Overview

The PCC is issued by the Commonwealth Government to all income support recipients to prove eligibility for a range of Commonwealth, State/Territory and Local Government benefits and concessions.  DVA is responsible for issuing the PCC to DVA clients.

The PCC is issued annually in November to all income support recipients for the following calendar year.  Ongoing issues of PCCs to pensioners are made through the mainframe online system in each State Office, allowing for the issue of replacement and new entitlement cards to be printed overnight.

Overview of Exercise

The issue of a 1998 DVA PCC to the BeB client group will be a similar exercise to the Department's annual bulk issue exercise conducted in November each year

This exercise to issue a 1998 DVA PCC to the BeB client group will include the following initiatives:

• a valid DVA 1998 PCC ‘card' only will be issued;
• vouchers will be voided with the word ‘CANCELLED';
• clients with dependant children present will NOT be issued a PCC as part of the bulk issue - those cases will require a PCC to be issued manually;
• the client's name will include the 2 — nd and 3 — rd initial (where applicable) - previously only the 2 — nd initial was provided;
• the client's name and street address details on the card will be printed in lower case with the suburb and State printed in upper case;
• the client's name and address details on the carrier will be printed in upper case; and
• for joint assessments, both the veteran's and spouse/partner's PCC will be enveloped in the one envelope with the veteran's PCC uppermost in the address window of the envelope; and
• a 1998 state specific fridge magnet calendar will be inserted in each envelope.

Issue of DVA PCC to BeBs

The BeB client group were not issued a DVA PCC as part of the Department's 1997 bulk issue of 1998 PCCs, as they had not transferred to DVA at the time of the exercise.  They were however, issued a 1998 PCC from Centrelink.

To enable concession providers to confirm eligibility details of pensioners receiving concessions, those BeBs who transfer to DVA in the automatic bulk transfer will require a 1998 PCC with the DVA logo and their DVA client benefit number to be used for the remainder of 1998.

This issue of a 1998 DVA PCC to the BeB client group is to be conducted as a one-off exercise, with subsequent issues of PCCs being incorporated as part of the Department's annual November bulk exercise and daily issue practices.

Void Vouchers to be Issued

Vouchers were provided with the 1998 PCC issued by Centrelink and while there is a requirement for DVA to replace their PCC card the vouchers issued by Centrelink will remain valid after the transfer.  As those vouchers will remain valid, DVA will issue the PCC carrier intact; However, the vouchers will be overwritten with the word ‘CANCELLED'.

Card Production

The BeBs transferring to DVA received a 1998 PCC card from Centrelink during their 1997 bulk issue exercise.  For this exercise DVA will be issuing a 1998 DVA PCC card only.  (The BeB client group will be advised in a separate mailout prior to the PCC processing exercise that they should destroy their 1998 Centrelink PCC card.)

Processing of the bulk issue of approximately 9,000 1998 PCCs for the BeBs will commence on Monday, 30 March 1998, following the extract of client data on the weekend of 28-29 March 1998.

The 1998 PCC will be personalised, enveloped and despatched by the mailing house - Security Mailing Services located at Kingsgrove in Sydney.  Lodgement with Australia Post is to be completed by Friday, 3 April 1998.

Card Numbers

There are less than 9,000 BeBs (including partners) who have elected to transfer to DVA in the automatic transfer and who will be issued a DVA 1998 PCC.  The numbers listed below for each State/Territory are approximate only and actual numbers may be less than indicated in Table A.  Indicative numbers are as follows:

NSW

Married - 1417 x 2 = 2834

Single - 672

                            = 3,506

VIC

Married - 1071 x 2 = 2142

Single - 462

                            = 2,604

QLD

Married - 727 x 2 = 1454

Single - 346

                            = 1,800

SA

Married - 328 x 2 = 656

Single - 142

                               = 798

WA

Married - 332 x 2 = 664

Single - 152

                               = 816

TAS

Married - 77 x 2 = 154

Single - 38

                              = 192

NT

Married - 6 x 2 = 12

Single - 3

                                 = 15

ACT

Married - 50 x 2 = 100

Single - 17

                               = 117

TOTAL

                      9,848

1998 DVA PCC Stock

The current 1998 DVA PCC stock is to be used for this exercise and for the ongoing new and replacement issues of 1998 PCCs in the State Offices.

The 1998 PCC is a salmon pink plastic card with heading and logos in deep purple.  The travel vouchers are the same salmon pink with black lettering.

The expiry date is 31/12/98 for all 1998 PCCs.

The State Office contact phone number(s) shown on the 1998 PCC carriers will be determined by the file number of the client, not the residential address.  See Attachment A for the State Office telephone numbers and addresses.

Blinded Pensioners - Special PCCs

The word ‘BLIND' will be printed in 14 point lettering on the top centre of the 1998 PCC for blind pensioners.  The PCC for blind pensioners issued during the bulk processing exercise will have a small curved segment cut out from the bottom and right hand sides of the card.

When issuing a ‘blind' pensioner a PCC during a daily issue run, the general PCC stock provided to all States is to be used for all re-issues and new grants.  (The State Office PCC stock does not have the curved segments cut out from the cards.  The program which runs the daily issues will however, allow for the word ‘BLIND' to be printed on the top centre of the PCC.)

Eligible Group

Persons eligible to be issued with a DVA 1998 PCC for this exercise are those Australian veterans receiving a disability pension from DVA, and who are also in receipt of a DSS age pension.  These veterans have elected DVA to act as their agent to pay both their DVA disability pension and their DSS age pension.  Eligible partners of these veterans may also choose to receive their age (or wife) pension from DVA.

Dependant Children

As no family data is being automatically up loaded during the transfer of BeB data, clients with dependant children will NOT be issued with a PCC as part of the bulk issue of PCCs.  The State Offices will be required to manually issue a PCC to those pensioners who have dependant children in their assessment.

Clients with dependant children will be identified in an error report which will be generated listing those clients who have dependant children and are entitled to receive a DVA PCC.  There are approximately 24 clients nationally with dependant children.

A data collection form recording the dependant children details of those Age Pensioners transferring to DVA has been prepared together with the detailed information necessary to enable the State Offices to manually process those cases. This detailed information was provided in the Manual Processing memorandum issued to the State Offices on the week beginning 9 March 1998 by the ‘Bring em Back' Project Team Manager.

A blank copy of the data collection form for ‘Age Pensioners Transferring to DVA : Dependant Child Details' is provided for your information at Attachment B.

Inserts

A State specific 1998 magnetic refrigerator calendar will be the only insert included with the bulk issue of PCCs for BeBs.  A fridge calendar should also be included by the State Office Staff when issuing a PCC to new clients as part of the ongoing processing.  Stocks have been supplied to the State Offices for this purpose following the 1997 bulk exercise.

Cancellation of Vouchers

All PCC card holders are entitled to only one issue of vouchers for their residential State each calendar year except where a card holder transfers to another State.  Re-issues or new grants of income support pensions must not be provided with concession vouchers if they have previously received a PCC with vouchers in the same calendar year from either DSS or DVA.

The BeBs transferring to DVA received a 1998 PCC with vouchers from Centrelink during their 1997 bulk issue exercise.  For this exercise DVA will be issuing a DVA PCC card only.  The vouchers issued by Centrelink will remain valid after the transfer.  (The BeB client group will be advised in a separate mailout prior to the PCC processing exercise that they should keep their vouchers).

DVA will issue the PCC carrier intact.  The vouchers will remain attached to the bottom of the carrier.  While the vouchers provide fields to print personal details - NO personal details will be printed on the vouchers during the bulk issue exercise.  For this exercise the word ‘CANCELLED' will be overwritten clearly across each voucher attached to the carrier.

Report Types

Each State Office will be provided with the following reports providing details of cases in the following categories:

• Rejection Report of clients who did not receive a PCC and the reason, eg clients with an overseas address or no address, suspended cases etc;
• Error Report of Clients with Dependant Children - This report will list those clients where there is a dependant child/children in the assessment.  These cases will need to be issued with a PCC manually by the State Offices using the data provided by Centrelink;
• Special Register clients - A report listing all Special Register (SR) cases who were issued with a PCC should be produced for each State.  This report is to list the address of the Special Register Institution as per the Payment Master File (PMF) records as the PCCs for SR cases will have the Client Data Base (CDB) address printed on them;
• Summary Report - A report listing the total client base for the bulk issue;
• Blinded Cases - listing cases of blind pensioners who receive a PCC; and
• Blinded and Special Register Cases - listing cases where the pensioner is blind and a Special Register Case.

Where the Reports will be Printed

The above reports will be addressed to the State Office BeB PCC contact officers.  You should expect the reports to be printed in your respective State Office printers identified as: NSWBO, VICBO1, QLDBO, SABO, TASBO and WABO  on Monday, 30 March 1998, following the data extraction processing on the weekend of 28 - 29 March 1998.

Ongoing Issue - Process unchanged

The procedures for the ongoing issuing of new and replacement 1998 PCCs including lost or damaged cards for BeB clients will remain as per the current procedures in place in your State Office ie., new and replacement issues of PCCs are to be extracted by batch processing each night for printing daily on the local printers located in each State Office.

Ongoing Issue Procedures

The current 1998 DVA PCC stock is to be used for BeB clients.

Unlike the annual bulk issue exercise where the current years stock cannot be used for daily extracts for a couple of days prior to the issue of the following years PCC stock, there are no restrictions for issuing a 1998 DVA PCC to BeB pensioners who transfer to DVA on or after 26 March 1998.

The State Offices may issue a 1998 DVA PCC to those BeB pensioners who transfer to DVA from DSS on or from 26 March 1998 (effective date) who are not included in the bulk transfer group.  (BeB's who transfer to DVA on or from 26 March 1998 will be identified differently on the database from those who transfer during the automatic up load exercise.

(The bulk transfer in of BeBs can be identified on the inquiry screen showing unformatted data ie., IQ.CU - MLCPBPER - 8410040ON BEB 980101QBC00014367001 - pensioners who transfer on or from 26 March 1998 can be identified on IQ.CU - MLCPBPER - 8410040ON DEL 980101QBC00014367001.))

Please note: All clients transferring to DVA during the year who have previously been issued a PCC and vouchers from DSS should not be issued with valid vouchers when given a replacement PCC from DVA.  The vouchers are issued as part of the carrier but the system should suppress the vouchers with XXXXXX's.

PCC and Insert Stock

At the completion of the BeB PCC bulk issue exercise, leftover stock of PCCs and fridge magnet calendars will be forwarded to each State Office from the mailing house.

As the PCC stock is accountable stationary each State Office contact officer will be advised when their stock will be despatched from the Mailing House and confirmation of delivery in writing ie., a signed memorandum or minute, will be required from the designated contact officer.  This measure is a control to reduce the likelihood of stock being misplaced.

Voucher Replacement

All BeB clients will be advised in a separate mailout that they will be receiving a PCC card from DVA and that they should keep the vouchers issued by Centrelink as they will remain valid.

DVA does not have the facility to issue replacement vouchers.  The PCC carriers display a warning stating that DVA cannot issue replacement vouchers.  Where State rail authorities have provided them, contacts and procedures for applying for replacement vouchers are listed at Attachment C.

Voucher personalisation should therefore be suppressed with XXXXX's for all daily issue replacement or re-issued cards for clients as per the procedures currently in place in the State Offices.

Vouchers should be suppressed for those clients who:

• have had a 1998 DVA PCC processed with vouchers, then lost and regained eligibility during the course of the year; or
• are not eligible for vouchers with a PCC from DVA eg., income support pensioners who transfer to DVA from DSS who have already received a PCC from Centrelink ie., war widow/ers being granted ISS or DSS age pensioners being paid by DVA.

If a pensioner loses their vouchers they must apply to their State Rail Authority to have them replaced.

Report Problems to National Office

Staff should be reminded that it is important that they keep a log of problems identified following the bulk issue of PCCs to BeB clients.  Every endeavor will be made to rectify any identified problems.

A form is provided at Attachment D, detailing the minimum of information staff should record when reporting or receiving details of complaints, problems or issues which require follow-up action as a result of the exercise.  The information sought on this form is not exhaustive, and as much information as possible should be noted to enable adequate follow-up of any issues arising.

Contact Officers

At Attachment E is a list of the BeB PCC National and State Office contact officers for your information.

Pat Webb                                                  Martin Dibb

Project Officer                                            Team Leader

(02) 6289 6444                                         (02) 6289 6751

LOCATION ADDRESS

POSTAL ADDRESS

Centennial Plaza,

280 Elizabeth Street

Surry Hills  NSW  2010

GPO Box 3994

Sydney NSW 1141

The Argus Centre

300 Latrobe Street

Melbourne  VIC  3000

GPO Box 87A

Melbourne VIC 3001

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane  QLD  4000

GPO Box 651

Brisbane QLD 4001

River Quays Building

7 Tomlins Street

South Townsville  QLD  4810

GPO Box 651

Brisbane QLD 4001

Montpelier Building

21 Kirksway Place

Battery Point TAS 7004

GPO Box 481E

Hobart TAS 7001

Corner Moore and Rudd Streets

Canberra City  ACT  2600

GPO Box 3994

Sydney NSW 1141

Suite 8, Cascom Centre

15 Scaturchio Street

Casuarina  NT  0810

GPO Box 1652

Adelaide SA 5001

Blackburn House

199 Grenfell Street

Adelaide  SA  5000

GPO Box 1652

Adelaide SA 5001

AMP Building

140 St Georges Terrace

Cnr William Street

Perth WA 6000

GPO Box F352

Perth WA 6000

CRN

Pensioner's

Surname

No

kids

Child's name(s)

DoB

Sex

F/M

Address

ST

Y/N

YA

Y/N

CDA

Y/N

RAA

$ p/f

NSW/ACT

Phone (02) 9224 2846  Fax (02) 9224 3466

The contact number for requesting replacement vouchers from the State Rail Concessions Office is (02) 9224 2846.  The Concessions Office will accept a written or faxed application from the person or from DVA (or DSS for their clients).  A faxed application via DVA should be on letterhead and include the client's name, address, entitlement number and the number of replacement vouchers required.

VIC

The Victorian Rail Authority have given our Victorian State Office authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf for an indefinite period.  System changes have been made to allow the vouchers to be issued.

QLD

(07) 3235 2223

Queensland Rail (QR) have set up a Rail Concession Unit where people can apply for replacement vouchers and sign a Statutory Declaration in respect of lost/damaged vouchers.  A photocopy of the pensioners PCC is also required.  QR do a computer check and only replace unused vouchers.  The vouchers can only be replaced once in a calendar year.

For non-metropolitan clients, the unit has an arrangement with local rail stations to fax the Statutory Declaration to the RCU, and send the original later.  Alternatively, people can get a Statutory Declaration at the local police station, pay their half fare concession and apply for a refund to the voucher equivalent after their travel.  This procedure should be confirmed by ringing the above number in the first instance.

SA

1800 888 417 (Toll Free)

The Australian National Railways Office (ANRO) has a General Reservations office which people can ring for information.  ANRO will not replace the vouchers, but if the person fills out an application, they will provide them with a ticket in place of the voucher.

It is anticipated that this process will not change with the sale of ANRO to the Great Southern Railways Passenger Consortium in October 1997.

WA

(08) 9326 2222 - Westrail Switch

After this date period people can phone Westrail on (08) 9326 2222 - they will then be put through to the Refunds Officer who will advise of the necessary arrangements when applying for replacement vouchers.  Westrail will not accept personal applications.  Westrail check that the vouchers have not been presented before replacing them.

Note:  Westrail charge $8.00 for replacement vouchers.

STATE

CONTACT

OFFICER

PHONE

FACSIMILE

National Office

Policy

Systems

Pat Webb

Martin Dibb

Wayne McGrath

Phuoc Ngo-da

(02) 6289 6444

(02) 6289 6751

0411 241 253

(02) 6289 4705

(02) 6289 6686

(02) 289 6553

(02) 6289 6553

(02) 6289 6339

(02) 6289 6339

New South Wales

Genia Sacharczuk

(02) 9213 7106

(02) 9213 7885

Victoria

Judy Halligan

Peter Rogers

(03) 9284 6430

(03) 9284 6379

(03) 9284 6797

Queensland

Stephen Harkin

(07) 3223 8519

(07) 3223 8533

South Australia

Carolyn Conroy

(08) 8290 0439

(08) 8290 0412

Western Australia

Linda Ryan

(08) 9366 8504

(08) 9366 8239

Tasmania

Judith Makedos

(03) 6221 6684

(03) 6221 6610