DATE OF ISSUE:  20 December 2007

January 2008 - Reassessment Of Comsuper ((CSS & PSS) and (DFRDB & MSBS)) Superannuation Pensions

Purpose of instruction

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to provide information about the January 2008 reassessment of ComSuper ((CSS & PSS) and (DFRDB & MSBS)) superannuation pensions.

Background

ComSuper superannuation pensions are adjusted bi-annually in January and July.  The CPI increase to be applied to the January 2008 adjustment is 1.9%.

Processing date

Reassessment processing to reflect the January 2008 CPI increases to ComSuper and DFRDB superannuation pensions will be conducted over two evenings - NSW, TAS & VIC on Wednesday, 2 January 2008 and QLD, SA & WA on Thursday, 3 January 2008.  Following the completion of the processing, a national data file will be transmitted to the mailing house for printing and lodgment of the advices with Australia Post.

Effective date

The effective date of the reassessment will be 1 January 2008. On pension payday 17 January 2008, pensioners will receive a full installment at the new assessed rate.

Advice letter target audience

A letter will be produced for Income Support pensioners in receipt of ComSuper ((CSS & PSS) and (DFRDB & MSBS)) superannuation pensions whose pension has been varied by the reassessment run.  There will be approximately 20,000 advice letters produced nationally.

Changes to the Comsuper Advices Content and Presentation

There have been some wording and information presentation changes to the batch advices produced from the ComSuper processing runs. Changes have been made to the wording in the advices which now advises clients of their Deductible and/or Non-deductible amounts of ComSuper paid.  The information relating to their ComSuper payment is now presented in a tabular format – it was previously shown as a dot point and sentence. Due to technical and printing restrictions at our previous mailhouse we were unable to produce a Payment Information Attachment for these advices and we provided clients with their payment details in a sentence format.  Improvements in technology and a new mailing house have meant we are now able to re-instate the Payment Information Attachment.  These changes will greatly assist in reducing the amount of client confusion. Please see Attachment A which shows a sample of: A ComSuper advice that was used prior to the changes, A ComSuper advice for clients with a deductible amount; and A ComSuper advice for clients without a deductible amount.

DFISA Payments - Impact on Advices

All DVA Age pensioners who are eligible to commence payment of Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA) or whose DFISA payment is varied, continued or cancelled will receive an advice letter following the processing run.

Printing and mailing of advice letters

The advice letters will be printed and mailed through the Department's contracted mailing house, SALMAT.  All letters will be lodged with Australia Post as a national lodgment by COB Friday, 11 January 2008.

Letters for Tasmanian State Office Overseas Addressees

The advice letters produced for Tasmanian State Office clients who have an overseas address will be printed, enveloped and sent from the mailing house.

Streamed advices requiring action

The following advices will be streamed and printed by IBMGSA at the IBM Printhub, and sent via courier to the Income Support System Support Officer in each Office for checking and dispatch: Reductions to nil (please note Reduction to Nil advice letters will also have a General Information Sheet printed as part of the advice); Overseas for all states apart from Tasmania; and Enclosures (treatment changes).

'Held' advices to be forced

As part of the batch processing run any advices in 'held' status will be forced to print.  Forced 'held' advices will print at the nominated printer in each Office.

Contacts

For Advice issues - Pat Webb (02) 9213 7288. For Systems issues - Kevin Chapman (02) 6289 6749.

John Sadeik

National Manager

Income Support

20 December 2007

ATTACHMENT A

PREVIOUS WORDING OF THE BATCH SUPER ADVICE LETTERS – Production Advice as at 29 JUNE 2007

GPO Box 651, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Contact:              State Office

Telephone: Macarthur Tower

              259 Queen Street

              Brisbane Qld 4000

1!!11 IIIll l 111 1I!! (Barcode?)              Postal Address:

JOHN SMITH              GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

MARY SMITH              Telephone:

29 MARGARGET STREET              General inquiries: 133 254

IPSWICH   QLD   4010              Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

              Dialling from interstate: 1800 13 1945

              Facsimile: (07) 32238585

              15 January 2004

              YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr and Mrs SMITH,

This is to advise that your service pension has been reduced.  This change will take effect from 20 July 2004.

Superannuation Fund Details

The income you receive from the superannuation fund shown below is used to work out the rate of your service pension.  This income has changed.  Your superannuation fund should have advised you separately of the changes to your superannuation payments.

The new amount of superannuation currently used in the assessment of your pension is:

• JOHN SMITH – ComSuper (CSS & PSS) - $594.53 per fortnight.

Pension Payment Details

From payday 05 AUGUST 2004 the total fortnightly payment for JOHN SMITH is $467.11 which includes $292.97 of service pension.

From payday 05 AUGUST 2004 the total fortnightly payment for MARY SMITH is $292.97 which includes $292.97 of service pension.

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote are allowance) if your combined gross income from all sources is more than $969.95 per fortnight or the value of your combined assets is more than $326,000.00.

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with this variation to your pension, you may apply to have it reviewed by a Review Officer at this office.  If you do decide to apply, you must do so within three months of being advised of this decision.  Such a request for review must be in writing, and must set out your reasons for seeking this review.

If you have any questions about any of the above matters please contact this office at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

REVISED SUPER BATCH ADVICE LETTER WORDING – INTO PRODUCTION 27 JULY 2007

• CLIENT HAS DEFINED BENEFIT WITH A 'DEDUCTIBLE AMOUNT'

GPO Box 651, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Contact:              Brisbane Office

Telephone: Macarthur Tower

              259 Queen Street

              Brisbane Qld 4000

1!!11 IIIll l 111 1I!! (Barcode?)              Postal Address:

JOHN SMITH              GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

MARY SMITH

29 MARGARET STREET              Telephone:

IPSWICH   QLD   4010              Capital city callers: 133 254

              Non-Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

              Facsimile: (07) 3223 8479

              29 June 2007

              YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr and Mrs SMITH,

This is to advise that your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP has been reduced.  This change will take effect from 1 July 2007.

Superannuation Pension Reassessment

Your superannuation fund has notified Veterans' Affairs of the new income details for your superannuation pension.  The new income details are shown in the table below.  This income is used to work out the rate of your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

Name	Description	Gross Income	Deductible Amount (tax free component)	Assessed Income
JOHN SMITH	ComSuper (CSS & PSS)	$585.95	$135.50	$450.95

Payment Information

Details of your payments are provided in the Payment Information Attachment.

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote are allowance) if your combined gross income from all sources is more than $969.95 per fortnight or the value of your combined assets is more than $326,000.00.

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with this variation to your pension, you may apply to have it reviewed by a Review Officer at this office.  If you do decide to apply, you must do so within three months of being advised of this decision.  Such a request for review must be in writing, and must set out your reasons for seeking this review.

If you have any questions about any of the above matters please contact this office at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department now calculates service pension payments on a daily basis.  This means that your fortnightly pension payment is made up of 14 days of entitlement of pension.  Therefore, when there is a change to your circumstances on any particular day in the fortnight - your pension will be adjusted from that day.  For that reason your pension payment may be different for one or two paydays after a reassessment.

Payment for 19 JULY 2007Veteran Partner

• CLIENT DOES NOT HAVE A 'DEDUCTIBLE AMOUNT'  - BOTH VET AND SPOUSE HAVE INCOME FROM SUPER

GPO Box 651, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Contact:              Brisbane Office

Telephone: Macarthur Tower

              259 Queen Street

              Brisbane Qld 4000

1!!11 IIIll l 111 1I!! (Barcode?)              Postal Address:

JEFFREY LYONS              GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

LUCY LYONS

30 ELIZABETH STREET              Telephone:

TOOWOOMBA   QLD   4010              Capital city callers: 133 254

              Non-Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

              Facsimile: (07) 3223 8479

              29 June 2007

              YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr and Mrs LYONS,

This is to advise that your service pension has been reduced.  This change will take effect from 1 July 2007.

Superannuation Pension Reassessment

Your superannuation fund has notified Veterans' Affairs of the new income details for your superannuation pension.  The new income details are shown in the table below.  This income is used to work out the rate of your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

Name	Description	Assessed Income
JEFFREY LYONS	ComSuper (DFRDB & MSBS)	$450.95
LUCY LYONS	ComSuper (CSS & PSS)	$265.00

Payment Information

Details of your payments are provided in the Payment Information Attachment.

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote are allowance) if your combined gross income from all sources is more than $969.95 per fortnight or the value of your combined assets is more than $326,000.00.

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with this variation to your pension, you may apply to have it reviewed by a Review Officer at this office.  If you do decide to apply, you must do so within three months of being advised of this decision.  Such a request for review must be in writing, and must set out your reasons for seeking this review.

If you have any questions about any of the above matters please contact this office at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department now calculates service pension payments on a daily basis.  This means that your fortnightly pension payment is made up of 14 days of entitlement of pension.  Therefore, when there is a change to your circumstances on any particular day in the fortnight - your pension will be adjusted from that day.  For that reason your pension payment may be different for one or two paydays after a reassessment.

Payment for 19 JULY 2007Veteran Partner

• CLIENT HAS A DEFINED BENEFIT WITH A  'DEDUCTIBLE AMOUNT' AND A DEFINED BENEFIT WITHOUT A DEDUCTIBLE AMOUNT

GPO Box 651, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Contact:              Brisbane Office

Telephone: Macarthur Tower

              259 Queen Street

              Brisbane Qld 4000

1!!11 IIIll l 111 1I!! (Barcode?)              Postal Address:

PETER CLARK              GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

11 LONSDALE STREE

BRISBANE   QLD  4000              Telephone:

              Capital city callers: 133 254

              Non-Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

              Facsimile: (07) 3223 8479

              29 June 2007

              YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr CLARK,

This is to advise that your service pension has been reduced.  This change will take effect from 1 July 2007.

Superannuation Pension Reassessment

Your superannuation fund has notified Veterans' Affairs of the new income details for your superannuation pension.  The new income details are shown in the table below.  This income is used to work out the rate of your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

Name	Description	Gross Income	Deductible Amount (tax free component)	Assessed Income
JOHN SMITH	ComSuper (CSS & PSS)	$585.95	$135.50	$450.95
JOHN SMITH	ComSuper (DFRDB & MSBS)	$846.44	$0.00	$846.44

Payment Information

Details of your payments are provided in the Payment Information Attachment.

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote are allowance) if your combined gross income from all sources is more than $969.95 per fortnight or the value of your combined assets is more than $326,000.00.

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with this variation to your pension, you may apply to have it reviewed by a Review Officer at this office.  If you do decide to apply, you must do so within three months of being advised of this decision.  Such a request for review must be in writing, and must set out your reasons for seeking this review.

If you have any questions about any of the above matters please contact this office at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department now calculates service pension payments on a daily basis.  This means that your fortnightly pension payment is made up of 14 days of entitlement of pension.  Therefore, when there is a change to your circumstances on any particular day in the fortnight - your pension will be adjusted from that day.  For that reason your pension payment may be different for one or two paydays after a reassessment.

Payment for 19 JULY 2007Veteran