DATE OF ISSUE:  13 JANUARY 2010

January 2010 – Reassessment of Comsuper and Victorian State and Victorian Vision Superannuation Pensions

Amends DI No.	N/A
Replaces DI No.	N/A

Purpose of instruction	The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to provide information about the January 2010 reassessment of ComSuper (including Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (CSS), Public Sector Superannuation Scheme (PSS), Defence Forces Retirement and Death Benefits Scheme (DFRDB) & Military Superannuation and Benefits Scheme (MSBS)), Victorian State super and Victorian Vision super pensions.
Background	Deviating from the normal practice of having Comsuper processing run on its own, we are combining the Comsuper and DFRDB updating with the Victorian State super and Victorian Vision updating into one processing run for January 2010. ComSuper pensions are adjusted bi-annually in January and July.  The CPI increase to be applied to the January 2010 adjustment is 1.3%. The CPI increase to be applied to Victorian State and Victorian Vision super rates in January 2010 is 0.6%.
Processing date	Reassessment processing to reflect the January 2010 CPI increases to ComSuper, Victorian State and Victorian Vision superannuation pensions will be conducted over two evenings : QLD & VIC on Monday, 11 January 2010; and NSW, TAS, SA & WA on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.  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 12 January 2010. On pension payday 28 January 2010, pensioners will receive a full instalment at the new assessed rate.
Advice letter target audience	A letter will be produced for Income Support pensioners in receipt of ComSuper ((CSS & PSS), (DFRDB & MSBS)), Victorian State super or Victorian Vision super and whose pension has been varied by the reassessment run.  There will be approximately 24,000 advice letters produced nationally.
Advices Content and Presentation	The advice will comprise 2 pages – a letter and a Payment Information Attachment.  The advice will inform clients of the outcome to their pension reassessment and provide information on gross superannuation income, deductible and/or non-deductible amounts.  The information relating to their super payment is presented in a tabular format. The advice will also provide the client with their Financial Obligations (prescribed rates) and a right of review. Please see Attachment A which shows a sample of: A ComSuper advice for clients with a deductible amount; and A ComSuper advice for clients without a deductible amount A ComSuper advice for clients with both a deductible and non-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, 15 January 2010.
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 representative in each location for checking and dispatch: Reductions to nil (please include CSHC fact sheet, application form and reply paid envelope in the mailpack); 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 – Anissa Lam (02) 9213 7169 or Vasu Sarpeshkar (02) 9213 7234 For Systems issues - Kevin Chapman (02) 6289 6749.

Pam Mickan

A/g National Manager

Income Support

13 January 2010

ATTACHMENT A

COMSUPER ADVICES FOR CLIENT WHO HAS A DEFINED BENEFIT WITH A 'DEDUCTIBLE AMOUNT'

GPO Box 9998, 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 9998 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

              12 January 2010

              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 12 January 2010.

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 28 JANUARY 2010Veteran Partner

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

GPO Box 9998, 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 9998 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

              12 January 2010

              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 12 January 2010.

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 28 JANUARY 2010 Veteran Partner

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

GPO Box 9998, 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 9998 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

              12 January 2010

              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 12 January 2010.

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	$450.4 — 5
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 gross income from all sources is more than $969.95 per fortnight or the value of your 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 28 JANUARY 2010