C33/2005 2006 ISSUE OF PENSIONER CONCESSION CARDS (PCCs)

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction provides information on:

the format and issuing of the 2006 PCCs;

procedures for applying for replacement travel vouchers; and

arrangements for the ongoing daily issuing of PCCs.

Background

The PCC is issued by the Australian Government to all income support recipients to prove eligibility for a range of Commonwealth and State/Territory benefits and concessions.  DVA is responsible for issuing the PCC to DVA clients (including Centrelink Age Pensioners being paid by DVA).

The PCC is issued annually either through a bulk issue or through individual daily issue for clients who become eligible.

The following table provides a summary timetable of key dates in this year's PCC process.

What has changed

• The removal of the dates from the back of the card.  States will no longer need to print two cards during the period 5-30 September 2005;
• Minor text changes to the 2006 stock;
• Postcode ranges and border town post codes have been updated in line with the latest version issued by Australia Post;
• The name and postal address has been reduced from 38 characters to 30 characters;
• If the first name, second initial, third initial and surname is greater than 30 characters, then the first and second initial and surname will only be displayed.

What remains the same

• The pension payday fridge magnet calendar will be distributed with the PCCs.
• The postal address of up to 4 lines (and now only up to 30 characters for each line) will appear in upper case on the carrier.
• The residential address of up to 3 lines (and up to 30 characters each line) will appear in upper and lower case on the card.  If there are 4 lines of residential address recorded, the card program will display line 2, 3 and 4 on the card as these lines of address are usually more meaningful.

• The State Office Return Address will appear in upper and lower case on the carrier.

• Victoria will issue replacement vouchers on behalf of their State transport Authority throughout the year.
• South Australia will issue replacement vouchers on behalf of their State transport Authority throughout the year.
• Blind clients will have a hole punched in the top right hand corner of the card and the word “BLIND” printed at the top of the card.

Concession Information Sheet

A State specific “Concessions Information” sheet will be inserted during the bulk printing for VIC, SA, TAS and WA married carriers.  This is in order to provide information that is unable to fit onto the carrier due to the number of vouchers these States require.

Cross Reference Cases

Where there is a cross reference for a person, the 2006 PCC bulk issue will be issued in the payment file number.

Partners on PCCs

The PCC program will include the following in order to comply with current FACS policy regarding the issue of Centrelink PCCs:

Where both members of a couple are in receipt of an income support payment, they will be cross-listed as dependants on one another's cards.

If the spouse/defacto of a veteran (including blind veterans) is not eligible or payable, but is present in the assessment, the spouse/defacto is added as a dependant to the veteran's card.

Veterans who are not in payment (and therefore will not receive a PCC), will appear as a dependant on the PCC of their blinded service pension partner.

The maximum number of children that will be listed on a PCC is six.  If there are more than six dependent children in the assessment, an additional card will be issued listing the veteran and remaining children.

Card Production

The printing of approximately 340,800 PCCs for 2006 will commence on Friday, 9 September 2005, following the extract of client data on the weekend of 3 - 4 September 2005.

The 2006 PCCs will be personalised, enveloped and despatched by the mailing house – Security Mailing Services in Sydney.  Lodgement with Australia Post will commence on 12 September 2005 and is expected to be completed by Friday, 30 September 2005.

Card Numbers

The approximate numbers for each State/Territory are as follows:

State/Territory

No. of PCCs

New South Wales

109,000

Victoria

73,200

Queensland

75,000

South Australia

34,000

Western Australia

24,000

Tasmania

12,300

NT

     800

ACT

3,500

TOTAL

340,800

2006 PCC Stock

For the 2006 bulk PCC issue, there will be different carriers for:

• partnered (to be used in the bulk issue only)with the same postal and residential addresses; and
• single (blind and group destination (special register) will go on single carriers as well).

The pre-printed format for both single and partnered cards will be the same as the 2005 card.

Carrier Layout

The 2006 carrier layout for single pensioners remains the same as the layout for the 2005 carrier, with the vouchers printed at the bottom of the carrier where appropriate.

The 2006 partnered carrier layout will incorporate 2 cards positioned at the bottom edge of an A4 carrier and the appropriate number of vouchers positioned where they best fit on the carrier.

Blind Pensioners – Special PCCs

The word 'BLIND' will be printed in 9 point lettering on the top right hand corner (just left of the card logo) of the 2006 PCC for blind pensioners.  The PCC for blind pensioners issued during the bulk exercise will have a hole punched in the top right hand corner of the card (just right of the card logo).

Group Destination (Special Register) PCCs

Group Destination clients PCCs, where the address is that of the Public Trustee, will be personalised (and hole punched if blind) and forwarded to each State Office for checking and dispatch.

Fridge Magnet Calendar

The State specific magnetic refrigerator calendar will be included with the bulk issue of PCCs.

The States Office contacts received a supply of 2006 calenders mid July 2005, to cater for new clients.

Vouchers

The number of perforated vouchers on the carriers will vary with each State/Territory.  The vouchers will include the pensioner's name and entitlement number, and in the case of Tasmania will also contain the pensioner's residential address, date of grant and number of dependants.

The vouchers provide fields for personal details to be lasered.  The information required to be lasered onto vouchers are as follows:

For this State

And this Card/Carrier

This information will be inserted onto the Voucher

NSW

NIL

NIL

ACT

NIL

NIL

NT

NIL

NIL

For this State

And this Card/Carrier

This information will be inserted onto the Voucher

VIC

Single (1 voucher and 1 coupon)

Name

Entitlement Number

VIC

Married (2 vouchers and 2 coupons)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

QLD

NIL

NIL

QLD

NIL

NIL

SA

Single (2 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Number

SA

Married (4 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

WA

Single (2 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Number

WA

Married (4 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

TAS

Single (4 vouchers)

Name

Address

Date of Grant

Entitlement Number

No. of Dependants

TAS

Married (8 vouchers)

Names

Addresses

Date of Grant

Entitlement Numbers

No. of Dependants

Reports

State offices will be provided with the following reports after the bulk extract:

• PCCs Not Issued;
• Group Destination (Special Register) clients;
• Group Destination (Special Register) Blind clients; and

•             Deceased Client Extract.

The reports will automatically print in the State Office following the data extraction processing on the weekend of 3 - 4 September 2005.  State Offices need to examine the reports and undertake any necessary action by 30 September 2005.

CD-ROM

At the completion of the exercise the Mailing House will provide each State with a report on CD-ROM of clients issued with a PCC in the annual bulk issue run.  The National Office contact will hold a copy of the CDs for any future enquiries.

New and replacement PCC's

The procedures for the ongoing issuing of new and replacement PCCs remain the same as in other years i.e., 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.

The last automatic daily extract for any issue/reissue of the 2005 PCCs will be on Friday, 2 September 2005.

IMU and the State Office Contacts will address formatting and any re-alignment of local printers to accommodate the 2006 PCC during the week commencing Monday, 29 August 2005.

Please advise Jody-Anne Ferris on (02) 6225 4514 as soon as possible if you experience any difficulties in printing replacement or new grant PCCs.

Manual Voucher Issue

From Monday, 5 September 2005, 2006 PCC stock is to be used for daily issues.  However, any new grant or transfer-in between 5 September and 31 December 2005 will still require manually issued 2005 travel vouchers for this period.

Issue of PCC to partner of deceased client

Prior to the personalising of each State's cards, a run will be conducted to detect and report on those clients who have had a date of death recorded since the live extract.  The client data for the deceased client and surviving partner will be deleted from the data extract file and no cards will be produced during the bulk issue run.

Each State office will need to examine the Deceased Client Extract report and issue a 2006 PCC to the surviving partner by 30 September 2005.

Replacement PCC's – voided Vouchers

Voucher personalisation should be suppressed for all replacement or re-issued cards for clients.  The card will be personalised and issued on the carrier, however, the vouchers will remain attached to the carrier but will be voided with XXXX's.  This includes clients who:

• have had a 2006 DVA PCC processed with vouchers, then lost and regained eligibility during the course of the year; or

• Centrelink Transfer In cases, as they would have already received their PCC and vouchers from Centrelink.

Voucher Replacement

For most States, neither Centrelink nor DVA will 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 A of this instruction.

All cardholders are entitled to only one issue of vouchers for their residential State each calendar year except where a cardholder transfers to another State.  New grants of income support pension must not be provided with concession vouchers if they have received a PCC with vouchers in the same calendar year.

Blind Pensioners

When issuing a blind pensioner a PCC in the daily issue, the PCC stock provided and current issuing procedures should apply.  The reprint program will enable the word 'BLIND' to be printed on the PCC.

Normal PCC stock should be used for blind pensioners.

New PCC Stock

All State Offices received the 2006 PCC stock and fridge magnet calendars mid July 2005.

PCC State Office Contacts

The PCC State Office Contacts are as follows:

State

Contact

NSW/ACT

Ian Bare

QLD

Katie-Anne Wilson

VIC

David Price

SA/NT

Maria Lewandowski

WA

John Gliddon

TAS

Bryon Kelly

Report Problems to National Office

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

Report daily issue difficulties

Any difficulties in relation to daily issue templates are to be reported to

Jody-Anne Ferris on (02) 6225 4514.

National Office contact

The contact officer for this exercise is Kerry-Anne Rowe on 02 6289 6663.

VIC

The Victorian Rail Authority continues to give the DVA Victorian State Office authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf for an indefinite period.

SA

SA Rail continue to give the DVA South Australian State Office authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf indefinitely

WA

TRANSWA continues to give DVA Western Australian State Office the authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf for a period up until the 31 — st January 2006.

After this date people can phone TRANSWA to apply for replacement vouchers.

Note: TRANSWA may charge for replacement vouchers.