C10/2004 INDEXATION OF BRITISH WAR PENSIONS (DISABILITY PENSIONS)

Purpose

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to advise of processing arrangements for the manual indexation of British war pensions.

War pensions to increase by 2.8%

The UK Veterans Agency has advised that British war pensions will rise by 2.8% in line with their Retail Price Index. British war pensioners will receive the increase from the payday in the week commencing 12 April 2004. The Veterans Agency has published their rates chart at http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk/homepages/leafle…

Effective date and payday

The effective date for the variation should be 13 April 2004, for payday 29 April 2004. If processing of income support cases is delayed past 23 April 2004, a later effective date may be used so that no overpayment is raised. Any later effective date used should be the first day of a pension period. Cases with both income support and EATS or composite components should not be delayed.

Cases affected

These changes will affect the following cases:

• Composite cases (with or without income support)
• EATS cases (with or without income support)
• British war pension in assessments of rent assistance, age pension or income support supplement

Exchange rates

The exchange rate used for EATS and composite cases is different to the exchange rate used for British DP paid direct from the UK. A project is currently under way to investigate unifying or at least reducing the number of pounds sterling exchange rates used in DVA, and to determine a new way of establishing the EATS and Composite exchange rate since the UK have stopped providing it. Shane Redfern (ext 16765) is the Income Support contact for this project.

Exchange rate for EATS and composite cases

The exchange rate to use for EATS and composite cases (ie, DP paid by Australia on behalf of the UK) is $2.75/£. This exchange rate was determined by the HM Treasury in the UK and has not changed since 16 November 2000. DI C29/2000 refers.

Exchange rate for British DP paid direct from the UK

The exchange rate to use for British DP paid direct from the UK is $2.3810/£. This is the same exchange rate used for British Official Public Service and Armed Forces Pensions. DI C05/2004 refers. This is called the daily exchange rate because it is monitored daily. British DP paid direct should be updated whenever there is a change to the daily exchange rate.

Rates charts in Australian dollars

British war pension rates converted to $A at both old and new rates have been emailed to state contact officer along with the AIS report. Separate rates charts are provided for EATS/composite cases and British DP paid direct. The charts have been redesigned, and use the relevant exchange rate to convert old and new British pension rates to Australian dollars. Both charts are included in one Excel workbook – use the tabs at the bottom of the workbook to toggle between the two worksheets.

Manual examination

There will be no cases processed automatically.  All cases will be listed for manual examination and update in PIPS.

AIS reports

A list of cases from AIS has been emailed to all the Income Support Managers and System Support Officers.  There have been occasional problems with the AIS results. If for any reason the list provided appears inconsistent with your expectations please contact the Income Support Officers listed below.

Contact officers

The Income Support contact officers for this exercise are:

• Nasreen Haque, ext. 11125
• Veronica Glasson, ext. 16093.