C35/2005 AUTOMATED DVA/CENTRELINK DEBT RECOVERY

Introduction

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to advise of the changes being made to automate Debt Recovery between DVA and Centrelink.

Background

Automating DVA/Centrelink Debt Recovery is a further extension of daily transmissions established between the two agencies and will replace current processes so that data previously sent manually will be transmitted via the secure link already established between the two agencies.

Automating this process will ensure the timely advice of debt recovery action being undertaken by each agency and avoid the possibility of dual recovery action.

The transmissions will include information on DVA debts being recovered by Centrelink and Centrelink debts being recovered by DVA.

Recording and reporting procedures have also been aligned and tightened to ensure consistent recording across DVA.

Implementation

The implementation date for these changes will be Monday 5 September 2005.  Debt Recovery transactions from this date will be transmitted between DVA and Centrelink.  Associated DMRS reporting and recording changes will also take effect from this date.

System & Procedural Changes

In summary the following changes are to be made:

• Recovery transactions recorded against an Other Department Debt will be transmitted between Centrelink and DVA so that the current debt balance will be held by each agency. 

• When debt recovery transactions are received from Centrelink these will be applied automatically against the Other Department Debt held in DMRS.

• Where a debt recovery transaction received from Centrelink cannot be automatically applied in DRMS they will be included in a Da — ily DVA/Centrelink Debt Recoveries report for follow-up action by the Debt Recovery areas in each State Office.

• Manual reporting on the recovery of DVA/Centrelink debts will no longer be required and will be phased out after a 3 month “bedding in” period.
• DMRS changes to the recording and reporting of Other Department Debts.

More Information

The detail on these changes and their effect on state processes is contained in Attachment A.

Training

The changes being introduced will improve upon what are now manual processes without changing those processes to any extent.  Therefore, apart from reading and understanding the attached detail of changes, little training is required.

Contact Officer

If you wish further clarification about this Stateline, please contact Sue Cooney, Project Officer, New System Development, Income Support on 27609 or by e-mail.

Any management issues should be addressed to Ron Mildenhall Director Income Support New Systems Development.

Purpose

The purpose of this Attachment is to detail the changes being made to automate Debt Recovery between DVA and Centrelink.

Overview

The following changes are being implemented on 5 September 2005:

• Electronic Exchange of Debt Recovery data between DVA and Centrelink for Other Department Debts.
• Debt recovery transactions from Centrelink will be automatically applied to DMRS.
• Production of a new daily DVA/Centrelink Debt Recoveries report to list any debt recovery transactions from Centrelink that could not be applied automatically.  These cases will require manual follow up from Debt Recovery staff in the State Offices. 
• Changes to DMRS reports for Other Department Debts to improve accuracy and usage as a monitoring tool for DVA/Centrelink debts
• Manual reporting on the recovery of DVA/Centrelink debts will no longer be required.

Detailed information

The following table lists where you can find more information about the changes that are being implemented.

Change

Page

DMRS

Consistent recording of Other Department Debts in DMRS

Changed

4-5

Recording Other Department Debt Details for Lump Sum Advance

Changed

4

DMRS Reports

Changed

6

Information Exchange

Exchange Process

New

7

Report

New

8-10

Further Changes

Analysis on the requirements for the Debt Creation phase of Automated DVA/Centrelink Debt Recovery is under way.  Further information will be provided to the State Offices on these changes, as details become available.

Introduction

To ensure that debt data is correctly transmitted between the agencies, Debt Recovery staff must correctly record debts in DMRS to reflect the “debt owner” and the “debt recoverer”.

Recording DVA/Centrelink Debts with the correct information in DMRS will enable data for the automatic debt recovery transmissions to be identified each time a transaction is recorded as well as the automatic matching of the client's UIN and CRN when a new DVA/Centrelink debt is raised.

DVA Debts to be recovered  by Centrelink

Once it has been established that a DVA debt is to be recovered by Centrelink,  then the “Other Department Details” folder in DMRS must be completed with:

• Agency Client Rego UIN
• Is DVA the recovery agency = “NO”

The amount and date the DVA debt is referred to Centrelink for recovery should be recorded in the Comments field in DMRS.

If at a later date the DVA debt ceases to be recovered by Centrelink then the Agency Client Rego UIN must be deleted and the “is DVA the collecting agency” field to be left blank.

Centrelink Debts to be recovered by DVA

When Centrelink request DVA to recover a debt the Overpayment Type is to be recorded in DMRS as “Other Department – DSS”.  The Other Department Details must be completed with:

• Agency Client Rego UIN
• Is DVA the recovery agency = “YES”

If at a later date recovery of the Centrelink debt cannot continue the debt should be finalised in DMRS using the new transaction 'OGD Recovery Transferred (CR)'.

Lump Sum Advance recording

It is now possible to record an Agency Client Rego UIN for Lump Sum Advance (LSA) issued by DVA, that is now being recovered by Centrelink.  The recording of an Agency Client Rego UIN can only occur after the LSA has been granted, not during the creation process.

Agency Client Rego UIN

The following table lists the current Agency Client Rego UIN's.

DEPARTMENT NAME

CLIENT ID

CENTRELINK ADELAIDE

1428404

CENTRELINK BOX HILL

1428405

CENTRELINK BRISBANE

1428406

CENTRELINK CHARLESTOWN

1428407

CENTRELINK COFFS HARBOUR

1428408

CENTRELINK DARWIN

1428409

CENTRELINK GOULBURN

1428410

CENTRELINK HAYMARKET

1428411

CENTRELINK LIVERPOOL

1428412

CENTRELINK MOORABBIN

1428413

CENTRELINK PARRAMATTA

1428414

CENTRELINK PERTH

1428415

CENTRELINK QUEANBEYAN

1428416

CENTRELINK SUNSHINE

1428417

CENTRELINK TOWNSVILLE

1428418

CENTRELINK WOLLONGONG

1428419

CENTRELINK COMPLIANCE SERVICES

1431836

AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE

1407571

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

1407590

Consequence of not recording Agency Client Rego UIN

The Agency Client Rego UIN is used by other related processes and is a fundamental factor when:

[1]  Transmitting debt recovery information to Centrelink

[2]  Applying debt recovery information from Centrelink

[3]  Reporting the debt through the suite of DMRS Other Department reports

It is therefore imperative that this field is populated when the debt is identified as either being recovered by DVA on behalf of Centrelink, or being recovered by Centrelink on behalf of DVA.

Introduction

Information on debt recovery for DVA/Centrelink Debts will also continue to be available through DMRS Other Department reports.  Debt Recovery staff can use these reports to monitor the recovery of DVA/Centrelink debts.

Minor changes are being made to the Other Department reports and these changes are outlined below.

Other Department Debts Reports – Raised, Outstanding, and Finalised

These reports will now identify all Other Department Debts, including DVA debts being recovered by Centrelink.

The Debts Raised and Debts Finalised reports now allow a Date From and Date To selection.  The Debts Outstanding report will list current debts as at the time the report is run.

Debtor no longer in receipt of pension

This report will be revised to include the Agency Client Rego UIN which will be used to identify Centrelink debts which are no longer being recovered by fortnightly deductions.

Debt Recovery staff will need to liaise with Centrelink to advise recovery from the client's ongoing payment has ceased.  If recovery of the Centrelink  debt cannot continue the debt should be finalised in DMRS using the new transaction 'OGD Recovery Transferred (CR)'.

Debtor is Deceased

T — his report will be revised to include the Agency Client Rego UIN which will be used to identify Centrelink debts which are no longer being recovered by fortnightly deductions.

Debt Recovery staff will need to liaise with Centrelink to advise recovery from the client's ongoing payment has ceased due to the client's death.   As recovery of the Centrelink debt cannot continue the debt should be finalised in DMRS using the new transaction 'OGD Recovery Transferred (CR)'.

Introduction

Debt recovery information will be exchanged between Centrelink and DVA when a particular transaction is recorded against an Other Department Debt.  These transmissions will replace the current manual reporting that occurs between DVA and Centrelink for debt recovery.  Information on debt recovery for DVA/Centrelink debts will also continue to be available through DMRS Other Department reports.

Debt recovery  by DVA

Where DVA process a transaction against an Other Department Debt that is already recorded, data will be transmitted to Centrelink to advise of a debt recovery amount and the current debt balance.

Following receipt of the debt recovery data, Centrelink will record a transaction on their Debt Management Information System (DMIS) to reflect debt recovery.

Information will be sent to Centrelink whenever a DMRS transaction occurs.  Information will not be sent to Centrelink when that DMRS transaction is of the type:

• Agent Recovery (CR)
• Agent Recovery (DR)
• Debt Raised (DR)
• Debt Deleted (CR)
• Other Department (DR)
• Other Department (CR)
• Transferred (DR)
• Transferred (CR)

Debt Recovery by Centrelink

Where Centrelink process a transaction against an Other Department Debt, data will be transmitted to DVA to advise of a debt recovery amount and the current debt balance.

Following receipt of debt recovery data from Centrelink, where possible a transaction will automatically be recorded on DMRS to reflect the debt recovery.    These transactions will be recorded as 'Agent Recovery (CR)'.

Introduction

When a transaction received from Centrelink cannot be automatically applied to DMRS these will be recorded on a daily DVA/Centrelink Debt Recoveries Report.  This report is produced in the Debt Recovery area in each State Office and includes Manual Action Required cases and DMRS Messages.

The Report

The report lists transactions that cannot be applied automatically and information messages so that State Office staff may action appropriately.  The following table lists the various elements of the report, and an example of the report is at Attachment B.

Element

Description

File Number, Name, UIN, CRN

Describes the client for whom the debt information is intended

Trans Amt

The amount of the transaction to be applied.  If the Trans Amt is –ve, then this is applied as Other Department (CR).  If no sign then applied as Other Department (DR).

Transaction

Describes the type of transaction that is to be applied.  There are 3 types of transaction.

Recovery

A recovery has been made against the debt

Amend Balance

No Trans Amt displayed, amend the current balance recorded in DMRS to that displayed in the report under Debt Balance.

Cease Recovery

Contact Centrelink as recovery of the debt has ceased.

Date Occurred

The date the transaction occurred.

Debt Balance

The balance of the Debt after any transaction amount has been applied.

Date Time

The Date and Time the information was processed at CLK.

Validation Error Message

The reason that the transaction has appeared on the report.

Manual Action Required

The following errors will be reported for manual follow up action by Debt Recovery staff:

• Debtor is deceased
• No Current Debt Exists
• Where DVA/Centrelink debt balances do not match (after the transaction amount from Centrelink has been hypothetically applied)
• Adjustment Transactions ie debt amount varied by Centrelink 

• Ceased Recovery ie client no longer in payment at Centrelink.

It is important that cases recorded on these be actioned immediately to ensure debt balances remain aligned. Debt Recovery staff will continue to liaise with the Centrelink Debt Recovery staff in Brisbane or Box Hill who deal with the DVA/Centrelink debts to discuss debt balances and recovery arrangements.

Transactions recorded in DMRS from these reports must be recorded as 'Other Department (CR)' or 'Other Department (DR)'.

Where Centrelink can no longer recover a DVA debt then the Other Department Details recorded against that debt need to be deleted and alternative recovery arrangements organised.

Example 1

A “Recovery” transaction for -50.00 appears on the report with the Validation Error Message “Transaction Must Be Manually Processed”

Record the 50.00 transaction as “Other Department (CR)” using the Date Occurred from the report.  If the new sum total of Other Department Debts does not accord with the “Debt Balance” in the report, then notify Centrelink immediately.

Example 2

An “Amend Balance” transaction is received with a “Debt Balance” of 1500.00.  DVA sum total of Other Department Debts recorded as 1800.00

Record “Other Department (CR)” transaction for the amount of 300.00 (1800.00 – 1500.00) to reduce the DVA balance to the balance shown on the report.

Example 3

A “Ceased Recovery” transaction is received with a “Debt Balance” of 1500.00.

Contact Centrelink immediately to ascertain why regular recovery of the debt cannot continue.

DMRS Messages

When entering transactions through the DMRS interface in VIEW, information messages may be displayed in “pop-up” message boxes.  The Data exchange program occurs nightly without the opportunity for displaying these “pop-up” messages to anyone.

Any DMRS messages that occurred during the automatic application of transactions from Centrelink Debt Recovery Transactions are trapped and reported for follow up action as required by Debt Recovery Staff in each State Office.

The action for these messages is no different to the action taken had the user viewed the message in a “pop-up” message box when recording a transaction in DMRS.

Processes to remain unchanged

Where DVA is the debt owner, Debt Recovery staff in each State Office will continue to:

• advise the debtor that recovery will be made by deductions through payments from Centrelink.

• advise Centrelink as the debt recoverer, of the total overpayment to be recovered from the debtor's ongoing payment.  A manual request will continue to be sent until the automation of debt creation is implemented.

• handle all enquiries from the debtor regarding the overpayment; and

• renegotiate repayment arrangements with the debtor if continuing payments by Centrelink cease before the debt is fully recovered.

Where DVA is the debt recoverer, Debt Recovery staff in each Stare Office will continue to:

• manually raise the debt on DMRS and determine the recovery rate using DMRS business rules – this practice will continue until Automated Debt Creation is implemented.

• advise the debtor of the recovery rate and when deductions will commence

• respond to enquiries regarding the recovery rate; and

• liaise with Centrelink as the debt owner, if recovery ceases before the debt is fully recovered.