C09/2000 MARCH 2000 GLOBAL REFRESH OF MANAGED INVESTMENTS (MI) AND SHARES (SH) MAILOUT

DATE OF ISSUE:  14 MARCH 2000

MARCH 2000 GLOBAL REFRESH OF MANAGED INVESTMENTS (MI) AND SHARES (SH) MAILOUT

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction is to provide information about processing arrangements for the March 2000 global refresh advice letter mailout.

R J HAY

BRANCH HEAD

INCOME SUPPORT

Overview

Introduction

This March we will not be sending advice letters to pensioners whose pensions are adjusted because of the CPI increase that applies for payday 23 March 2000.  Advice on these increases will be contained in the latest edition of VetAffairs.  However, letters will be sent to pensioners affected by the events set out in the following paragraph.

Significant Issues

The March 2000 Quarterly mailout will incorporate the following events for payday 6 April 2000: The asset value of managed investment and share data will be reassessed Deeming Rate change Treatment changes as a result of the reassessment.

Letter Content

Advice Letter Target Audience

A letter will be produced for: All less than maximum rate service pensioners (SP), income support supplement recipients (ISS) and age pensioners (AP) Max rate SP/ISS/AP who move to less than max rate as a result of the reassessment Less than max rate SP/ISS/AP who move to max rate as a result of the reassessment Reduction to nil cases as a result of the reassessment Treatment changes as a result of the reassessment

Income & Asset Listing

Full Income/Asset listings are to be produced only for clients who have either shares and/or managed investments listed in their assessment.

No Obligations

Obligations are to be suppressed for all letters produced.  Reference will be made to previous obligations issued to clients.

General Information Sheet

Each letter will contain a General Information Sheet (GIS).  This will act as the consistent last page for gatemarking purposes at the mailing house.  The GIS provides details of new rates and threshold information.

Single & Joint Letters

All service pensioners and income support supplement recipient couples will receive a joint letter, provided the pensioner addresses are identical.  Age Pensioners will receive a single letter.

Production of Advice Letters

Processing

Processing is scheduled to run from Friday evening 17 March until Sunday evening 19 March 2000.

ADP Processing

Detailed information regarding ADP Processing will be issued to State System Support Officers in a separate memorandum.  The Systems Support Offices will be issuing a local processing timetable and should be consulted on any matter concerning ADP Processing.

Critical Dates

Processing Weekend within DVA	17-19 March 2000
Dispatch Production Data to SMS	19 March 2000
Commence Printing Advice Letters	21 March 2000
End Printing Advice Letters	24 March 2000
Lodgement of Advice Letters commences	24 March 2000

Please Note: Monday 20 March 2000 is a Public Holiday in Canberra

Client Numbers

The following is a summary of client numbers in each State.  The numbers are approximates only:

STATE	NO. OF LETTERS
New South Wales	23,789
Victoria	17,678
Queensland	15,633
Western Australia	8,075
South Australia	6,919
Tasmania	3,139
TOTAL	75,233

Printing of Letters

Security Mailing Services (SMS) Sydney, will print and envelop advice letters in the week from Tuesday 21 March to Friday 24 March 2000.

Lodgement of Letters

All letters will be lodged with Australia Post on Friday 24 March 2000.  A representative from National Office will notify details of lodgement for each State as they occur.

Issues Requiring State Office Action

Special Register, Overseas & Enclosures

Special register, Overseas and Enclosure advice letters will be printed by IBM in Melbourne and sent via courier to each State Office.  These should be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received by each State Office.  This arrangement is the same as for daily advice letters. Each State Office will receive a report detailing the advice letters produced in each of these categories.  We will advise SSOs in each State when to expect delivery of these letters, and it is essential that Systems Delivery is notified if they do not arrive.  It is also necessary to advise Carol Walsh, Systems Delivery on 6289 6729 if the delivered letters do not exactly match the reports.

Reprints of selected letters

Any requests for reprints of individual Quarterly Advice letters should be referred to System Support Offices to organise a reprint.

Holding of daily advice letters

Daily payment advice letters produced after the processing run of 18-19 March 2000 for pay period 47 (6 April 2000) should be held by State Offices until notification is received that quarterly letters have been dispatched.  This will ensure that pensioner's receive their advice letters in chronological order.

$FORT run 20/3/2000

$FORT has been scheduled to run on Monday night 20 March.  To ensure that pensioners receive their Quarterly advice before the $FORT advice would States please ensure that the $FORT advice letters are held until confirmation from the mailout coordinator is received that the Quarterly advice letters have been mailed.

Manual Cases

To minimise the number of daily letters to be held whilst quarterly letters are processed, it is suggested that only manual cases (and essential processing) should be processed for pay day 6 April 2000.  General pensions processing should continue unabated but should be submitted for the subsequent pay day.

National Office Contacts

Feedback from State Offices

Any concerns regarding letters produced as part of this run should be directed to the NO contact officer, Kristie Wallace.  At the end of this process we will be collating all State feedback to analyse issues raised and develop solutions to address any concerns raised.  Any problems noted should be reported to the National Office contact officer with the nature of the query and the file number of the client.  Please ensure that problems are reported as early as possible.

Contacts

There will be one National Office contact for this mailout.  Any queries regarding advice wording, data cartridges, mail house printing and letters lodgement should be referred to: Kristie Wallace (02) 6289 6019 (Phone) (02) 6289 6589 (Fax) Systems issues should be directed to: Carol Walsh on (02) 6289 6729

Letter Mockups

Letters

Prior to the issue of this Departmental Instruction, System Support Officers and Managers Income Support were provided with copies of the proposed paragraph sequencing and mock-ups of advice letters for this run. A number of recommendations were received and have been taken into consideration for the final version of paragraphs and sequencing.  Copies of the amended advice letters for this run are at Attachments A, B and C of this DI. Attachment A – Paragraph sequencing Attachment B – Advice Letter Examples Example 1: Less than Maximum Rate, Married, Increase, MI/SH in Assessment, Full Income & Asset Listing Example 2: Increase to Maximum Rate, MI/SH in Assessment, Full Income & Asset Listing Example 3: Less than Maximum Rate, Married, No MI/SHs Example 4: Age Pension increase, MI/SH in Assessment, Full Income & Asset Listing Example 5: Reduction to Nil as a result of MI/SH reassessment, Full Income & Asset Listing. Attachment C – Example General Information Sheet

Letter Variables

Please note, in the following samples: Letterhead, DC name and signature block will change according to State; The words “service pension”, “age pension”, “income support supplement” each represent variables which will appear for those clients in receipt of the applicable pension.

ATTACHMENT A

PARAGRAPH SEQUENCING AND TARGET AUDIENCE

Note: Advice letterss will only be produced for less than maximum rate clients with Shares and/or Managed Investments in their assessment.

Paragraph	To Whom
State specific letterhead	All
Opening	All
Payment details and payment box	All
“You have been increased to the maximum rate of pension”	All increase to max rate cases
What is Deemed Income?	Cases without MI/SHs in assessment
Deemed Interest Rate Change – Financial Assets	All
Total Financial Assets Table	Cases without MI/SHs in assessment
Change to value of shares and managed investments	Paragraph for Increase case with MI/SHs in assessment
Change to value of shares and managed investments	Paragraph for Decrease cases with MI/SHs in assessment
Fringe Benefits	Reduction to Nil cases
Your Right to Re-Apply	Reduction to Nil cases
Treatment On/Off	Any cases where a change in treatment eligibility is detected
Your Obligations (reference to previous)	All
Changes You Have Already Told Us About	All
Your Right of Review	All
Closing paragraph and Signature	All
Full Income/Assets Listing	Cases with MI/SHs in the assessment
General Information Sheet	All

ATTACHMENT B

EXAMPLE 1: Less than Max Rate, Married, Increase, MI/SH in assessment.

T-ADVICE-RETURN-ADDRESS

Commonwealth Department of

Veterans' Affairs

Contact: T-CONTACT-OFFICER STATE OFFICE

Telephone: T-CONTACT-TELEPHONE

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

Metropolitan Residents: (07) 32238333

Country Residents: 1800 113304

Interstate Residents: 1800 777634

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs

Payment Details

The fortnightly rate of pension you will receive from T-CLNT-ONGOING-PAY-DATE is shown below.

PAYMENTS TO XXXXXX and XXXXX

Change to value of shares and managed investments

The asset value of your listed shares and/or unit based managed investments has been reassessed.  The adjusted value of these investments has been used to work out your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment and has resulted in an increase to the amount of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP paid to you.  Details of your investments are listed in this advice letter.

Deemed Interest Rate Change – Financial Assets

With effect from T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE-DATE, a deemed income rate of 3.5% for amounts up to $30,800 ($51,200 per couple) and 5.5% for amounts over $30,800 ($51,200 per couple), will be used to work out the income recorded for your financial assets.

This has resulted in a change to the income amounts used to work out your rate of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

Your Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and these obligations still apply.

Note that the notification period for changes to circumstances that may affect your pension has changed from 21 days to within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receiving remote area allowance).

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

If you have told us recently about a change to your income and assets or your domestic situation, it may not have been processed before this letter was sent.  If this is the case, we will send you another letter providing details of your new pension assessment when that change has been finalised.

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 the next three months.  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 the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

.si sigql3 depth 5 absolute

Gary Collins

EXAMPLE FULL INCOME AND ASSET LISTING

INCOME AND ASSETS USED TO ASSESS YOUR PAYMENT

(Information current as at T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE)

You are receiving T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP at less than the maximum rate payable.

The amount that you are paid depends on your combined income and assets but does not include the home in which you live.  The pension is calculated under two separate tests: an income test and an assets test.  The test that pays the lower rate of pension is he one that applies.

You are currently paid under the T-INCOME-ASSET-TEST test.  The total of your assessed fortnightly income is T-TOTAL-FORT-INCOME.  The total of all your assets (excluding any deductible assets) is T-TOTAL-ASSETS.  Details of how your pension has been assessed are shown below.

Savings and Cheque Accounts

Description	Account Number	Asset Amount
XXXXXXXXXXXX	XXXXXXXX	$       XX.XX
@@@@@@@@@@@@	XXXXXXXXXXX	$X,XXX.XX

IMPORTANT:  We understand that the balances in these types of accounts may fluctuate regularly.

Listed Securities and Unlisted Public Securities

Description	No. of Shares	Asset Amount
XXXXXXXXXXXX	X,XXX	$XX,XXX.XX
QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ	XX	$   X,XXX.XX

Managed Investments

Description	Units	Asset Amount
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ	XX	$   X.XX
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS	XX	$XX.XX

Note: Income from financial assets is deemed.

IMPORTANT: You only need to notify the department if there are any changes to the value of your financial assets, as shown above.  You do not need to advise of any changes to the interest rates of these investments.

Total Financial Assets

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE	DEEMED INTEREST RATE	DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT
$XX,XXX.XX	3.5%	$XX.XX
$       XXX.XX	5.5%	$  X.XX
$XX,XXX.XX		$XX.XX

What is Deemed Income?

For pension purposes, income from financial assets such as accounts with banks, building societies and credit unions, loans, bonds, debentures, gifts, shares, managed investments and bullion is deemed.  The value of all your financial assets are added together, and deemed interest rates are applied to calculate the income.

Other Income and Assets

The following assets are those which do not have deeming applied to them but are still used to determine your rate of pension.

Home Assets

The asset and/or income values shown below are the amounts used for pension purposes.

• Market value of household contents - $XX,XXX.XX

Miscellaneous Assets

• T-MISC-ASSET-DESCRIPTION with a net market value of $X,XXX.XX

Direct Income

• T-DESCRIPT-MISC-EARNINGS - $XXX.XX per fortnight

ATTACHMENT

General Information Sheet

EXAMPLE 2:  Increase to Maximum Rate, MI/SH in assessment, Full Income and Asset Listing

T-ADVICE-RETURN-ADDRESS

Commonwealth Department of

Veterans' Affairs

Contact: T-CONTACT-OFFICER STATE OFFICE

Telephone: T-CONTACT-TELEPHONE

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

Metropolitan Residents: (07) 32238333

Country Residents: 1800 113304

Interstate Residents: 1800 777634

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs.

Payment Details

The fortnightly rate of pension you will receive from T-CLNT-ONGOING-PAY-DATE is shown below.

PAYMENTS TO XXXXXX and XXXXX

You have been increased to the maximum rate of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP

Change to the value of shares and managed investments

The asset value of your listed shares and/or unit based managed investments has been reassessed.  The adjusted value of these investments has been used to work out your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment and has resulted in an increased to the amount of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP paid to you.  Details of your investments are listed in this advice.

Deemed Interest Rate Change – Financial Assets

With effect from T-CLNT-EFFFECTIVE-DATE, a deemed income rate of 3.5% for amounts up to $30,800 ($51,200 per couple) and 5.5% for amounts over $30,800 ($51,200 per couple), will be used to work out the income recorded for your financial assets.

This has resulted in a change to the income amounts used to work out your rate of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

Your Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and these obligations still apply.

Note that the notification period for changes to circumstances that may affect your pension has changed from 21 days to within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receiving remote area allowance).

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

If you have told us recently about a change to your income and assets or your domestic situation, it may not have been processed before this letter was sent.  If this is the case, we will send you another letter providing details of your new pension assessment when that change has been finalised.

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 decide to apply, you must do so within the next three months.  Such a request for review must be in writing, and set out your reasons for seeking this review.

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

Yours sincerely,

.si sigql3 depth 5 absolute

Gary Collins

ATTACHMENT

Full Income and Asset Listing

ATTACHMENT

General Information Sheet

EXAMPLE 3:  Less than Maximum Rate, Single, No MI/SH.

T-ADVICE-RETURN-ADDRESS

Commonwealth Department of

Veterans' Affairs

Contact: T-CONTACT-OFFICER STATE OFFICE

Telephone: T-CONTACT-TELEPHONE

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

Metropolitan Residents: (07) 32238333

Country Residents: 1800 113304

Interstate Residents: 1800 777634

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs.

Payment Details

The fortnightly rate of pension you will receive from T-CLNT-ONGOING-PAY-DATE is shown below.

PAYMENTS TO XXXXXX

What is Deemed Income?

For pension purposes, income from financial assets such as accounts with banks, building societies and credit unions, loans, bonds, debentures, gifts, shares, managed investments and bullion is deemed.  The value of all your financial assets are added together, and deemed interest rates are applied to calculate the income.

Deemed Interest Rate Change – Financial Assets

With effect from T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE-DATE, a deemed income rate of 3.5% for amounts up to $30,800 ($51,200 per couple) and 5.5% for amounts over $30,800 ($51,200 per couple), will be used to work out the income recorded for your financial assets.

This has resulted in a change to the income amounts used to work out your rate of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

Total Financial Assets

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE	DEEMED INTEREST RATE	DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT
$XX,XXX.XX	3.5%	$XX.XX
$       XXX.XX	5.5%	$X.XX
$XX,XXX,XX		$XX.XX

Your Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and these obligations still apply.

Note that the notification period for changes to circumstances that may affect your pension has changed from 21 days to within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receiving remote area allowance).

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

If you have told us recently about a change to your income and assets or your domestic situation, it may not have been processed before this letter was sent.  If this is the case, we will send you another letter providing details of your new pension assessment when that change has been finalised.

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 decide to apply, you must do so within the next three months.  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 the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

.si sigql3 depth 5 absolute

Gary Collins

ATTACHMENT

General Information Sheet

EXAMPLE 4:  Age Pension Increase, MI/SH in assessment, Full Income and Asset Listing

T-ADVICE-RETURN-ADDRESS

Commonwealth Department of

Veterans' Affairs

Contact: T-CONTACT-OFFICER STATE OFFICE

Telephone: T-CONTACT-TELEPHONE

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

Metropolitan Residents: (07) 32238333

Country Residents: 1800 113304

Interstate Residents: 1800 777634

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs.

Payment Details

The fortnightly rate of pension you will receive from T-CLNT-ONGOING-PAY-DATE is shown below.

PAYMENTS TO XXXXXX and XXXXX

Change to value of shares and managed investments

The asset value of your listed shares and/or unit based managed investments has been reassessed.  The adjusted value of these investments has been used to work out your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment and has resulted in and increase to the amount of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP paid to you.  Details of your investments are listed in this advice letter.

Deemed Interest Rate Change – Financial Assets

With effect from T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE-DATE, a deemed income rate of 3.5% for amounts up to $30,800 ($51,200 per couple) and 5.5% for amounts over $30,800 ($51,200 per couple), will be used to work out income recorded for your financial assets.

This has resulted in a change to the income amounts used to work out your rate of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

Your Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and these obligations still apply.

Note that the notification period for changes to circumstances that may affect your pension has changed from 21 days to within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas).

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

If you have told us recently about a change to your income and assets or your domestic situation, it may not have been processed before this letter was sent.  If this is the case, we will send you another letter providing details of your new pension assessment when that change has been finalised.

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with a decision, you may apply to have it reviewed by the Original Decision Maker.  If you decide to apply you must do so within three months of being advised of this decision.  You may either telephone or write to this office.

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

Yours sincerely,

.si sigql3 depth 5 absolute

Gary Collins

ATTACHMENT

Full Income and Asset Listing

ATTACHMENT

General Information Sheet

EXAMPLE 5:  Reduction to Nil as a result of MI/SH reassessment, Full Income and Asset Listing