C48/1998 ISSUING OF THE 1999 PENSIONER CONCESSION CARD (PCC)

Background

The PCC is issued by the Commonwealth Government to all income support recipients to prove eligibility for a range of Commonwealth, State/Territory and Local Government benefits and concessions.  DVA is responsible for issuing the PCC to DVA clients.

The PCC is issued annually either through a bulk issue or through individual issue to clients who become eligible - to all recipients for the calendar year.  This year the bulk issue PCCs should be delivered to clients by the end of the first week in December.

The 1999 PCC is issued as a plastic card glued face down onto a carrier.  Rail travel vouchers are attached to the carrier for States that offer rail transport concessions.  For Tasmania the vouchers are for use with motor vehicle and transport related concessions.

What's different

The issue of 1999 PCCs to pensioners will be different to previous year's exercises in a number of ways:

• Couples PCCs will be produced on one A3 size that will include cards and vouchers for both members of the couple.  This format has been adopted to eliminate the possibility of the insertion of mismatched PCC's into an envelope.

• Issue of PCC's to DSS age pensioners (being paid by DVA).  Previous issue of PCC's to such persons in bulk has only occurred in a separate initial issue (Note. Due to DSS legislative requirements, couples issued on single cards).

• The pensioner's name and address (street, suburb and state) will be printed in upper case on the carrier.

• To match new DSS/Centrelink procedures, Victoria will issue replacement vouchers throughout the year.  Contact numbers have been included on the carrier to reflect this (see p11 for details).

• In line with an agreement between the Commonwealth and Great Southern Railway (purchasers of AN Rail services), SA will issue replacement vouchers throughout the year.  Contact numbers have been included on the carrier to reflect this (see p10 for details).

• Blind clients will have a hole punched in the top right hand corner of the card.

• PCC Summary Report will be produced on CD-ROM.

• Centrelink is moving to a rolling quarterly issue of PCC cards.  DVA PCCs will appear the same as Centrelink PCCs but all DVA cards will “expire” in Dec 99.

What's the same

• Single pensioners PCCs will be the same format as previous year's i.e. one carrier; one card with vouchers attached.

• On-going daily issues of PCCs will be produced in the same format as previous years i.e. one carrier, one card regardless of single/couple status.

• The pensioner's name will be constructed as follows: forename, 2 — nd initial, 3 — rd initial (where applicable) and surname.

• The pensioner's name and street address details will be printed in title case with the suburb and state in upper case on the card.

• A 1999 state specific fridge magnet calendar will be inserted in each envelope.

Card Production

Processing of the bulk issue of approximately 398,240 1999 PCCs will commence on Monday, 16 November 1998, following the extract of client data on the weekend on 14-15 November 1998.

The 1999 PCC will be personalised, enveloped and despatched by the mailing house – Security Mailing Services in Sydney.  Lodgment with Australia Post is expected to be completed by Friday, 27 November 1998.

Card Numbers

The approximate numbers for each State/Territory for the bulk issue in November 1998 are as follows:

State/Territory

No. of PCCs

NSW

136,578

VIC

90,610

QLD

78,523

SA

37,866

WA

36,120

TAS

15,267

NT

644

ACT

2,632

TOTAL

398,240

1999 PCC Stock

For the 1999 bulk PCC issue, there will be 2 different carriers – one for couples (to be used in the bulk issue only) and one for single pensioners.  The personalistion process for the carriers will mean that there will be some differences in the pre-printed format of the rear of the card (the side with pensioner details on it).  However, in all cases the 1999 PCC will be:

• a pale blue plastic card glued (tipped) onto a carrier;

• have the expiry date “DEC 99” pre-printed on the card (to match the DSS move to including expiry dates)

The 1999 PCC stock for single pensioners and daily re-issues/new grants is a pale blue plastic card with heading and logos in deep purple.

For couples the State specific heading, logo currency date and text information will be lasered printed in black onto the card by the mailing house, Security Mailing Services.

The travel vouchers will also be pale blue with black lettering and the expiry date is 31/12/99 for all 1999 PCCs.

The State Office contact phone number(s) shown on the 1999 PCC carriers will be determined by the client's postcode.

Carrier Layout

The 1999 carrier layout for single pensioners remains the same as the layout for the 1998 carrier, with the vouchers printed at the bottom of the carrier.

The 1999 carrier layout for couples will incorporate two cards and the appropriate number of vouchers depending on which State the PCC is issued onto an A3 size carrier.

The A3 carrier will be “split” so that each member of a couple receives a card and carrier much the same as previous years.

Blind Pensioners – Special PCCs

The word ‘BLIND' will be printed in 14 point lettering on the top centre of the 1999 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.

Inserts

A state specific 1999 magnetic refrigerator calendar will be included with the bulk issue of PCCs.  The fridge calendar should also be included with new cards produced in the State Offices as part of the ongoing processing.  Stocks will be supplied to the State Offices for this purpose following the bulk exercise.

Vouchers

The number of vouchers attached to the carriers will vary with each State/Territory and will able to be separated from the carrier with perforations.  The vouchers will include the pensioner's name and entitlement numbers, and in the case of Tasmania will also contain the pensioner's address and Date of Grant.

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

Single (4 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Number

NSW

Couple (8 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

ACT

Single (4 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Number

ACT

Couple (8 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

VIC

Single (1 voucher)

Name

Entitlement Number

VIC

Couple (2 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

QLD

Single (4 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Number

QLD

Couple (8 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

For this State

And this Card/Carrier

This information will be inserted onto the Voucher

SA

Single (2 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Numbers

SA

Couple (4 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

NT

NIL (Single & Couples)

NIL

WA

Single (1 voucher)

Name

Entitlement Number

WA

Couple (2 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

TAS

Single (4 vouchers)

Name

Address

Date of Grant

Entitlement Number

No. of Dependants

TAS

Couple (8 vouchers)

Names

Addresses

Date of Grant

Entitlement Numbers

No. of Dependants

Reports

State offices will be provided with the following listings of cases following the bulk extract:

• Rejection Report of clients who did not receive a PCC and the reason, eg clients with an overseas address;

• Special Register clients;

• Lost Eligibility Cases – listing cases who have lost eligibility for a PCC between the date of the bulk extract run and the date of the PCC processing run;

• Blind Cases – listing cases of blind pensioners who receive a PCC; and

• Blind and Special Register Cases – listing cases where the pensioner is blind and a Special Register Case.

Where the Reports will be printed

The above reports will be addressed to the State Office PCC contact officers.  You should expect the reports to be printed in your respective State Office printers identified as: NSWBO, VICBO1, QLDPAY, SABO, WABO and TASBO on Monday, 16 November 1998, following the data extraction processing on the weekend of 14-15 November 1998.

CD-ROM

At the completion of the exercise the mailing house will provide each State office with a summary report on CD-ROM that lists the Department's PCC recipients from the 1999 bulk issue.  The CD-ROM will be despatched to the nominated State contact officers by 30 November 1998 and replaces the previous microfiche version of the same report.

You can access the CD-ROM files (*.pdf format) via Acrobat Reader 3.0 which can be found on the DVA LAN.  From the Start up menu select Departmental/Applications/Internet Tools/Acrobat Reader 3.0.

New and replacement PCC's

The procedures for the ongoing issuing of new and replacement 1999 PCCs remains 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 1998 PCCs will be on Friday, 13 November 1998.

Formatting and any re-alignment of local printers to accommodate the 1999 PCC be addressed by the PCC National Office, VSS programmers.  Please advise Kristie Wallace on 02 6289 6019 as soon as possible if you experience any difficulties in printing replacement or new grant PCC's.

Manual PCC Issues to 31/12/98

From Monday, 16 November 1998, all new grant and card replacement transactions will generate a 1999 PCC record on the client data base with an expiry date of 31/12/1999.

The 1998 PCC stock must not be used for daily extracts, from and including Monday, 16 November 1998.

As in previous years the State will have to issue manual 1998 cards and vouchers for those clients who transfer-in or require replacement cards between 16 November and 31 December 1998. (New grants are issued with 1999 PCC's from and including this period).

Voucher Replacement

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

• Have had a 1999 DVA PCC processed with vouchers, then lost and regained eligibility during the course of the year; or

• Are not eligible for vouchers with a PCC from DVA (eg war widow/ers who had already received a TC1 or who were on the list of war widow/ers who received their PCC from Centrelink).

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

For most States, neither DSS 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.

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.

New Procedures for issuing replacement vouchers in South Australia

With the sale of AN Rail to Great Southern Railways, new procedures are in place for issuing replacement travel vouchers.

From January 1999, Great Southern Railways will no longer issue replacement travel vouchers for DVA (and DSS pensioners).  Instead, the South Australian State Office will issue replacement vouchers.

The South Australian PCC carrier has been updated to reflect this arrangement and includes the SA DVA country (1800 11 3304) and metropolitan (08 8290 0555) contact numbers to contact for replacements.

Arrangements for replacement vouchers in Victoria

As in previous years the Victorian Rail Authority have given the Victorian State Office authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf.

The Victorian PCC carrier has been updated to reflect this arrangement and includes the VIC DVA country (1800 11 3304) and metropolitan (03 9284 6000) contact numbers to contact for replacements.

Enhancement to PIPS Reprint Facility

Arrangements are currently being made to enhance PIPS so that States such as VIC and SA will be able to selectively reprint vouchers only.  Until the PP.RH screen has been updated to selectively reprint vouchers, the PCC or vouchers, whichever is not being reprinted for a client should be shredded or destroyed.

Interim Manual Voucher Issue

In the meantime, SA and VIC will need to personalise reissued vouchers by hand or by PC print.

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.

Note that Blind pensioners are not identified prior to generating the daily PCC re-issues and new grants – blind pensioners are identified after PCC's are issued and are identified by the word ‘BLIND' which prints on their cards – everyday PCC stock should be used for blind pensioners

New Stock

Stocks of 1999 PCCs will be despatched to the State Offices from the mailing house, commencing 27 November 1998.  The remainder of leftover stock will be forwarded at the completion of the bulk issue exercise.

Report Problems to National Office

Staff should be 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.

A form is provided at Attachment B, detailing the minimum of information staff should record when reporting or receiving details of complaints, problems or issues which require follow-up action as a result of the exercise.  The information sought on this form is not exhaustive, and as much information as possible should be noted to enable adequate follow-up of any issues arising.

Problems are usually corrected when a “pattern” is identified.  Staff taking complaints etc should be looking for any “pattern” that may be emerging eg. All calls are in a similar postcode range, only single clients etc.

The completed forms should be returned to Kristie Wallace, Income Support, 20 — th floor, 13 Keltie Street, WODEN  ACT  2606.

Contact Officer

The contact officer for this exercise is Kristie Wallace on 02 6289 6019 or fax 02 6289 6553.

Problem Reported

Action Taken by Pensioner

Action Taken by State Office

Additional Comments