B11/1992 STATUTORY PENSION INCREASE 2 APRIL 1992 BRITISH RETIREMENT INCOME (BRI) ADP PROCESSING

DATE OF ISSUE:  9 March 1992

STATUTORY PENSION INCREASE 2 APRIL 1992 BRITISH RETIREMENT INCOME (BRI) ADP PROCESSING

INTRODUCTION

1.The Statutory Pension increase effective 2 April 1992 will be combined with the British Retirement Pension (BRI) exercise and is scheduled for the weekend of 14-15 March 1992.

2.In line with the amendments to the Veterans Entitlements Act Section 47 concerning the regulating of Foreign Currency, a variation to pension rates is to be implemented.  The Legislation also states the currency rate will be expressed to four decimal places.

Note:  This exercise is scheduled with the General Service Pension Increase processing that will take place on 14-15 March 1992.

EFFECTIVE DATE

Statutory Increase

3.On payday 2 April 1992 the current rate of some pensions will change.  Please refer to the code book.

British Retirement Income (BRI)

4.On payday 2 April 1992 the current exchange rate will change from One Pound Sterling equals $A2.1538 to One Pound Sterling equals $A2.4044 being the average of the "on demand airmail buying rate" for the month of January 1992.

TIMETABLE

Statutory Increase

5.Listed below is a brief outline of the proposed timetable.  Attachment A provides a more detailed schedule.

.The new rates will be available on the Trial Assessment Screen from Monday 2 March.

.Cut Off for Payday 71 (19 March) will be Tuesday 10 March at the usual time for all States.

.After cut off, daily advices should be suppressed until the new rates have been loaded.

.Interface will run on Wednesday 11 March at the usual time.

.After BRI processing has been completed on 13/3/92, the new rates will be loaded.

.The PIPS and PMF systems will be unavailable over the weekend 14-15 March 1992.

.Schedules and automatic advices will commence printing on Sunday 15 March.

British Retirement Income (BRI)

6.After the daily processing for Friday 13 March 1992 has been completed British Retirement Income Processing will commence.

GENERAL OPERATIONAL OUTLINE - SI

7.The processing for pension rate changes will be divided into groups of those cases to be processed automatically and those cases requiring manual action.  Clients' personal assessment particulars including income and asset details held on the CDB will be referenced for the automatic reassessment of pension and preparation of variation  transactions for update of the PMF.

SPECIAL FEATURES AND SUGGESTIONS - SI

Pre Increase Action

8.It is suggested that the following steps be undertaken prior to computer runs for the SI to help processing progress as smoothly as possible:

.Minimise the number of cases in frozen status (SB or PY status).

.Arrange an early cut-off for processing of cases requiring MS submissions by pension examiners to allow time for those cases to be received and actioned by Pension Payments.

.Clear outstanding MS cases.

.Resolve any SP Compare reconciliation edits.

.Arrange a cut-off date one or two days before automatic processing commences for final automatic authorities to Pension Payments.

LIMITATION CASES - SI

9.Cases for which limitations are in force will have their pension increased automatically, but the limitation amount will not be adjusted.  Identification of these cases and adjustment to the limitation amount must be arranged locally.

PENSION RATE CHANGES - SI

10.The increases to service pension will be effected automatically on the PMF where ever possible by program APPBAL.  Reports and schedules will be produces to enable manual reassessment of cases which cannot be processed automatically.  APPBAL will also generate pension payment transactions for automatically processed cases.  Cases listed for manual action will need to be processed through PIPS before cut-off for payday 2 April (i.e. before 24-25 March).

OUTPUT - SI

11.Output from program APPBAL

The cases which cannot be processed automatically will be reported on schedules for manual action.  Manual cases are:

Frozen actions (i.e. cases in PY or SB Status).

.PMF/CDB incompatible cases.

.Manual methods of assessment (excluding Working Rule B).

.Cases suspended on the PMF.

.Assessment errors.

Other schedules which may be produced are:

.Last SI not processed.

.Old SI process codes deleted.

.Manual arrears cases.

.Data base errors detected.

.Transaction generation error schedule.

PROCESSING - SI

12.Processing of manual cases can be commenced from Monday 16 March to cut-off for payday 2 April.  The processing of manual cases should be done in the above period and cases are to be processed through IDPS/PIPS.  Cases listed for manual action should be reassessed using the SI rates, updated through an action record, a D2650 produced, or a D408 or other coding sheet produced to effect the PMF variation.  If coding is done on an action schedule, the consecutive number for the IDPS/PIPS action should be noted on the schedule.

13.Frozen Actions - when cases in PY or SB status are encountered by the SI program, update is prohibited because the record is frozen.  The cases need to be unfrozen and re-processed as follows:

.Return case to RI status (by using Cancel Determination and Cancel Submission as appropriate).

.Re-process case using the SI as the last variation (if effective date is prior to the SI date enter arrears line for effective date).

.Submit to MS or DA as appropriate and prepare D408 in MS cases.

.Determine case as per normal.

14.PMF/CDB incompatible cases - will need to be investigated to determine the cause of the discrepancy, then the CDB or PMF corrected as necessary before the SI action can be processed.  The discrepancies will normally relate to people/suffixes on the CDB and PMF.

15.Manual Methods of Assessment - cases need to be manually re-assessed and processed through the system as normal.  Where a case involves a suspension or a manual DP component, it should be processed through an MS submission and a D408 raised to record the manual coding.

16.Keyfast Description - MS (multiple segment) and manual transactions should be transmitted to the Computer Centre in the normal pension payment daily stream i.e. keyfast description $PENSIO, prior to cut-off for payday 2 April.

17.Cases Suspended on the PMF - where a service pension, Other or Total suspension occurs on the PMF, the Pension rate and suspension rate should be re-assessed, the case processed through an MS submission and the rates varied as necessary.  The schedule is produced in PMF transaction format and should be used to code the adjustments.  The schedules should be endorsed with the MS consecutive number generated by the system, and be signed by the Delegate - this obviates the need to prepare a D408 for these cases.

18.Assessment Errors - the assessment routine will produce information messages as an indication that certain action should be taken as a result of the re-assessment.  These cases should be examined and modified as necessary, as well as processing the SI increase.

INFORMATION/SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSING SCHEDULES - SI

19.A number of conditions may exist on the CDB which require additional  investigation beyond the normal SI processing. The cases listed will already be automatically processed, or will appear for action on the schedules.  The conditions are details below:

.Last SI not processed - the case was not processed in the last SI that effected the case.  Check the case to ensure that appropriate A/L or SI action was taken.

.Old SI process codes deleted - before any SI processing takes place, any old SI process code (S183) will be deleted.  Action on these will depend on the reason the old process exists, but most will not require any corrective action.

.Manual arrears cases - cases where the current effective date is in advance of the SI date.  These cases need to be examined to ensure that any adjustment for the period between the SI date and the current effective date is made.

.Data Base Error detected - these cases will fail SI processing, and should be referred immediately to ADP for action.

.Transaction Generation Errors - the equivalent of Interface errors in normal daily production.  Corrective action is the same as for Interface errors.

20.Service Pension cases submitted to MS should be transmitted to the computer centre via the normal pension payment daily stream.

AUTOMATIC SUPERANNUATION PROCESSING - BRI

21.The amount recorded as super type 08 or 09 will be varied by applying a conversion factor which is calculated as follows:

new exchange rate  =  $2.4044  = 1.1163

old exchange rate        $2.1538

22.The amount in Australian Dollars of income recorded as British Retirement Income superannuation type 08 or 09 will be multiplied by the conversion factor to give the new rate of superannuation.  The Pension amount will then be reassessed accordingly.

MANUAL CASES AND MS CASES - BRI

23.Cases processed on 14-15 March will be assessed with the new pension rates.  MS cases submitted for 16/3/92 or later should show the new rates.

24.Manual cases produced as a result of the SI or BRI exercises should be actioned in the normal way.

REGULATION 45A PROCEDURES - BRI

25.The Assistant Secretaries of both Benefits Planning and Management and IT Applications Branches in Central Office will attest to the correctness of the new exchange rate and the programs used to conduct the exercise.  Certificates in the terms of Finance Regulation 45A will be forwarded to the "Authorising Officer" in your Finance Branch.

OUTPUT - BRI

26.The pensioner advice letters will contain the correct pension rates and the new notional exchange rate correct to four decimal places.  The usual BRI schedule which identifies cases with fringe benefit changes will be forwarded direct to your Branch from the NCC with the usual daily outputs.

NCC IMPLICATIONS

Statutory Increase

27.This exercise is scheduled for the weekend 14-15 March.  Cut-off for payday 71 is Tuesday 10 March for all States.  Attachment A provides a general outline of the proposed timetable.  Benefits Applications Section will provide the NCC with a detailed schedule of the computer runs necessary for this exercise.

British Retirement Income (BRI)

28.This exercise is scheduled as part of the Statutory Increase processing for 14-15 March 1992.  Benefits Applications Branch will provide detailed instructions on the scheduling of this exercise together with the Statutory Pension increase for the weekend 14-15 March 1992.

CONTACT OFFICERS

29.The Benefits contact officers for both exercises are as follows:

Tracey CunninghamTelephone06 289 6398 (Business Hours)

Ken Stewart06 282 4794 (After Hours).

DAVID MACKRELL

ASSISTANT SECRETARY

BENEFITS PLANNING & MANAGEMENT

ATTACHMENT A

STATUTORY INCREASE - 2 APRIL 1992

Monday, 3 March — Trial Screen with the new rates will be available.

Tuesday, 10 March — Cut-off for Payday 72 (2 April) for all States at the               usual time.

Fortnightly processing will be conducted.

Daily advices should be suppressed.

Wednesday/Friday — Interface with old rates will run at the usual time.

11-13 March

Sat/Sun, 14-15 March — PIPS and PMF unavailable.

Schedules and advices will commence printing.

Monday, 16 March — PIPS and PMF available.

Schedules will be dispatched to Branches.