C09/2013 Indexation of British War Pensions (Disability Pensions)

Replaces DI No.

C08/2011 & C17/2011

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
9 April 2012

The UK Veterans Agency has advised that British war pensions will rise from 8 April 201 — 3.  The Veterans Agency has published their rates chart at:

http://www.veterans-uk.info/pdfs/publications/va_leaflets/Leaflet%209.pdf

Effective date and payday

The effective date for the variation will be Tuesday 1 — 6 April 201 — 3, for payday
2 May 201 — 3.

Cases affected

These changes will affect the following cases:

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

Exchange rate for EATS and composite cases

The exchange rate to use for EATS and composite cases (DP paid by Australia on behalf of the UK) is £1 = A$1.4331.  These cases are now subject to the daily exchange rate variation of plus or minus 2.5%.  For further inform — ation refer to DI C — 03/2013.

Exchange rate for British DP paid direct from the UK

The exchange rate to use for British DP paid direct from the UK is
£1 = A$1.4331.

This is the same exchange rate used for British Official Public Service and Armed Forces Pensions.  The DI for the revaluation to this rate has yet to be released, but should be available shortly.

Rates charts in Australian dollars and AIS reports

British war pension rates converted to $A at both old and new rates have been e-mailed to the Income Support Senior Management group along with the AIS report.  EATS and composite cases have been provided to the Rehabilitation Compensation & Systems Support Group.

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 officer listed below

Manual examination

No cases will be processed automatically.  All cases will be listed for manual examination and updated in PIPS.  The Income Support  management group will allocate the processing of these cases within the relevant teams in each office location.

Contact officer

The Income Support contact officers for this exercise are Greg Doube (ext 50559) and Trevor Catt (ext 48681).