MCRI No. 29

Military Compensation Scheme

Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRC Act)

SUBJECT  –  MANDATORY USE OF DEFCARE CALCULATORS

1. Purpose

The purpose of this MCRI is to advise Military Compensation and Rehabilitation Service (MCRS) staff of the mandatory use of the calculators which are built into the Defcare system.

2. Background

Defence Compensation Instructions (DCI) 24, 36, and 46 related to the introduction of the Defcare Incapacity, Initial Liability and Permanent Impairment calculators on 23 June 1997, 17 July 1998 and in October 1999 respectively.  DCI 36 and DCI 46 advised Delegates of the mandatory requirement to use the Defcare calculators relating to Initial Liability and Permanent Impairment in all relevant cases.  However, DCI 24 was a little unclear that use of the Incapacity Calculator was mandatory.

Quality Assurance (QA) checks have indicated that the calculators are not being used in all relevant cases and that where they are used, the resulting calculations are not always saved in the relevant Defcare record.

3. Policy

From the date of this MCRI, it will be mandatory for MCRS staff who are required to determine all post 1 December 1988 primary liability issues, all incapacity benefits and all permanent impairment claims to use the relevant Defcare calculators in appropriate cases.  It will also be mandatory for the resulting calculations to be saved in Defcare.  Failure to use the calculators will be recorded as a “Critical Error” for QA purposes if the failure is found during QA checks and the relevant staff member will, where appropriate, be counseled about that failure.  As further Defcare calculators become available in the future, their use and storage of the results in Defcare will also be mandatory.

Mark Travers

Director

Policy and Procedures Section

MCRS National Office - Canberra

      June 2002