DI-17-2019 Bulk Issue of 2020 NSW Transport Concession Card (TC1) and 2020 Victorian Free Travel Voucher (VTV)

Purpose

This Departmental Instruction provides information regarding:

·          the bulk issue of the 2020 New South Wales Transport Concession Card (TC1);

·          the bulk issue of the 2020 Victorian War Widow/Widower Free Travel Voucher (VTV); and

·          arrangements for daily issues.

NSW Transport Concession Card

The Transport Concession Card (TC1) is issued to war widows/widowers who reside permanently in New South Wales and are not in receipt of service pension, income support supplement or a social security pension paid by DVA or Department of Human Services (Centrelink).

The TC1 provides state funded travel concessions and is issued by DVA on behalf of the New South Wales Government.  New South Wales is the only state to issue the TC1.

War widows/widowers residing in other states may be eligible for state transport concessions through their DVA Gold Card, CSHC or other transport passes.

The TC1 is valid from date of issue to and including 31 December 2021.

MRCA Widows / Widowers

Since 15 October 2012, some MRCA wholly dependant partners (MRCA widows/widowers) are also eligible to receive the TC1.

The eligibility criteria for MRCA widows/widowers are:

·         the widow/widower has been compensated under subsection 234(1) of the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA); and

·         the member's death was related to overseas warlike or non-warlike service.

As this specific information is not recorded in DVA systems currently, the eligible MRCA widows/widowers cannot be identified automatically and be included in the TC1 bulk issue.

Case Coordination NSW/ACT has identified seven MRCA widows residing in NSW.  Income Support in Sydney will manually issue the TC1 to the eligible MRCA widows following the bulk issue.

Victorian Free Travel Vouchers

The Victorian Free Travel Voucher (VTV) is issued to war widows/widowers who reside permanently in Victoria and are not in receipt of service pension, income support supplement or a social security pension paid by DVA or Department of Human Services (Centrelink).

Wholly dependant partners (MRCA widow/widowers) are eligible to receive the VTV.

The VTV is valid from 1 January 2020 to and including 31 December 2021.  The VTV will contain two free travel vouchers – one for each validity year.

Inclusion of UIN

To assist clients and concession providers to verify concession eligibility, the UIN (Unique Identification Number) is provided on the TC1 card and VTV voucher, in addition to the DVA File Number.

Numbers

The approximate numbers to be produced from the bulk issue are:

 NSW Transport Concession Card

5,512

 Victorian Free Travel Voucher

3,472

Dates

The following dates apply to the 2020 annual bulk issue:

Task

Date

Production data extraction

25-27 November 2019

Printing and enveloping

25-27 November 2019

Lodgement with Australia Post

25-28 November 2019

Reports

As VIEW does not display TC1 and VTV information, a report listing the clients receiving a TC1 or VTV from the bulk issue will be provided to the location contacts.

Daily Issue

Current eligible TC1 and VTV clients will receive their 2020 card or vouchers in the bulk run.

War widows/widowers who gain eligibility for the VTV from Monday, 25 November 2019 should be issued with both a 2020 and 2021 VTV.

Stock

As there is no change to the TC1 and VTV carriers, the current stock on hand should continue to be used for daily issue.

Additional stock will be provided on request.  Location contacts should email the stock request to the Cards and Advices Team in Sydney.

The carrier stock is an accountable item and must be stored securely.

Location Contacts

The location contacts for this project are:

NSW – TC1

Edna Lobo/Sharon Golden

VIC – VTV

Frank Perna

Project Coordinator

The project coordinator for the bulk issue is:

Kyoko Motomura

A/g Assistant Director – Service Operations

Income Support, Cards and Advices

Phone: (02) 9213 7207 (internal ext 417207)

Email: Kyoko.Motomura@dva.gov.au