DATE OF ISSUE:  22 DECEMBER 1995

ISSUE OF 1996 PENSIONER CONCESSION CARD

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to provide information about the issue of the 1996 Pensioner Concession Card (PCC), the production schedule, procedures for applying for replacement travel vouchers and arrangements for ongoing issue of PCCs.

BACKGROUND

2.The PCC is issued by the Commonwealth Government to all service pensioners and income support supplement (ISS) 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.

3.The PCC is issued annually to all recipients for the calendar year.  PCCs should be delivered to clients by the end of the first week in December.

4.The 1996 PCC is issued as a plastic card, tipped face down onto a carrier.  Rail Travel vouchers are attached to the carrier for all States which have rail transport, and for the Australian Capital Territory.  Vouchers for Tasmania are for use for transport related concessions.

5.Processing of the bulk issue of approximately 405 000 1996 PCCs will commence on 20 November 1995, following the extract of client data on the weekend of 18-19 November.  This is two weeks earlier than was scheduled for the 1995 PCC.

6.The 1996 PCC will be personalised by Leigh Mardon Pty Ltd in Melbourne.  NSW cards will be enveloped and despatched from their Sydney site.  Cards for the other States will be enveloped and despatched from the Melbourne site.

7.The approximate numbers and despatch dates for each State/Territory for the bulk issue in November 1995 are as follows:

State/Territory	No. of PCCs	Scheduled despatch dates
NSW	137,500	27 - 28Nov
VIC	93,500	1 Dec
QLD	78,000	29 - 30 Nov
SA	40,000	27 - 28 Nov
WA	37,000	27 Nov
TAS	16,000	28 Nov
NT	500	28 Nov
ACT	2,000	27-28 Nov
TOTAL	404,500

8.A State specific magnetic refrigerator calendar will be included with the 1996 bulk issue of PCCs.  It should also be included with new cards produced as part of the ongoing processing.  Stocks will be supplied to the State Offices to include with PCCs they issue (ie new grants and reissues).

9.PCCs for couples will again be included in the one envelope.

CHANGES

10.The 1996 PCC will be a pale blue plastic card with heading and logos in purple.  The travel vouchers are in the same colours.  (The 1996 PCC was salmon pink.)

11.Expiry Date will be 31/12/96 for all 1996 PCCs.

12.The vouchers for 1996 will be similar to those issued in 1995, except that NSW and ACT will have four vouchers instead of two.  A leaflet explaining the use of these four vouchers will be included with the NSW and ACT PCCs.  Stocks of this leaflet will be supplied to the NSW State office for inclusion with daily issues of the PCC.

13.The contact phone numbers for the 1996 PCC will be determined by the client's State address.

VOUCHERS

14.For the 1996 PCC issue, neither DSS nor DVA will have the facility to issue replacement vouchers.  The PCC carriers have a message just above the vouchers warning that DVA cannot issue replacement vouchers.  Where State rail authorities provided them, contacts and procedures for applying for replacement vouchers are included on the carriers.  A more comprehensive set of procedures and contact is at Attachment A.

15.The number of vouchers attached to the carriers will vary with each State/Territory, up to a maximum of four vouchers, able to be separated from the carrier by perforations. The vouchers will include the pensioner's name and entitlement number, and in the case of Tasmania will also contain the pensioner's address and Date of Grant.  The DVA vouchers are slightly larger than the DSS ones.

16.All card holders are entitled to one issue of vouchers for their residential State each calendar year except where a card holder transfers to another State.  New grants of service pension will not receive concession vouchers on reissue of the PCC if clients have previously received a PCC with vouchers in the same calendar year.

BULK ISSUE REPORTS

17.State offices will be provided with the following listings of cases:

• Carers;

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

• Special register clients.

18.Leigh Mardon will provide the State offices with microfische listing of all clients on the 1996 bulk issue extract.

ONGOING ISSUES OF PCCS FROM LOCAL PRINTERS

19.Since 23 October 1995, ongoing issues of new and replacement PCCs have been made through local printers in the State offices following daily batch extracts.

20.The last extract for 1995 PCCs will be done on Friday, 17 November, before the bulk extract.  These cards are to be printed on 1995 stock.

21.From 20 November, all new grant and card replacement transactions will generate a 1996 PCC record with an expiry date of 31/12/96.  The 1995 stock must not be used for daily extracts from and including 20 November, as we cannot then issue valid 1996 vouchers.

22.Stock for the 1996 PCCs should be received in the State offices in the week ending 17 November.  Local printing of 1996 PCCs should be delayed for a few days until the new stock is tested in National Office for alignment.  Some minor design changes are required to better match the print setting limitations of the local printers.  State offices will be notified when the settings for their PCCs have been checked.

CONTACT OFFICERS

Paul McBow — Annette Smith

Ag. Director — Project Officer

(06) 289 6429(06) 289 4739

BOB HAY

BRANCH HEAD

INCOME SUPPORT BRANCH

Attachment A

ARRANGEMENTS FOR PROVIDING REPLACEMENT TRAVEL VOUCHERS FOR PENSIONER CONCESSION CARD HOLDERS IN 1996.

NSW/ACT  Phone (02) 224 4767  Fax (02) 224 3466

The contact number for requesting replacement vouchers from theState Rail Concessions Office is (02) 224 4767.  The Concessions Office will accept a written or faxed application from the person or from DVA (or DSS for their clients).  A faxed application via DVA should be on letterhead and include the clients name, address, entitlement number and the number of replacement vouchers required.

VIC

Their Rail authority does not want to issue any replacement vouchers: they say they do not have the resources for the task. DSS staff are advising their customers to apply in writing to:

The Pricing and Ticketing Department

Public Transport Corp

GPO Box 1327L

MELBOURNE   VIC   3001

Each request is considered on an individual basis and is likely to take at least a week to process.

QLD  (07) 235 2223

Queensland Rail have set up a Rail Concession Unit where people can apply for replacement vouchers and sign a Statutory Declaration.  They do a computer check and only replace unused vouchers.  The vouchers can only be replaced once in a calendar year.

For non-metropolitan clients, the unit has an arrangement with local rail stations to fax the Statutory Declaration to the RCU, and send the original later.  Alternatively, people can get a Statutory Declaration at the local police station, pay their half fare concession and get a refund to the voucher equivalent after their travel.  They should confirm this with the above number.

SA  13 2232

The Australian National Railways Office has a General Reservations office which people can ring for information.  AN will not replace the vouchers, but if the person fills out an application, they will provide them with a ticket in place of the voucher.

WA  (09) 326 2222

Westrail will not accept personal applications.  However people can phone the Westrail Refunds Officer on (09) 326 2222 for an application for replacement vouchers.  They check that the vouchers have not been presented before replacing them.