DATE OF ISSUE: 11 APRIL 1996
CURRENCY ADJUSTMENT TO BRITISH PENSIONS PAID IN AUSTRALIA
1.The British Department of Social Security (BDSS) have advised of the following changes to the British pensions paid in Australia:
.British General CPI Increase
.The Australian General Increase
.Exchange Rate Variation
2.These changes will affect the EATS/COMPOSITE cases and any case where service pension is also in payment. The new rates and exchange rate will be applied to EATS, Composite and all service pension cases where British disability pension is in payment.
EFFECTIVE DATES
3.This exercise is a manual process and any arrears are to be paid, so the timetable is at your discretion. However, the variations should be put into effect on payday 22, 24 April 1996. (Note, payday 25 April has been brought forward to 24 April to allow for the ANZAC Day Public Holiday.) Any reductions should be put into effect from the next available payday.
4.The effective dates for the British War Pension increase will be
. 8 April 1996 for Officers and Widows
.10 April 1996 for Other Ranks
FORMS MPU 24, MPU 25
5.Under the revised arrangements for payment of British pensioners the BDSS do not provide forms MPU 24/25. The fact that they don't provide forms MPU 24/25 also extends to EATS/Composite cases. Without a form MPU 24/25 the increased rate of British pension and or allowances will not be easily identified. In general there are no allowances paid in EATS cases and only age allowance paid in Composite cases. A selection of rates converted to $A at both old and new exchange rates are attached.
MANUAL CASES
6.All cases will be identified by AL02 listings. Action schedules (in the following groups) of cases requiring manual examination and variation by examiners will be produced on 10 April 1996.
Group ContentsReference Number
.Composite Cases
(with or without SP)100
.EATS Cases
(with or without SP)200
.Other Overseas pensions
(which may be affected)300
.Miscellaneous and joint cases — 900
Group 300 are to be processed via the PMF update transactions. Groups 100 and 200 are to be processed via PIPS.
MISCELLANEOUS AND JOINT CODES
7.Any case listed in group 900 will require action to remove the joint payment and/or miscellaneous pension code, in addition to the British pension adjustment.
CONTROL CARDS AND COMPUTER RUNS
8.The parameter cards for the computer runs are at Attachment A. Would you please check the parameter cards to ensure that they are correct before processing commences. Any changes should be reported to Elizabeth Joyner on (06) 289 6078 so that the appropriate amendments can be made. The computer processing will be performed by the MSU. A listing of all relevant cases will be forwarded to Benefits System Support Officers on 10 April 1996.
DATA ENTRY OF TRANSACTIONS FROM AL02 ACTION SCHEDULES EATS AND COMPOSITE CASES
PAY PERIOD CODES
9.The pay period number 22 (effective date 24 April 1996) should be entered. (Note, payday 25 April has been brought forward to 24 April to allow for the ANZAC Day Public Holiday.) The day within the pay period field may be left blank. Reductions are to be put into effect from the next available payday.
KEYFAST BATCH DESCRIPTION
10.The manual transactions for EATS/Composite cases should be entered using Keyfast batch description $PENSIO in normal daily production.
CASES WITH SERVICE PENSION AND OR AN AUSTRALIAN
DP COMPONENT TO BE PROCESSED VIA PIPS (Groups 100, 200)
11.For all cases involving EATS, COMPOSITE or SERVICE PENSION, whether automatic or manual method of assessment, the new rate of British pension must be updated on the CDB via PIPS. Due to the change in the British rate, these cases will be MS. They can either be registered under process code of DP Payment Change, processed through submission stage with submitted to code of MS and determined by the delegate, or through manual authority on PIPS only.
12. Where adjustments of payment occur, as in COMPOSITE and EATS cases, the examiner processes the case as follows:
NOTE:The British rates are EXAMPLES only:
(a)Access the facility 'Classify Pension' (CM.CP) classification. Create an action record with a 'Manual Authority' classification.
(b)Access the facility 'Assessment Control' (PP.AC). Copy the current assessment details by pressing the ENTER button once. (Effective date can be entered at this stage but is required only where there is a service pension component).
(c)Access the facility 'Disability Pension' (PP.DP) screen and update the new disability pension details. The following example shows what a similar case will look like when the examiner access the DP screen:
DISABILITY PENSION (DP)
ADJUSTMENT |
PENSION |
|||||
DP RATE |
AMOUNT |
AMOUNT |
||||
ACTION REL |
TYPE |
ENT RECIPIENT |
(P/F) |
REASON |
(P/F) |
|
VET |
100 |
X V |
200.00 |
EATS |
12.10 |
|
VET |
100F |
PX V |
0.00 |
220.00 |
TOTALS FOR ALL 2 ITEMS --- DISABILITY PENSION — 232.10
NOTE 1: The Australian Disability Pension percentage rate (in this example "100%") must be data collected in each case.
NOTE 2: 100F = 100% BP RATE FOR AN OFFICER
(d)The adjustment that has to be made is as follows:
Where, for example, the Australian DP is 100% rate equivalent to $A212.10 and the NEW British rate of 100% for an officer is equivalent to $A230.00 the screen entries will be:
DISABILITY PENSION (DP)
ADJUSTMENT |
PENSION |
|||||
DP RATE |
AMOUNT |
AMOUNT |
||||
ACTION REL |
TYPE |
ENT RECIPIENT |
(P/F) |
REASON |
(P/F) |
|
C |
VET |
100 |
X V |
212.10 |
EATS |
000.0 |
C |
VET |
100F |
PX V |
0.00 |
EATS |
230.00 |
MORE: TOTALS FOR ALL 2 ITEMS --- DISABILITY PENSION — 230.00
.we have added an Action "C" (change).
.because the British rate is more than the Australian rate, we do not pay any Australian pension. Therefore, the Australian adjustment is the equivalent of the full Australian 100% DP rate of $A212.10 and the entry for the British rate is the NEW RATE of $A230.00 for an officer.
Enter new details on the action schedule.
(e)Submit (SU) the cases to MS for a 50, obtain the con. no. and enter that onto the schedule, obtain the supporting documents (only for a case with an SP component) and forward to the Delegate for determination.
13.It may be necessary to prepare a D408 or equivalent in these cases. The schedule produced for dual BRIT/SP/EATS/COMP may be used as an authority (but there may not be room) provided each record on that schedule is endorsed with the consecutive number automatically produced by the Pension Processing System and is signed by the delegate determining the case, prior to transmission to Pension Payments Section. All such cases can be identified from the manual schedules listed by the AL02, AL03 runs (i.e., group 100, 200) and the new British rates should be deduced from the examiners' entries on those schedules.
NOTE:All entries on these schedules must be in Australian dollars.
ADVICES
14.There will only be two circumstances where an advice is required and that will be in a limited number of cases. The circumstances are when the British component is greater than the Australian and in cases where the increased British DP reduces the amount of Rent Assistance payable (i.e. in both situations, a payment variation is effected).
15.For variation cases requiring PIPS action, a reason for variation should be entered on the Advices (PP.AD) screen, and an advice indicator of 'Y' coded on action schedules. For non-PIPS actions, a variation advice indicator of 'A' should be coded on action schedules.
16.Other British payments such as Funeral Benefits, Education Allowance, Subsistence Allowance, etc., are to be made in accordance with the new exchange rate regardless of the period to which they relate.
RATES CHARTS
17.The attached rates have been worked out as follows:
The old rates are corrected figures using 1 Pound = $A2.11.
The new rates are corrected figures using 1 Pound = $A2.11, including the British DP increase.
CONTACT OFFICERS
18.The contact officer for this exercise is
Elizabeth Joyner Phone06 289 6078 Business Hours
MURRAY HARRISON
BRANCH HEAD
BENEFITS INCOME SUPPORT
ATTACHMENT A
CJOYNE.X.CNTL
MEMBER AL02
Z1200 — ALL3023802380
Z1100 — ALL3223802380
Z2200 — ALL3323802380
Z2100 — ALL0040014003
Z2200 — ALL0050015004
Z2300 — ALL0057005700