C48/1997 EXCHANGE RATE ADJUSTMENTS TO BRITISH DISABILITY PENSIONS (EATS & COMPOSITE) PAID IN AUSTRALIA

Advised by:

Advice has been received from the British Department of Social Security (BDSS) to the effect that the exchange rate to be used for payment of the British component of Disability Pensions in Australia has been reviewed.

New Rate

The new rate is to be put into effect on payday No. 60, 9 October 1997.  The exchange rate will vary from $A2.19 to $A2.18 to one Pound Sterling (British pension rates charts are at Attachment B).  The variation applies to the Hong Kong cases and to the EATS and Composite cases.

Manual Examination

There will be no cases processed automatically.  All cases will be listed for manual examination.

Service Pension Cases

Action schedules of cases requiring manual examination and variation by examiners will be produced on 30 September 1997.  The schedules will be supplied by Murray Chynoweth from NO Business Delivery.  They will be made up of the following groups:

Group Content

Group Reference

Composite cases (with or without SP)

100

EATS cases (with or without SP)

200

Other overseas pensions (which may be affected)

300

Pay Period Codes

Pay Period No. 60 (effective date 9 October 1997) should be entered.  The day within the pay period field may be left blank.

Keyfast Batch Description

The manual transactions for EATS and Composite cases should be punched using keyfast batch description $PENSIO by cut off for payday No. 60,

9 October 1997.

Control Cards

Control card formats for computer runs are at Attachment A.

Client Data Base (CDB)

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 via PIPS.  Due to the change in the British rate, these cases will be “MS” and determined by the delegate, or through manual authority on PIPS only.

D408/ Schedules

It will not be necessary to prepare a D408, or equivalent in these cases; the schedule produced for dual SP/EATS/COMP cases to record the changes to the PMF may be used as an authority provided each record on that schedule is endorsed with the consecutive number automatically produced by PIPS and is signed by the delegate determining the case prior to transmission to Payment Administration.  All such cases can be identified from the manual schedules  (i.e. group 100, 200) and the new British rates should be deducted from the examiners' entries on those schedules.

NOTE:  ALL entries on these schedules must be in Australian Dollars.

CR.PS System

The Correspondence Rules and Paragraph Specifications system will generate an advice in cases where a payment variation is made.  Examiners should action cases in the following manner:

Cases

What to do

Continuations

Unless the total payment varies, the PIPS Advices screen should be accessed and production of an automatic advice suppressed.  The advice Indicator on the Action Schedule should be set to “Z”.

Variations

Where a variation in total payments results the PIPS Advice screen should be accessed and the Supress Income/Asset List Indicator set to “Y”.  This will result in production of a variation advice with no income and asset details.  The Advice Indicator on the Action Schedule should be set to “Y”.

Computer Processing

Computer processing will be performed by the Mainframe Support Unit in Business Delivery.  A list of all relevant cases will be produced on 30 September 1997.

Other Issues

We will be writing to the British Authorities to discuss the cost to DVA of processing a change to exchange rate of only $0.01 variation.

Contact Officer

The contact officer for this exercise is Ric Moore (02) 6289 4707 (Business Hours).

  BRITISH PENSION

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GENERAL INCREASE

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BRITISH   PENSION

**

&

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    REVALUA-TIONS

***

     RATES   CHARTS

**

INPUT WORK SHEET

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Effective Date for OFFICERS & WIDOWS

9-Oct-97

Effective Date for OTHER RANKS

9-Oct-97

EXCHANGE RATE VARIATION FROM

2.19

TO

$A2.18

New Exchange rate

one pound = $A

2.18

OTHER RANKS - DISABILITY PENSION-EFFECTIVE

9-Oct-97

Current (Old) Exchange rate

one pound = $A

2.19

Open the macro sheet first

OLD

NEW

Please note!   This file must be used with the margins set to left 1.5 right 1.5

             CLASS

%

RATE

RATE

and top 2.0 bottom 2.0.   Do not remove any white space or lines from either

P.F.

P.F.

the INPUT WORKSHEET or the RATES CHARTS.    To do so will cause the

V, IV, III, II, I, WO1

macros  to malfunction

20%

93.91

93.48

PREPARED BY

30%

140.86

140.22

CHECKED BY

40%

187.81

186.96

PROOF READING ERRORS:If you find an error in the new rates

50%

234.77

233.70

that needs to be corrected, load the file

(BRIT_DP) then find and correct

60%

281.72

280.44

the rates then save.

70%

328.68

327.17

Do Not Delete this text

EXCHANGE RATE VARIATION FROM

TO

80%

375.63

373.91

CURRENT EXCHANGE RATE

DISABLED OTHER RANKS - MALE & FEMALE

90%

422.58

420.65

1939 War  Rates

100%

469.54

467.39

Assessment

pounds /wk

Appendix 2

100

107.20

other ranks

OFFICER - DISABILITY PENSION - EFFECTIVE

9-Oct-97

90

96.48

Exchange Rate $A

2.18

80

85.76

RANK

70

75.04

60

64.32

1 Midshipman or Comm Off Navy

50

53.60

  2 Lt. Army

40

42.88

    3 Capt. Army

OLD

NEW

30

32.16

      4 Major Army

RATE

RATE

20

21.44

         5 Lt. Col Army

%

P.F.

P.F.

20%

94.00

93.57

30%

140.95

140.31

DISABLED OFFICERS - MALE & FEMALE

40%

187.99

187.13

pounds yearly

Appendix 1

100

5594

officers

50%

234.95

233.88

90

5035

80

4475

60%

281.90

280.62

70

3916

60

3356

70%

328.94

327.44

50

2797

40

2238

80%

375.90

374.18

30

1678

20

1119

90%

422.94

421.01

100%

469.90

467.75

Appendix 8

   SUPPLEMENTARY ALLOWANCES

OFFICERS

     Officers

  Other Ranks

SERVICE RETIRED PAY OR SERVICE PENSION - EFFECTIVE

9-Oct-97

     (yearly)

    (weekly)

   EXCHANGE RATE

$A2.18

UNEMPLOYABILITY SUPPLEMENT

old rate

new rate

old rate

new rate

OLD

NEW

Personal allowance

3386

3457

64.90

66.25

RATE

RATE

Wife or adult dependent

1910

1949

36.60

37.35

P.F.

P.F.

1st eligible child

517

517

9.90

9.90

20%

94.00

93.57

2nd & subsequent child

582

584

11.15

11.20

INVALIDITY ALLOWANCE

30%

140.95

140.31

old rate

new rate

old rate

new rate

Age qualifying

1. Under 40

673

686

12.90

13.15

40%

187.99

187.13

Date

2. Over 40,under 50

423

433

8.10

8.30

3. 50 or over

211

217

4.05

4.15

50%

234.95

233.88

CONSTANT ATTENDANCE ALLOWANCE

60%

281.90

280.62

old rate

new rate

old rate

new rate

1. Up to half-day attendance

1036

1057

19.85

20.25

70%

328.94

327.44

2. Full day attendance

     Basic rate

2072

2113

39.70

40.50

80%

375.90

374.18

     Intermediate

3107

3170

59.55

60.75

     Exceptional

4143

4227

79.40

81.00

90%

422.94

421.01

COMFORTS ALLOWANCE

100%

469.90

467.75

old rate

new rate

old rate

new rate

Higher rate

887

908

17.00

17.40

Lower rate

444

454

8.50

8.70

SUPPLEMENTARY  ALLOWANCES

AGE ALLOWANCE

OFFICERS and OTHER RANKS - DISABLEMENT

   When the degree of pensioned

   EXCHANGE RATE

$A2.18

               disablement is

old rate

new rate

old rate

new rate

  a. 40 to 50 per cent

365

373

7.00

7.15

Effective

9-Oct-97

Effective

9-Oct-97

  b. 50 to 70 per cent

564

577

10.80

11.05

UNEMPLOYABILITY SUPP.

OFFICERS

OTHER RANKS

  c. 70 to 90 per cent

806

822

15.45

15.75

OLD RATE

NEW RATE

OLD RATE

NEW RATE

  d. over 90 per cent

1127

1153

21.60

22.10

P.F.

P.F.

P.F.

P.F.

Personal Allowance

290.39

289.06

290.18

288.85

Wife or Adult dependant

163.72

162.97

163.59

162.85

1st eligible child

43.43

43.23

43.36

43.16

2nd & subsequent child

49.06

48.83

49.06

48.83

   WIDOWS PENSION and ALLOWANCES

Appendix 6

CONSTANT ATTENDANT

OFFICERS

OTHER RANKS

OTHER RANKS

ALLOWANCE

OLD RATE

NEW RATE

OLD RATE

NEW RATE

P.F.

P.F.

P.F.

P.F.

Type of Award

Other Ranks

Officers

1.Up to half-day attendance

88.79

88.38

88.70

88.29

Class of Award per Week

per year

2.Full day attendance - Basic

177.49

176.68

177.39

176.58

Widow

WO1

1

2

3

4

5

- Intermediate

266.28

265.06

266.09

264.87

Higher Rate

81.25

81.25

81.25

81.25

81.25

81.00

- Exceptional

355.07

353.45

354.78

353.16

Lower Rate

19.02

19.02

19.02

19.02

19.02

18.74

COMFORTS ALLOWANCE

OFFICERS

OTHER RANKS

OLD RATE

NEW RATE

OLD RATE

NEW RATE

Children of

P.F.

P.F.

P.F.

P.F.

Widow  1st Child

14.15

738.00

Higher Rate

76.27

75.92

76.21

75.86

Lower Rate

38.14

37.96

38.11

37.93

2 nd and sub

15.45

806.00

Total Orphans

CLOTHING ALLOWANCE

OFFICERS

OTHER RANKS

1st  Child

15.90

830.00

OLD RATE

NEW RATE

OLD RATE

NEW RATE

P.A.

P.A.

P.F.

P.F.