C32/1999 Guidelines for the Issuing of Obligation and Income/Asset Information with Daily Advices

Purpose of instruction

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to clarify Commission policy and provide guidelines on the communication to pensioners of obligation information and income and asset details.

Background

Following a Commission decision in April 1997, Income Support implemented a new communication strategy which aimed to

• Enhance understanding within the veteran community of their rights, benefits and obligations;
• Assist pensioners to comply with their obligations;
• Discourage unnecessary pensioner initiated reviews;
• Minimise intrusion whilst providing ease of access to information.

The Commission decision approved

• a reduction in the frequency and volume of obligation and income/asset information sent to pensioners; and
• the development of a new pamphlet, You and Your Pension as an optional method for communicating obligation information.

Commission Policy -Obligations

Commission policy is that full obligation information is provided:

• To all pensioners at grant

• To maximum rate pensioners at a minimum interval of once every 5 years
• To reduced rate pensioners at a minimum interval of once every 2 years

• To all pensioners following full departmental review

The 2 and 5 yearly provision of obligations to pensioners is done via the June mailout when group certificates are issued.

Commission Policy – Income & Asset Details

Commission policy is that full income and asset details are provided:

• To all pensioners at grant
• To reduced rate pensioners at a minimum interval of once every 2 years
• To all pensioners following full departmental review
• To reduced rate pensioners affected by a global automatic reassessment (MI/share refresh)

PIRs & DIAs

Full obligations and/or full income and asset details should not normally be sent to pensioners following a pensioner initiated review (PIR) or departmentally initiated action (DIA).

PIR Survey

A recent survey aimed at determining the quantity of nil outcome reviews found that work practices in regard to the issuing of obligations and income/asset details varied significantly between State Offices and often within an office. The survey found a high incidence of full obligations and/or full income/asset details being sent following a PIR or DIA.  Nationally, full obligations were sent with 27.66% of advices, and full income/asset details with 60.9% of advices following a pension continuation. It is likely that the practice is even more common when sending advices following a pension variation.

Experience has shown that the provision of full obligations and income/asset details to pensioners, especially those on the maximum rate encourages unnecessary PIRs.

Guidelines to Achieve Uniform Work Practices

Income Support Managers were consulted in order to develop uniform practices which limit the sending of full obligations and/or income and asset details following a PIR or DIA.

Summary of Advice Practices

A summary outlining advice practices that meet current Commission policy for claims and review processing; and current advice practices for automatic advices is at Attachment A.

Guidelines for Daily Advices

The following guidelines outline Commission Policy and the agreed practices for issuing obligations and income/asset details with daily advices following pension grant or review.

New Claims

Full obligations and full income/asset details are to be provided upon grant of an income support pension.

Comments:

It is important that clear and concise information is conveyed following grants of income support pension to ensure that pensioners are aware of their rights, obligations and assessment details.  From a legislative perspective, this practice is essential to ensure that the correct rate of pension is paid now and in the future.

For grants of service pension and income support supplement, obligations are to be suppressed on the PIPS/PC advice screen and the booklet You and Your Pension sent with the advice of grant. (DI C35/98 refers)

Pensioner Initiated Reviews

Pension Variation:

Pensioners should only be advised of the items in their assessment that have altered and the obligations that have changed following a PIR that results in a change in rate of payment.  The selection of 'Partial Income and Assets' and 'Partial Obligations' on the PIPS/PC advice screen results in the notification of assessment items and obligations that have changed.

Pension Continuation:

No obligations or income/asset details should be sent within the advice.

Comments:

Selection of the Partial Income and Assets option currently results in all assessment items within an assessment type (eg shares) being displayed. With the implementation of ISIS Phase 1 only the assessment item that has been updated will be listed.

Concerns have been raised that some pensioners will not understand their pension assessment and obligations if advice letters only describe the items in the assessment that have changed.  An option of including a summary of the key income/asset components in the assessment is being developed to resolve this concern and increase the flexibility of staff in their choice of advice paragraphs.

It is recognised that the guidelines for the provision of income/asset details and obligation information in response to a PIR may not always be appropriate and that staff require the flexibility to be able to choose other advice options in order to respond to individual pensioner circumstances.

DIAs  &

Fortnightly Manuals

Pension Variation:

Partial obligations and partial income/asset details are to be sent following a DIA or Fortnightly Manual action which results in a change in rate of payment.

Pension Continuation:

No advice should be sent

Departmental Review (DRI)

Full obligations and full income/asset details are to be provided after a full departmental review.

Comments:

If the proposed selective review program is successful, its implementation will initiate communication with pensioners who have been assessed as being at a higher level of risk of being paid incorrectly. It is reasonable that obligations and income/asset information be provided to these pensioners after a comprehensive review has been completed to remind them of their amended income/asset details as well as their obligations.

Contact

Any queries regarding this instruction  should be referred to Sukey Angeloni

on (08) 9366 8463.

Type of Action

Obligations

Income & Asset Details

Frequency

Daily Advices

New Claim

• Grant

Full

Full

At grant

PIR/DIA

• Variation including reduction to nil
• Continuation

Partial

Nil

Partial

Nil

At variation

No advice sent

Departmentally Initiated Review  (DRI)

• Variation including reduction to nil
• Continuation

Full

Full

Full

Full

Following review

Following review

Fortnightly Manual

• Variation including reduction to nil

• Continuation

Partial

Nil

Partial

Nil

At variation

No advice sent

Automatic Advices

Fortnightly Advices

(product name change, profit deletion etc))

• Variation including reduction to nil

• Continuation

Partial

Nil

Partial

Nil

At variation

No advice sent

Global Advices

(MI/Share refresh)

• Variation including reduction to nil

• Continuation

Full

Nil

Full

Nil

March & September

No advice sent

2 & 5 year Obligation Advices

• Maximum Rate Pensioners
• Reduced Rate Pensioners

Full

Full

Nil

Full

5 yearly

2 yearly

BRI & Super variation Advices

• Variation including reduction to nil
• Continuation

Partial

Nil

Partial

Nil

At variation

No advice sent