C22/2006 Annual Bulk Issue - 2007 Pensioner Concession Card (PCC)

Purpose

This Departmental Instruction provides information on the bulk issue of the 2007 Pensioner Concession Card (PCC).  It also provides information on issuing daily PCCs and travel vouchers.

Overview

The PCC is issued by the Australian Government to all income support recipients to prove eligibility for a range of Commonwealth and State/Territory benefits and concessions.  DVA is responsible for issuing the PCC to DVA clients (including Centrelink Age Pensioners being paid by DVA).

DVA issue the PCC annually in September/October to eligible pensioners.  The mailing house contracted to the Department is responsible for printing, enveloping and lodging the cards with Australia Post.

The PCC is also issued on a daily basis for new grants and reissues.  Information relating to daily grants and reissues is referred to later in the document.

Changes for 2007

The following changes have been implemented for the 2007 bulk issue:

• Victorian exchange travel voucher now combined with travel voucher;
• group destination blind now streamed with single blind;
• 'BLIND' cards holepunch moved to bottom right corner; and
• group destination clients' cards now sent direct to Public Trustee.

Dates

The 2007 bulk issue is scheduled to take place between 16 September and 6 October 2006.  The following dates apply to the 2007 bulk issue:

Task

Date

Production extract

16-17 September

Commence using 2007 stock for daily issues

18 September

Reports to contact officers

18 September

Printing, enveloping and lodgement of cards.

20 Sep-6 Oct 2006

Extraction of deceased clients

20 Sep-6 Oct 2006

Final lodgement with Australia Post

6 Oct 2006

Numbers

The approximate total number of carriers to be produced from the annual bulk run is 243,098 and the total number of cards to be produced from the bulk run is 315,618 (married carriers have two cards).  The breakdown of carriers to be produced for each state is:

State

Married

Single

Single Special Register

Single Blind

Total

NSW

22383

56425

15

1038

79861

VIC

14504

39011

237

729

54481

QLD

17018

34779

172

696

52665

SA

7068

15312

94

233

22707

WA

7867

13817

57

307

22048

TAS

2695

5948

26

87

8756

NT

166

352

0

7

525

ACT

819

1204

0

32

2055

243098

2007 PCC Stock

Minor text and date amendments have been made to the 2006 stock.  Daily single stock supplies have been sent to the location contacts.  Surplus single stock from the bulk issue will also be sent to the location contacts.

Changes to VIC Vouchers

The Victorian Pensioner Free Travel Voucher and the Victorian Pensioner Voucher Exchange Coupon have been combined.  The change is administrative only.  PCC holders are still entitled to one free train or coach trip within Victoria each year.

SA, WA & TAS Vouchers

There are no amendments to the TAS, SA and WA vouchers issued.

PCC Information Insert

A PCC Information Insert will be included with VIC, SA, WA and TAS married carriers.  The insert contains the information that cannot fit on the married carriers due to the vouchers.

Fridge Calendar Magnet Insert

A state specific fridge calendar magnet will be inserted with all PCCs.  Daily stock supplies have been sent to the location contact.  Surplus stock from the bulk issue will also be sent to the location contacts.  Surplus supplies for NSW and VIC will be sent on completion of the TC1 bulk issue.

Blind Pensioners

The word 'BLIND' will continue to be print on the top right hand corner of the card.  The card will be holepunched on the bottom right hand corner of the card.

Group Destination

Group destination streamed cards will now be packaged together and sent directly to the Public Trustee from the mailing house.

Cross Reference

PCCs for cross reference cases will continue to be issued in the payment file number.

Listing  Dependants on PCC

Rules for listing dependants on the PCC remain unchanged:

member of a couple in receipt of an income support payment will be cross-listed as a dependant on veteran and partner PCC;

spouse/defacto of a veteran (including blind veterans) not eligible or payable but in the assessment, will be listed as a dependant on the veteran PCC;

a veteran not in payment (and therefore not eligible for a PCC) will appear as a dependant if partner is on blind service pension;

the maximum number of children that will be listed on a PCC is six.  If there are more than six dependent children in the assessment, an additional card will be issued listing the veteran and remaining children.

Reports

Location contacts will be provided with reports on completion of the bulk extract.  Locations should examine the reports and undertake any necessary action.

Deceased Clients

Prior to the printing of each state job, a batch program will report on clients who have a date of death recorded since the live extract.  The mailing house will extract the client data and a card will not be produced.

Location contacts will be provided with a copy of the deceased extract report.  If there is a surviving partner a manual PCC will need to be issued.

CD-ROM

At the completion of the exercise the location contacts will be provided with a report on CD-ROM of clients issued with a PCC in the annual bulk issue run.

2007 Daily Issues

The procedures for issuing daily PCCs (grant and reissues) remain unchanged.  A batch extract program will continue to run nightly and print PCCs locally the following day.

The last automatic batch extract for 2006 daily PCCs will be on Friday 15 September 2006.  Locations should commence using 2007 stock from Monday 18 September.

2006 Voucher Issues (if applicable)

Any new grant or transfer-in between 18 September and 31 December 2006 will need to be manually issued with 2006 travel vouchers.

2007 Voucher Issues (if applicable)

All cardholders are entitled to only one issue of vouchers for their residential state each calendar year except where a cardholder transfers to another state.  New grants of income support pension must not be provided with concession vouchers if they have received a PCC with vouchers in the same calendar year.

Voucher personalisation should be suppressed for all replacement or re-issued cards for clients.  The card will be personalised and issued on the carrier, however, the vouchers will remain attached to the carrier but will be voided with XXXX's.  This includes clients who:

• have had a 2006 DVA PCC processed with vouchers, then lost and regained eligibility during the course of the year; or

• Centrelink Transfer In cases, as they have already received their PCC and vouchers from Centrelink.

Voucher Replacement

For most states, DVA does not have the facility to issue replacement vouchers.  Where state rail authorities have provided them, arrangements are listed below.

State

Arrangement

VIC

The Victorian Rail Authority gives DVA authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf for an indefinite period.

SA

SA Rail gives DVA authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf indefinitely.

WA

TRANSWA gives DVA authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf for a period up until the 31 — st January 2007.  After this date people can phone TRANSWA to apply for replacement vouchers.  TRANSWA may charge for replacement vouchers.

Location Contacts

The location contacts are as follows:

Location

Contact

Sydney (NSW)

Sue Cooney

Brisbane (QLD)

Geraldine Howard

Melbourne (VIC)

David Price

Adelaide (SA/NT)

Maria Lewandowski

Perth (WA)

John Gliddon

Hobart (TAS)

Bryon Kelly

Project Coordinator

The project coordinator for the bulk issue of the 2007 PCC is:

Simone Cantrill

Systems, Cards and Advices

Business Operations

Income Support

Phone:  02 62896489

Email:  simone.cantrill@dva.gov.au