DEFENCE COMPENSATION INSTRUCTION - NO 24.
Military Compensation Scheme - Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988
Subject
Defcare Project - Implementation Of The Single Period Incapacity Calculator
1.The purpose of this Instruction is to provide guidance to MCRS Staff on actions to be taken in MCRS Offices to help ensure that the benefits expected from the implementation of the Single Period Incapacity Calculator (SPC) are achieved.
The Single Period Calculator
2.The SPC is the first practical tool to be developed by the Defcare Project. Its early release is seen as providing some assistance to one of the most sensitive and complex areas of MCRS activity. Incapacity payments:
a)Represent MCRS's largest single head of expenditure;
b)Are the primary source of income for the majority of our approximately 1300 ongoing or long term clients;
c)Probably represent the largest single functional component of the MCRS in terms of workload; and
d)Involve complex legislative issues resulting in the activity being prone to inconsistencies and errors.
3.The SPC will utilise an 'expert' rule base which will guide users, question by question, through a consistent and accurate application of the provisions of the SRC Act. Integrated, detailed 'commentary', or supporting information discussing relevant issues will be available on a question by question basis in a 'policy' window. Major benefits being sought through the early deployment of the SPC are:
a)The consistent and accurate application of policy;
b)Some modest immediate increases in efficiency;
c)A tool for use in sampling existing cases, thereby providing some guidance to DMCR in developing a strategy to address under and over payments;
d)Reducing the impact of the migration to the integrated Defcare system of cases with potentially disparate entitlements; and
e)Early high user acceptance of a pragmatic and useful tool.
4.It is intended that the SPC be used to calculate the appropriate payment for a period of incapacity for all new clients (with the exception of Reserves). The main benefit of this is expected to be the earliest possible commencement of a consistent application of the provisions of the SRC Act to all clients (except Reserves). The SPC can be used to perform retrospective calculations for new starters by performing a series of individual calculations.
5.The SPC is very much a utility, rather than a fully integrated incapacity payment processing system. The core of the application is the automation of calculations in sections 19-21A, 22, 23 30, 31 and 131-137 of the Act.
6.The major limitations of the SPC are that it is a stand alone application, does not address calculations for Reserves, does not retain payments data and is capable of calculating only one period (where the input data is static) at a time. These issues will be addressed in the next version of the calculator scheduled for release as part of Military Compensation and Payments V1.0 release in the last quarter of this year.
Commentary
7.The SPC includes detailed commentary, or supporting text information, on a question by question basis for every issue the user is required to address to derive an incapacity entitlement.
8.The commentary is displayed in a 'policy window' via the use of hypertext headings. The material in the commentary provides the user with a an overview of the issue being addressed, a detailed explanation of the legislative requirements and Defence policy, and information on how the issue is treated in terms of the SPC.
9.The 'policy window' is viewed in a split screen along side the relevant question in the process.
10.The commentary has been prepared by solicitor Mr Peter Sutherland, who edits the 'Annotated Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988', with reference to existing Defence Instructions, relevant legislation and case law, LIPS and in consultation with Defcare Project and MCRS national office staff.
11.All the commentary has been closely edited by Defcare Project and MCRS national office staff for compliance with the Act and Defence policy and processes.
12.All commentary released with the SPC has the same status as a Defence Compensation Instruction.
Implementation
13.The Single Period Calculator is to be implemented into all MCRS offices during May/June 1997. A copy of the 'Single Period Calculator - Implementation Plan', which includes a detailed implementation timetable, has been provided to Managers of all MCRS Offices.
14.The implementation exercise is to be managed by two implementation teams of two officers. Implementation will be conducted over a three day period in each MCRS site. Training, with an emphasis on the legislative requirements of the SPC, will occupy one of the three days. The remaining two days will be used to conduct a sampling exercise of existing cases, provide some additional one on one training and to help resolve any implementation problems.
Sampling/Clean Up Exercise
15.It can safely be assumed when existing incapacity cases are transferred to the fully functional incapacity calculator (as part of Military Compensation and Payments Version V1.0 release in the last quarter of this year) it will become apparent that a number of those existing cases have been under or overpaid.
16.The extent to which this will be a problem is not known although anecdotal evidence suggests that the issue may be a significant one in terms of the:
a)Number of clients affected;
b)Individual and sum values of the over and under payments;
c)Personal impact on clients;
d)Ministerial, Ombudsman and senior Defence management interest.
17.For this reason the SPC will be used to conduct a sampling and clean up exercise of existing clients. The two fold intention of this exercise is to:
a)Gauge the extent of the number and dollar quantum of existing clients' under and overpayments. The results of the sampling would be used to help guide the development of the DMCR strategy for dealing with this potentially sensitive issue; and
b)Minimise the impact of the migration of cases to the new system (Military Compensation and Payments V1.0) by resolving discrepancies at the earliest opportunity.
18.This exercise will initially be conducted by the implementation teams with the assistance of local staff in each MCRS Office. We expect that the implementation teams will be able to sample around 60 cases per site or around 30% of all existing ongoing cases nationally. In the smaller sites this will account for the majority or all cases.
19.It needs to be stressed that the intention of the sampling exercise is not to find fault with the interpretation of policy or entitlement calculation practices existing in any MCRS Office.
20.The implementation teams will record on the local case file the results of all cases sampled and where necessary make recommendations of actions required on individual cases. Examples of sample recording sheets are provided as attachments to the 'Single Period Calculator - Implementation Plan'. The teams will forward to DMCR a summary of all cases sampled and (in cases with under or overpayments) copies of the individual case reports.
21.Clients found to be under or overpaid should be commenced at the correct rate by the local MCRS Office at the earliest opportunity. A standard letter (INCA2001) should be sent to the client advising of the details. This standard letter also advises (where applicable) the client of the superannuation amount used to determine the entitlement and asks the client to advise if the superannuation amount is not correct.
22.MCRS staff should exercise judgement in those cases where the correct entitlement varies by a very minor amount (such as in rounding errors) whether to adjust the client's rate immediately or to delay doing so to coincide with superannuation CPI adjustments etc.
23.Arrears should be calculated and paid by local MCRS staff for cases found to have been underpaid.
24.In cases where an overpayment has occurred MCRS staff should not attempt to recover any arrears. Rather DMCR will use sampling results to guide our policy on the handling of this issue. Depending on the scale of the problem and impact on individuals, that policy may include the discretion to write off overpayments. In the meantime standard letter INCA2001 (which advises that a reconcilliation will be undertaken at a later date) should be sent to affected clients.
25.MCRS Managers should ensure that all existing clients not sampled during the implementation exercise are sampled and corrective action taken by local MCRS staff by the end of August 1997.
Help Desk and Change Control
26.The existing systems support network and escalation mechanisms used by the CSSG will be utilised for the SPC. The CSSG will now be called the Defcare User Group (DUG).
27.Local staff finding difficulties in the use of the SPC or with suggestions for improving the SPC should report those difficulties or suggestions through the local DUG representatives.
28.It should be remembered the SPC is being released as an interim system. Minor faults in cosmetic or interface features of the SPC will be taken on board for relevance to the new system. It is intended to devote all possible time effort to the development of new system rather than continuing to cosmetically improve the SPC.
29.Priority should be given to reporting any faults found in the legislative rules and commentary which go to the heart of the correct calculation and processing of entitlements.
Summary Of Action To Be Taken By MCRS Staff
30.MCRS Managers should ensure that the following actions are taken following the implementation of the SPC:
a)All new clients (with the exception of Reserves) are to be calculated and paid in accordance with the SPC;
b)All existing clients sampled during the clean up exercise should be calculated and paid in accordance with the SPC for all subsequent periods;
c)All clients found with under or overpayments are to be commenced at the correct rate at the earliest opportunity;
d)Arrears should be calculated and paid in accordance with the SPC for all cases found to be underpaid;
e)Standard letter INCA2001 is to be sent to all clients found to be under or overpaid;
f)Action recommended on cases during the sampling exercise should be undertaken at the earliest practical opportunity;
g)MCRS Offices should 'clean up' the remainder of existing cases not sampled during the implementation process using the SPC. Sample reports should be completed for each case sampled and a summary sheet maintained of cases sampled and results of the sampling. Copies of the sample summary sheets for all cases sampled and sample reports for cases with incorrect entitlements should be forwarded to DMCR. The same corrective actions should be taken for these cases as for cases sampled during the implementation exercise. Further details on the recording of cases sampled and of corrective action to be taken is provided in the 'Single Period Calculator - Implementation Plan';
h)Fault reports and change requests should be referred via the existing DUG (formerly CSSG network); and
i)The commentary incorporated into the SPC is to be treated as having the same status as a Defence Compensation Instruction.
31.Any questions regarding this DCI should be directed to Mr Craig Boyd by email or phone on (06) 266 8358.
(Signed)
C Neumann
ASCRAS
23 June 1997