DATE OF ISSUE: 03 June 1991
STATUTORY PENSION INCREASE 11 JULY 1991 ADP PROCESSING
INTRODUCTION
1.The Statutory Pension increase effective 11 July 1991 will be combined with the CPI Advices (mailout to all reduced rate pensioners) exercise and is scheduled for the weekend of 22-23 June. This is the first time we have combined the Assets Test Free Area indexation (AFA) with the Income Test Free Area indexation (IFA).
2.The following variations will take place:
.Assets Test Free Area (formerly Basic Assets Limit) has been increased.
.Income Test Free Area (formerly Basic Income Limit) has been increased.
The new rates are contained in paragraph 8 of this Instruction.
TIMETABLE
3.Listed below is a brief outline of the proposed timetable. Attachment A provides a more detailed schedule.
.The new rates will be available on the Trial Assessment Screen from Monday 17 June.
.Cut Off for Payday 52 (27 June) will be Tuesday 18 June at the usual time for all States.
.After cut off, daily advices should be suppressed until the new rates have been loaded.
.Interface will run on Wednesday 19 June at the usual time.
.After Interface has been completed for all States (19/6/91), the new rates will be loaded.
.IFA/AFA processing will commence Friday evening 21 June 1991.
.The PIPS and PMF systems will be unavailable over the weekend 22-23 June.
.Schedules and automatic advices will commence printing on Sunday 23 June.
GENERAL OPERATIONAL OUTLINE
4.The processing for pension rate changes will be divided into groups of those cases to be processed automatically and those cases requiring manual action. Clients' personal assessment particulars including income and asset details held on the CDB will be referenced for the automatic reassessment of pension and preparation of variation transactions for update of the PMF.
SPECIAL FEATURES AND SUGGESTIONS
Pre Increase Action
5.It is suggested that the following steps be undertaken prior to computer runs for the SI to help processing progress as smoothly as possible:
.Minimise the number of cases in frozen status (SB or PY status).
.Arrange an early cut-off (say one week) for processing of cases requiring MS submissions by pension examiners to allow time for those cases to be received and actioned by Pension Payments.
.Clear outstanding MS cases.
.Resolve any SP Compare reconciliation edits.
.Arrange a cut-off date one or two days before automatic processing commences for final automatic authorities to Pension Payments.
Trial Assessment Facility
6.The Trial Assessment screen with the new IFA/AFA rates will be available on Monday 17 June.
Limitation Cases
7.Cases for which limitations are in force will have their pension increased automatically, but the limitation amount will not be adjusted. Identification of these cases and adjustment to the limitation amount must be arranged locally.
PENSION RATE CHANGES
8.Listed below are the new Asset and Income Limits:
Fringe Benefit
Assets Test Free AreaOld Rate New RateEligibility ceases
Homeowners
Standard Veteran $103,500$110,750$126,250
Married Couple - each$ 73,750$ 78,750
Married Wife/Widow$ 73,750$ 78,750
Married - combined$180,500
Non Homeowners
Standard Veteran$177,500$190,250$205,750
Married Couple - each$110,750$118,500
Married Wife/Widow $110,750$118,500
Married - combined$260,000
Income Test Free Area — Old Rate — New Rate
Standard Veteran$80.00$84.00
Married Couple - each$70.00$74.00
Married Wife/Widow$70.00$74.00
9.The increases to service pension will be effected automatically on the PMF wherever possible by program APPBAL. Reports and schedules will be produced to enable manual reassessment of cases which cannot be processed automatically. APPBAL will also generate pension payment transactions for automatically processable cases. Cases listed for manual action will need to be processed through PIPS before cut-off for payday 11 July.
OUTPUT
10.Output From Program APPBAL
The cases which cannot be processed automatically will be reported on schedules for manual action. Manual cases are:
Frozen actions (i.e. cases in PY or SB Status).
.PMF/CDB incompatible cases.
.Manual methods of assessment (excluding Working Rule B).
.Cases suspended on the PMF.
.Assessment errors.
Other schedules which may be produced are:
.Last SI not processed.
.Old SI process codes deleted.
.Manual arrears cases.
.Data base errors detected.
.Transaction generation error schedule.
PROCESSING
11.Processing of manual cases can be commenced after the new rates are loaded on the system on Thursday 20 June to cut-off for payday 11 July 1991. The processing of manual cases should be done in the above period and cases are to be processed through IDPS/PIPS. Cases listed for manual action should be reassessed using the SI rates, updated through an action record, a D2650 produced, or a D408 or other coding sheet produced to effect the PMF variation. If coding is done on an action schedule, the consecutive number for the IDPS/PIPS action should be noted on the schedule.
12.Frozen Actions - when cases in PY or SB status are encountered by the SI program, update is prohibited because the record is frozen. The cases need to be unfrozen and re-processed as follows:
.Return case to RI status (by using Cancel Determination and Cancel Submission as appropriate).
.Re-process case using the SI as the last variation (if
effective date is prior to the SI date enter arrears line for effective date).
.Submit to MS or DA as appropriate and prepare D408 in MS
cases.
.Determine case as per normal.
13.PMF/CDB incompatible cases - cases will need to be investigated to determine the cause of the discrepancy, then the CDB or PMF corrected as necessary before the SI action can be processed. The discrepancies will normally relate to people/suffixes on the CDB and PMF.
14.Manual Methods of Assessment - cases need to be manually re-assessed and processed through the system as normal. Where a case involves a suspension or a manual DP component, it should be processed through an MS submission and a D408 raised to record the manual coding.
15.Keyfast Description - MS (multiple segment) and manual transactions should be transmitted to the Computer Centre in the normal pension payment daily stream i.e. keyfast description $PENSIO, prior to the cut-off for payday 11 July.
16.Cases Suspended on the PMF - where a service pension, Other or Total suspension occurs on the PMF, the SP rate and suspension rate should be re-assessed, the case processed through an MS submission and the rates varied as necessary. The schedule is produced in PMF transaction format and should be used to code the adjustments. The schedules should be endorsed with the MS consecutive number generated by the system, and be signed by the Delegate - this obviates the need to prepare a D408 for these cases.
17.Assessment Errors - the assessment routine will produce information messages as an indication that certain action should be taken as a result of the re-assessment. These cases should be examined and modified as necessary, as well as processing the SI increase.
INFORMATION/SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSING SCHEDULES
18.A number of conditions may exist on the CDB which require additional investigation beyond the normal SI processing. The cases listed will already be automatically processed, or will appear for action on the schedules. The conditions are detailed below:
.Last SI not processed - the case was not processed in the last SI that effected the case. Check the case to ensure that appropriate A/L or SI action was taken.
.Old SI process codes deleted - before any SI processing takes place, any old SI process code (S183) will be deleted. Action on these will depend on the reason the old process exists, but most will not require any corrective action.
.Manual arrears cases - cases where the current effective date is in advance of the SI date. These cases need to be examined to ensure that any adjustment for the period between the SI date and the current effective date is made.
.Data Base Error detected - these cases will fail SI processing, and should be referred immediately to ADP for action.
.Transaction Generation Errors - the equivalent of Interface errors in normal daily production. Corrective action is the same as for Interface errors.
19.Service pension cases submitted to MS should be transmitted to the computer centre via the normal pension payment daily stream.
NCC IMPLICATIONS
20.This exercise is scheduled for the weekend 22-23 June. Cut off for payday 52 is Tuesday 18/6/91 for all States. Attachment A provides a general outline of the proposed timetable. Benefits Applications Section will provide the NCC with a detailed schedule of the computer runs necessary for this exercise.
CONTACT OFFICERS
21.The Benefits contact officers for this exercise are
Glenys Bulters Telephone — 06 289 6019 (Business hours)
Ken Stewart 06 282 4794 (After hours)
DAVID MACKRELL
ASSISTANT SECRETARY
BENEFITS PLANNING & MANAGEMENT
ATTACHMENT 1
STATUTORY INCREASE - 11 JULY 1991
TIMETABLE OF EVENTS - GENERAL
Monday, 17 June — Trial Screen with the new rates will be available.
Tuesday, 18 June — Cut off for Payday 52 (27/6/91) for all States at the usual time.
Fortnightly processing will be conducted.
Daily advices should be suppressed.
Wednesday, 19 June — Interface with old rates will run at the usual time.
After interface has run, the new Asset and Income Test rates will be loaded.
Thursday, 20 June — Processing can commence with the new rates.
Daily advices can be printed.
Friday, 21 June — IFA/AFA processing will commence.
Sat/Sun, 22-23 June — PIPS and PMF unavailable.
Schedules and advices will commence printing.
Monday, 24 June — PIPS and PMF available.
Schedules will be despatched to Branches.