DATE OF ISSUE: 27 MARCH 1991
GENERAL INCREASE AND CURRENCY ADJUSTMENT TO BRITISH PENSIONS PAID IN AUSTRALIA
1.The British Department of Social Security (BDSS) have advised of the following changes to the British pensions paid in Australia:
.General CPI Increase
.Exchange Rate Variation
.The Australian General Increase
2.These changes will affect the EATS/COMP cases and any case where service pension is also in payment. The new rates and exchange rate will be applied to EATS, Composite and all service pension cases where British disability pension is in payment.
EXCHANGE RATE DEVALUATION
3.The exchange rate will vary from $A2.54 to $A2.48 to one Pound Sterling. The exchange rate is subject to change and will be confirmed closer to the effective date.
EFFECTIVE DATES
4.This exercise is a manual process and arrears are to be paid so the timetable is at your discretion. However, the variations should be put into effect on payday 18 April, 1991.
5.The effective dates for the British War Pension increase and the exchange rate variation will be
.8 April 1991 for Officers and Widows
.10 April for Other Ranks
6.For Service Pension assessment purposes the effective date for the exchange rate variation will be 18 April 1991.
FORMS MPU 24, MPU 25
7.Under the revised arrangements for payment of British pensioners the BDSS has refused to provide forms MPU 24/25. The refusal to provide forms MPU 24/25 also extends to EATS/Composite cases. Without a form MPU 24/25 the increased rate of British pension and or allowances will not be easily identified. In general there are no allowances paid in EATS cases and only age allowance paid in Composite cases. A selection of rates converted to $A at both old and new exchange rates are at Attachment C.
MANUAL CASES
8.The manual cases will be divided into those which are to be processed either through the Pension Payment System or through PIPS.
9. The cases requiring manual examination will be identified by AL02 listings and the program $PPBBSPR which will list all service pension cases where British disability pension is in payment. Action schedules (in the following groups) of cases requiring manual examination and variation by examiners will be produced as soon as possible after cutoff for payday 4 April, 1991.
Group ContentsReference Number
.Composite Cases
(with or without SP)100
.EATS Cases
(with or without SP)200
.Other Overseas pensions
(which may be affected)300
.Miscellaneous and joint cases — 900
Group 300 are to be processed via the PMF update transactions. Groups 100 and 200 are to be processed via PIPS.
10.The program ($PPBBSPR) will report on all those Service Pensioners who have British DP maintained in their assessment. This report is to be actioned by amending the British DP amount recorded in each assessment. Those cases are also to be processed through PIPS. The majority of the cases will submit to 'DA'.
MISCELLANEOUS AND JOINT CODES
11.Any case listed in group 900 will require action to remove the joint payment and/or miscellaneous pension code, in addition to the British pension adjustment.
CONTROL CARDS AND COMPUTER RUNS
12.The parameter cards for the computer runs are at Attachment A. The computer processing timetable is at Attachment B. Runs according to this timetable will be scheduled by Central Office. Would you please check the parameter cards to ensure that they are correct before processing commences. Any changes should be reported to Glenys Bulters on (06) 289 6019 so that the appropriate amendments can be made.
PUNCHING OF TRANSACTIONS FROM AL02 ACTION SCHEDULES EATS AND COMPOSITE CASES
PAY PERIOD CODES
13.The pay period number, 47, (effective date 18 April, 1991) should be entered. The day within the pay period field may be left blank.
KEYFAST BATCH DESCRIPTION
14.The manual transactions for EATS/Composite cases should be punched using Keyfast batch description $PENSIO in normal daily production by cutoff for payday 18 April, 1991.
CASES WITH SERVICE PENSION AND OR AN AUSTRALIANDP COMPONENT TO BE PROCESSED VIA PIPS (Groups 100, 200)
15.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 on the CDB via PIPS. Due to the change in the British rate, these cases will be MS. They can either be registered under process code of DP Payment Change, processed through submission stage with submitted to code of MS and determined by the delegate, or through manual authority on PIPS only.
16.Where adjustments of payment occur, as in COMPOSITE and EATS cases, the examiner processes the case as follows:
NOTE:The British rates are EXAMPLES only:
(a)Access the facility 'Classify Pension' (BC.CP) classification. Create an action record with a Manual Authority' classification.
(b)Access the facility 'Assessment Control' (PP.AC). Copy the current assessment details by pressing the ENTER button once. (Effective date can be entered at this stage but is required only where there is a service pension component).
(c)Access the facility 'Disability Pension' (PP.DP) screen and update the new disability pension details. The following example shows what a similar case will look like when the examiner access the DP screen:
DISABILITY PENSION (DP)
ADJUSTMENT — PENSION
DP RATE — AMOUNT — AMOUNT
ACTION — REL — TYPE — ENT — RECIPIENT(P/F)REASON(P/F)
VET — 100 — X — V — 200.00 — EATS 9.00
VET — 100F — PX — V — 0.00 200.00
TOTALS FOR ALL 2 ITEMS --- DISABILITY PENSION — 209.00
NOTE 1:The Australian Disability Pension percentage rate (in this example "100%") must be data collected in each case.
NOTE 2: 100F = 100% BP RATE FOR AN OFFICER
(d) The adjustment that has to be made is as follows:
Where, for example, the Australian DP is 100% rate equivalent to $A209.00 and the NEW British rate of 100% for an officer is equivalent to $A212.64 the screen entries will be:
DISABILITY PENSION (DP)
ADJUSTMENT — PENSION
DP RATE — AMOUNT — AMOUNT
ACTION — REL — TYPE — ENT — RECIPIENT(P/F)REASON (P/F)
C — VET — 100 — X — V — 209.00 — EATS — 000.00
C — VET — 100F — PX — V — 0.00 — EATS — 212.64
MORE: TOTALS FOR ALL 2 ITEMS --- DISABILITY PENSION — 212.64
.we have added an Action "C" (change).
because the British rate is more than the Australian rate, we do not pay any Australian pension. Therefore, the Australian adjustment is the equivalent of the full Australian 100% DP rate of $A209.00 and the entry for the British rate is the NEW RATE of $A212.64 for an officer. Enter new details on the action schedule.
(e)Submit (SU) the cases to MS for a 50, obtain the con. no. and enter that onto the schedule, obtain the supporting documents (only for a case with an SP component) and forward to the Delegate for determination.
17.It may be necessary to prepare a D408 or equivalent in these cases. The schedule produced for dual BRIT/SP/EATS/COMP may be used as an authority (but there may not be room) provided each record on that schedule is endorsed with the consecutive number automatically produced by the Pension Processing System and is signed by the delegate determining the case, prior to transmission to Pension Payments Section. All such cases can be identified from the manual schedules listed by the AL02, AL03 runs (ie., group 100, 200) and the new British rates should be deduced from the examiners' entries on those schedules.
NOTE:All entries on these schedules must be in Australian dollars.
ADVICES
18.There will only be two circumstances where an advice is required and that will be in a limited number of cases. The circumstances are when the British component is greater than the Australian and in cases where the increased British DP reduces the amount of Rent Assistance payable (i.e. in both situations, a payment variation is effected).
19.For variation cases requiring PIPS action, a reason for variation should be entered on the Advices (PP.AD) screen, and an advice indicator of 'Y' coded on action schedules. For non-PIPS actions, a variation advice indicator of 'A' should be coded on action schedules.
20.Other British payments such as Funeral Benefits, Education Allowance, Subsistence Allowance, etc., are to be made in accordance with the new exchange rate regardless of the period to which they relate.
NCC IMPLICATIONS
21.This exercise is scheduled for 30-31 March (Easter weekend). Please refer to Attachment B for details.
CONTACT OFFICERS
22.The contact officers for this exercise are
Glenys Bulters Phone — 06 289 6019 Business Hours
Ken Stewart — 06 282 4794 After Hours
DAVID MACKRELL
ASSISTANT SECRETARY
BENEFITS PLANNING & MANAGEMENT
ATTACHMENT B
TIMETABLE FOR BRITISH REVALUATION and GENERAL INCREASE
EFFECTIVE 18 APRIL 1991
Processing Date:30 March 1991
RUN — PURPOSE
RSPYAL01 — Listing of cases requiring manual action
RSPYAL02(Z cards in CPP.BRITRVAL.CNTL(AL02RUN1)
RSPYAL03
RSPYAL04 — Listing in file number and alpha order within composite group order, required for NSW and Qld (i.e. use AL run book sort card 5). Job NPALA23A
OUTPUT — Listing Journal: Schedules - use 3 part paper and double spacing
$PPBBSPR — Report of Service Pensioners with British DP
The Benefits after hours contact officer is Ken Stewart (06) 282 4794