Purpose

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to advise of a small but important amendment to DI C49/2002 [4] regarding agreed revised procedures between Department of Veterans' Affairs and Centrelink for clearances processing.

Commencement

The changes commence immediately this DI is received.

Background

The current procedures for clearance processing are mutually agreed procedures between DVA and Centrelink.  Centrelink has asked that State offices now supply an additional piece of information on clearance forms and this has been agreed.

The need for this additional information has arisen because of the recent project undertaken by Centrelink to change its processing systems to accurately record the rate of Disability Pension being paid to its clients.

As State Offices have recently been informed, Centrelink staff will now record the percentage rate of DP and Centrelink's systems will automatically calculate the rate and update it at SI time etc.

New Requirement

Centrelink have requested that in addition to the DP rate, DVA advise of the actual level of SDA on the clearance form when the pensioner is in receipt of this allowance.  The clearance form should show the column 1 number of the allowance specified in Section 27 being paid.  It should be expressed as Item 1, Item 2, etc.  The Centrelink processing system will then calculate the correct amount.

Clearance Form

The clearance form will be revised and amended on the Intranet when we have checked whether any additional amendments are required resulting from these changes at Centrelink.  You will be advised when this has happened.  In the meantime please have staff add this additional information to Part A when appropriate.

Purpose of Instruction

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to provide information about the Pounds Sterling exchange rate variation exercise.

Introduction

Following the recent variation in UK - Australian exchange rates, DVA will apply a new exchange rate for the assessment of the rate of income support pensions for those in receipt of pensions from the UK government.

New exchange rate A$2.3213

The exchange rate used to convert Pounds Sterling to Australian Dollars for income support assessment purposes has changed from one Pound = A$2.3992 to one Pound Sterling equals A$2.3213 (ie A$1 = ?0.4308).

This rate reflects the average of the “on demand airmail buying rate” for the two weeks to 21 November 2003.

Date of effect

25 November 2003

Effective from 25 November 2003 the current exchange rate will change.

On pension payday 11 December 2003 (pay period 64) pensioners will receive a full instalment at the new assessed rate.

Date of processing run

Processing to implement the new exchange rate is scheduled for the evening of  Monday, 24 November 2003.

Automatic superannuation processing

The amount recorded as foreign super type British Retirement Income (08) or British Retirement Income (Indexed) will be varied by applying the exchange rate to the pounds sterling amount recorded, to determine the new rate of superannuation in Australian dollars.  The pension amount will then be reassessed automatically.

Manual cases and MS cases

Cases with actions in frozen status will not be processed automatically.  These cases will be listed on the manual listing for follow up action, and CMS/PIPS cases will be created automatically for State Office action.  Any cases processed through PIPS should be reassessed with effect from 25 November 2003 for payday 11 December 2003.

Advice letters

The advice letters for this exercise will be joint advices where both members of a couple are in receipt of pension from the UK government and their pension payment varies.  Age pensioners will receive separate advices.

The letter will advise the new exchange rate and the amount of income.  An advice will only be produced for cases where a variation in payment results.

IBM GSA implications

IBM GSA will produce the cartridge and forward it to Security Mailing services (SMS) in Sydney.

Overseas, Special Register and Enclosure Advices

Overseas, Special Register, Enclosure Advice letters (ie cases where a change to treatment entitlement occurs) and reduction to nil cases will be separated by IBM GSA and despatched to the State Office for manual distribution.  This arrangement is the same as for daily advice letters.

Mail out of bulk advices

Security Mailing will print and prepare the advices for lodgement with Australia Post by 4 December 2003.

British DP case paid Rent Assistance

Income Support pensioners who are in receipt of ISS, age pension (AP) and rent assistance (RA); and, who also receive disability (war) pension direct from Britain (not including EATS or composite cases) should have that disability pension converted to $A using this exchange rate. ISS, AP and RA should be recalculated by doing a PIPS assessment.  These cases can be extracted through AIS by each state.  If you have any questions please contact Nasreen Haque on the number below.

Note: If DP has already been assessed as income in determining hardship cases it should not also be assessed as income for RA.

Notice of future changes

The management of British pensions is currently under review.  A number of proposals to change the policy and procedures will be put to the Income Support Managers Conference on 2-3 December 2003.  Some of the changes that are likely to be implemented in early 2004, include changes to terminology and inclusion of other types of British income.

Contact officer

The Income Support Branch contact officer is:

Nasreen Haque Telephone:   (02) 6289 1125

New Date of Effect Rules

13 July 99

to

9 August 99

0.4271

2.3414

10 August 99

to

1 Nov 99

0.4105

2.4361

2 Nov 99

to

10 Jan 00

0.3952

2.5304

11 Jan 00

to

6 March 00

0.4069

2.4576

7 March 00

to

1 May 00

0.3927

2.5465

2 May 00

to

29 May 00

0.3807

2.6267

30 May 00

to

10 July 00

0.3907

2.5595

11 July 00

to

16 Oct 00

0.4022

2.4863

17 Oct 00

to

2 April 01

0.3737

2.6759

3 April 01

to

14 May 01

0.3550

2.8169

15 May 01

to

23 July 01

0.3674

2.7218

24 July 01

to

6 August 01

0.3803

2.6295

7 August 01

to

1 October 01

0.3701

2.7020

2 October 01

to

29 October 01

0.3430

2.9155

30 October 01

to

10 December 01

0.3588

2.7871

11 December 01

to

7 January 02

0.3709

2.6961

8 January 02

to

18 March 02

0.3612

2.7685

19 March 02

to

27 May 02

0.3723

2.6860

28 May 02

to

10 June 02

0.3830

2.6110

11 June 02

to

08 July 02

0.3928

2.5258

09 July 02

to

22 July 02

0.3758

2.6610

23 July 02

to

05 August 02

0.3643

2.7450

06 August 02

to

02 September 02

0.3503

2.8547

03 September 02

to

03 March 03

0.3620

2.7624

04 March 03

to

28 April 03

0.3816

2.6205

29 April 03

to

26 May 03

0.3929

2.5452

27 May 03

to

1 September 03

0.4064

2.4606

2 September 03

to

24 November 03

0.4168

2.3992

25 November 03

to

0.4308

2.3213

Purpose

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to provide information on the various stages of the annual property valuation exercise.

Background

Every October/November, specific income support cases requiring a property valuation are automatically selected and forwarded to the Australian Valuation Office (AVO) for valuation by April in the following year.  Once the valuations have been completed, revised valuations are returned to National Office, DVA with the new valuation amount.  This information is then forwarded to State Offices for individual case updating.

A listing of manual cases is also produced at the time of the bulk run.  State Offices are required to manually prepare and forward requests for valuation for these cases to the AVO.

Due to the implementation of IPS, schedules previously printed for State Office use are no longer available.  Automatic and Manual cases will be provided to the states in a Microsoft Excel format.

Production run

The data extraction was carried out on 15 October 2003.  The data containing information on the automatic reviews was forwarded to the AVO on 17 October 2003.  Excel spreadsheets for automatic and manual cases have been provided to the State Offices.

Number of cases extracted

The data has been extracted through the AD Hoc Inquires System (AIS).

The following is a breakdown of automatic and manual cases extracted from this year's bulk run:

State

Auto

Manual

Manual (Business)

NSW

568

218

7

VIC

604

189

4

QLD

400

202

2

SA

152

69

5

WA

140

62

0

TAS

108

32

0

Total

1972

772

18

Criterion for extracting cases

The following criteria was used for extracting cases:

• All income support pension and income support supplement recipients who are assets tested;

All income support pension and income support supplement recipients who are income tested but have assets within $10,000 of their prescribed assets limit and have property, business, farm or sublet portion of their home.

Cases excluded from exercise

The following pensioners have been excluded from this year's bulk run:

• Pensioners who have had an AVO property valuation done since the last bulk run (4 November 2002);
• All single pensioners who are assessed as blinded and are not paid rent assistance; and,
• All couples where both are assessed as blinded and are not paid rent assistance.

State Office to action manual cases

Manual cases have been forwarded to the State Offices in an Excel spreadsheet for further action.

State Office action is required to provide the AVO with a form containing detailed information on each of the manual cases where a property valuation is required.  Records are to be kept and a Claims Management Systems (CMS) case should be created to ensure that all such requests are returned by the AVO and action completed.

AVO conduct valuations

The AVO will conduct the property valuations in the period from December 2003 to April 2004.  The AVO will provide updated valuation information to National Office, DVA by the end of April 2004.

Updated data forwarded to State Offices

Printouts and an Excel spreadsheet of the updated property valuations will be provided by National Office to the contact officer in each State Office.  These reports can be expected early May 2004.

State Office update valuations

Once the updated data is received manual action will be required to update the Central Data Base (CDB) to take effect in conjunction with the indexation of the free areas in July 2004 (Ordinary Income Free Area, Asset Value Limit & Adjusted Income Free Area).  Cases where the value of property has reduced may be actioned for increase of the service pension from the next available payday.

Date of valuation to be used

All States should use 15 October 2003 as the date of valuation when updating cases from this exercise.

It is essential that this date be used to enable all the appropriate cases to be selected for next year's exercise.  Using another date creates complications for the bulk extraction.

Processing Information

Screens and processing information for PIPS/PC can be found in Departmental Instruction C54/96 [7].

Contact Officer

The contact officer for this exercise is Nasreen Haque (02) 6289 1125, Business Operations and Support Section, Income Support Branch.

Purpose

The purpose of this instruction is to ensure that:

• the correct procedure is followed for processing compensation reduced WWP cases; and
• the correct ceiling rate for these cases is applied.

Background

It was identified from the June 2003 Statutory Increase - list of cases requiring attention, that incorrect ceiling rates were being recorded for certain compensation reduced war widow's cases.

Target Population

30 cases have been identified nationally where the incorrect ceiling rate is being applied.  The following State by State breakdown gives numbers of war widows affected:

New South Wales — 16

Queensland — 7

Victoria — 4

Tasmania — 2

South Australia — 1

Western Australia — 0

WWPs who qualify for ISS

The definition of a war widow or widower is given in s5E of the VEA, and includes war widow(er)s receiving a pension payable under Part II or Part IV of the VEA or in receipt of a WWP paid by a foreign country.  To qualify for ISS a person must be an Australian war widow(er) in receipt of a compensation pension, paid under Part II or IV of the VEA, in respect of the death of an Australian veteran or mariner.

Definition of a compensation reduced pension

A pension payable to a war widow(er) under Part II or Part IV of the VEA is compensation reduced if that WWP has been reduced as a result of the payment of:

• a similar pension by another country; or
• any other periodic or lump sum compensation payment for the death of the veteran.

Increased ceiling rate of ISS

Because these war widow(er)s have received, or are receiving, other payments in respect of their veteran partner's death, the normal ceiling rate rules do not apply.  SCH6-A6 to SCH6-A9 of the VEA outlines the method for calculating the increased ceiling rate that applies to ISS if WWP is compensation reduced.

The increased ceiling rate relating to compensation reduced rate is calculated to be the sum of:

• the normal ceiling rate; and
• the amount of the reduction in the Part II or Part IV pension.

Provisional payment rate of ISS

In determining the provisional payment rate of ISS, the increased ceiling rate is compared against the income and assets reduced rates of ISS.  The provisional payment rate is defined as being the lower of the three rates.

Therefore, because of the operation of the income and assets tests, ISS can never be paid at greater than the maximum basic rate of service pension, even though the increased ceiling rate may exceed the MBR.

Automatic rate cases

The majority of these cases (apart from the VSO cases) are being processed as 'automatic' assessments by the State Offices through PIPS and by batch processing runs.  To ensure that the ceiling rate will be reviewed for these cases whenever there is a change to the rate of compensation, or a SI to the rate of WWP, it is necessary that these cases be recorded as manual assessments.

Further, in most cases, the increased ceiling rate has been incorrectly recorded as the current normal rate of ISS (currently $134.40).  Therefore, the rate of ISS currently being paid in these cases may be incorrect.

In a number of other 'automatic' cases the correct increased ceiling rate has been recorded.  However, as the cases are 'automatic', the increased ceiling rate will not be reviewed each time there is a variation to the rate of compensation or WWP payable to the client.  Therefore, these war widow(er)s will be assessed using what is effectively an historical ceiling rate.  The impact is that over a period of time, clients will be underpaid should the income/assets reduced rate exceed the increased ceiling rate.

Manual rate cases

When an examiner processes a case where the WWP is limited by a compensation adjustment, a manual calculation must be performed to determine what income support ceiling rate should be applied.

If the increased ceiling rate is calculated to be greater than the normal ceiling rate, the examiner must update the income support ceiling rate field in PIPS to that figure.  The increased ceiling rate must be recalculated each time there is a variation to the compensation amount received by the war widow(er), or there is an increase which affects the rate of WWP.

Recording IS ceiling rate

To determine the rate of ISS payable to a pensioner, the correct ceiling rate must be calculated.  While ISS can never be paid at a rate greater than the MBR, the correct ceiling rate should be recorded in PIPS to ensure data integrity and to help assist in identifying target populations with an adjusted ceiling rate.  This figure should not simply be entered as MBR.

Action required by State Offices

The above mentioned compensation reduced WWP/ISS cases must be processed manually to ensure that the correct ceiling rate is being applied.  A list of cases to be actioned will be sent out shortly to each State Systems Support Officer under separate cover.

In addition, States should ensure that the increased ceiling rate is recorded in the income support ceiling rate field of PIPS.

Note: These instructions should also be applied for any new grants of ISS where a client's WWP has been compensation reduced.

Contact

Any queries regarding this instruction should be referred to Joel Kitto, Income Support Branch, National Office on (02) 6289 6658.

Purpose

This Departmental Instruction provides information on:

• the format and issuing of the 2004 TC1;
• procedures for applying for replacement cards and/or travel vouchers; and
• arrangements for ongoing daily issuing of TC1s.

Background

War widows/widowers who are not in receipt of service pension, income support supplement or social security age pension paid by DVA or Centrelink  are eligible to receive a TC1 if they live in the following states:

•   New South Wales;
•   Victoria (except World War 1 War widows/widowers); and
•   Western Australia.

The TC1 provides state funded travel concessions.

The Australian Capital Territory, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania do not offer TC1 cards, however, war widows/widowers may still be eligible for concessions on travel through their DVA Gold Card or CSHC.

National Office Role

The National Office coordinates the bulk mail out of  TC1s for NSW and VIC.   The WA VAN office administers the TC1s for WA.

What has changed

• TC1s will now be issued ever year instead of every two years;
• The 2004 TC1s have the new DVA logo on the card and carrier;
• QLD travel vouchers are no longer issued;
• The name (up to 37 characters) and up to 4 lines of postal address (up to 38 characters each line) will be displayed  in upper case on the carrier;
• The VIC voucher and coupon will display the full name (up to 37 characters) in upper case and the file number including the suffix;
• The carrier will display the return State Office postal address for the active State;
• The 2004 VIC carrier will have only one coupon and one voucher, due to  the TC1s being issued every year instead of every 2 years;
• The first initial, second initial and surname (up to 25 characters) will be displayed in upper case on the card and up to 3 lines of residential address (up to 30 characters each line) will be displayed in upper and lower case;
• A blank line has been inserted after the residential address on the card;
• The word “File No:” is displayed adjacent to the client's file number on the card;
• The expiry date on the card is “DEC 2004”;
• Cards printed for clients with a group destination will be sent out with the bulk mailout.

Overview of exercise

The approximate number of the TC1 cards and carriers to be produced for the annual issue will be 17,678.  The state break down is as follows:

State

Annual Run

NSW

9,862

VIC

7,816

Total

17,678

Timetable

The following table provides a summary timetable of key dates in this year's TC1 process:

This Event

Is scheduled to occur

Data extract and matching with Centrelink

Friday, 31 October 2003

Bulk Printing of TC1s

5 – 7 November 2003

Lodgement with Australia Post

Monday, 10 November 2003

Inserts with TC1s

A state specific 2004 fridge magnet calendar will be inserted with the TC1s in the bulk mailout.

Distribution of TC1 blank stock for the Daily TC1s

Blank stock for the Daily TC1s were distributed to the NSW and VIC State Contact Officer on Wednesday, 15 October 2003.

State Offices are to begin using the new Daily stock on Monday,

3 November 2003.

Daily Issues and replacement cards and or vouchers/coupons

Local arrangements remain in force and the States Offices are to use discretion when issuing or replacing 2002-03 and 2004 cards and/or vouchers/coupons.

Report Problems to National Office

Staff are asked to keep a log of problems identified following the bulk issue of TC1s and to provide Kerry-Anne Rowe with full details.  Every endeavor will be made to rectify any identified problems.

Contact Officer

The contact officer for this exercise is Kerry-Anne Rowe on 02 6289 6663.

Purpose

The purpose of this  Departmental Instruction is to amend DI C09/2003 [11], Guidelines for the Issuing of Obligation and Income / Asset Information with Daily Advices in respect of:

• grants to age pensioners
• all grants of income support pensions.

Reason for amendment to DI

This instruction

• provides new instructions in respect of the provision of obligations to age pensioners on grant; and
• provides information about revised wording for all income support grant advices.

The first dot point refers to a change in the status of the publication You and Your Pension in respect of age pensioners.

The second dot point is a response to the recent Assessment Errors Stateline.

Background -Age pension grants and

You and Your Pension

Since 1998, You and Your Pension has been issued to pensioners granted service pension and income support supplement.  Issued with the grant advice, the booklet is a legal notification of obligations for these DVA pensioners.

Since the 2001 edition, Y&YP has contained information relevant to social security age pensioners (paid by DVA) and age pensioners have been sent Y&YP as though it were a legal notice of obligations for them as well.  This was on the basis of the MOU with the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) that allowed the same administrative arrangements for age pensioners in respect of advices and obligations as are applied for SP and ISS recipients.

FaCS decision

The Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) has recently indicated that full obligations for age pensioners are to be included in the grant advice.  While they are happy for Y&YP to be issued as an information product, the notice of obligations is the advice, not Y&YP.

Impact of this decision

The FaCS decision means that full obligations are not to be suppressed when granting age pensions.  Full obligations must be included in the grant advice.

Y&YP should still be sent to these pensioners however the advices have been changed to reflect the booklet's status as an information product.

This change refers to age pension grants only.  For all other income support pension grants, Y&YP remains a legal notice of obligations.

The effective date of this change will be the date the 2003 edition of Y&YP becomes available for distribution or from whenever the new edition of Y&YP is sent with the advices.  The new edition will be available in the warehouse from Monday 6 October.

Age pension advices

The age pension grant advices have been amended and a sample is at Attachment A.  The new wording is contained in the paragraph headed Events You Need to Tell Us About.

Background – revised grant advices for all income support pensioners

A recent Stateline 0353977E ASSESSMENT ERRORS referred to errors detected through a special data match between ComSuper and DVA.  The errors indicated that in some instances, superannuation was not included in the assessment although information had been presented with the claim form.  When contacted, some of the overpaid pensioners indicated that they were unaware that their assessments were incorrect.

A review of the grant advices has been undertaken and the sequence of the paragraphs has been changed in an effort to give greater emphasis to obligations.  In addition, wording changes have been made to reduce the possibility that advices will be misunderstood.  The importance of checking the attached income and assets statement has been stressed as have the consequences (recoverable overpayment) of non-compliance with obligations.

Impact of changes to wording

It is expected that You and Your Pension will be issued with all grants of service pension, partner service pension and income support supplement as a notice of obligations and full obligations should be suppressed in these cases. The Y&YP wording will appear in these advices whether or not full obligations are suppressed.

SP and ISS grant advices

The wording in these advices is similar.  A sample SP grant advice is at Attachment B – note wording and sequence changes mentioned above.

Contact officer

Any questions about this DI should be referred to Jill de Vaus, Business Improvement & Monitoring on (07) 3223 8516 or Stuart Kennedy, Compliance & Review (02) 6289 4716.

GPO Box 651, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Date

Name

Payment Destination

Amount Deposited

02/10/03

J SMITH

BSA 574286330

$xxx.xx

TOTAL

$xxx.xx

16/10/03

J SMITH

BSA 574286330

$xxx.xx

TOTAL

$xxx.xx

Description

Account Number

Asset Amount

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXX

$  XX.XX

@@@@@@@@@@

XXXXXXXX

$XXX.XX

Description

Account Number

Asset Amount

XXXXXX

X,XXX

$XX,XXX.XX

Description

Units

Asset Amount

VVVVVVVVVV

XX

$XXXX.XX

CCCCCCCCCCCCC

XXX

$XXXX.XX

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE

DEEMED INTEREST RATE

DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT

$XX,XXX.XX

3.5%

$X.XX

$         XX.XX

5.5%

$X.XX

$XX,XXX.XX

$XX.XX

GPO Box 651, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Date

Name

Payment Destination

Amount Deposited

02/10/03

B F FLEUR

123456

xxx.xx

D A FLEUR

123456

xxx.xx

TOTAL

xxx.xx

16/10/03

B F FLEUR

123456

xxx.xx

D A FLEUR

123456

xxx.xx

TOTAL

xxx.xx

Description

Account Number

Asset Amount

XXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXX

$  XX.XX

@@@@@@@@@@

XXXXXXXX

$XXX.XX

Description

Account Number

Asset Amount

XXXXXX

X,XXX

$XX,XXX.XX

Description

Units

Asset Amount

VVVVVVVVVV

XX

$XXXX.XX

CCCCCCCCCCCCC

XXX

$XXXX.XX

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE

DEEMED INTEREST RATE

DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT

$XX,XXX.XX

3.5%

$X.XX

$         XX.XX

5.5%

$X.XX

$XX,XXX.XX

$XX.XX

Purpose

The amounts available under schedules 1 and 3 in the Vehicle Assistance Scheme have been increased.

Vehicle Assistance Scheme

The Vehicle Assistance Scheme (VAS) allows eligible veterans to receive assistance for the purchase of a vehicle and for the purchase of a replacement vehicle after the trade-in or sale of the initial vehicle.  Eligible veterans are those with an incapacity from war-caused injury or disease as specified in sub-sections 105 (5) and 105 (7) of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA).

Review of VAS Amounts

On 4 July 2003 the Commission approved a submission to increase the amounts specified under schedules 1 and 3 of the VAS.  These amounts had not been reviewed since the new VAS came into effect on 1 November 1997.

New Amounts

Schedule 1:  The new maximum value of an initial motor vehicle that may be purchased under the VAS is $39,810.

Schedule 3:  The new maximum replacement motor vehicle grant available under the VAS is $19,905.

Date of Effect

Under subsection 105 (3) of the VEA, the new amounts come into effect on the date they are approved by the Minister.  The new VAS was approved by the Minister under subsection 105 (3) of the VEA on 19 August 2003.

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction is to provide information about processing arrangements for the September 2003 Global Refresh of Managed Investments and Shares advice letter mailout.

Introduction

In March and September of each year the Department varies certain pension and allowance rates and thresholds in line with movements in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and/or Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE).  We do not send advice letters to all pensioners whose pensions are adjusted because of the CPI or MTAWE – information on these increases is contained in the latest edition of VetAffairs.  Letters are only sent to those pensioners on less than the maximum rate of income support pension and who have managed investments (MIs) and/or shares (SHs) in their assessment.

This Departmental Instruction provides information about the mailout and advises of the significant issues relating to this exercise.  Letters will be sent to pensioners affected by the events as set out in the following paragraph.

Significant Issues- of Managed Investment and Share Global Refresh Mailout

The September 2003 Quarterly mailout will incorporate the following events for payday 2 October 2003 (WEF 20 September 2003).  Issues of significance with regard to this mailout are as follows:

• The asset value of managed investment (MI) and share (SH) data will be reassessed and advices produced for those clients who are on less than the maximum rate of service pension, age pension or income support supplement and who have Managed Investments and/or Shares in their assessment;
• A Managed Investment and/or Share Information Attachment will be provided for all less than maximum rate income support recipients who have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment.  This Attachment will provide a full listing of the client's MIs and/or SHs regardless of what has been reassessed; 
• If a treatment change occurs as a result of the reassessment a letter will be produced;
• Clients who are affected by the Period of Grace provisions will receive an advice;

Significant Issues- of Managed Investment and Share Global Refresh Mailout – Continued

• Tasmanian overseas residents' letters will have their full meaningful overseas postal address printed on their letter and be sent from the Mailing House; and
• The new Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs departmental letterhead logo is to be implemented with this mailout.

Advice Letter Target Audience

A letter will be produced for the following clients who have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment:

• Less than maximum rate service pensioners (SP), income support supplement recipients (ISS) and age pensioners (AP);
• Maximum rate SP/ISS/AP recipients who move to less than maximum rate as a result of the reassessment;
• Less than maximum rate SP/ISS/AP recipients who move to maximum rate as a result of the reassessment;
• SP/ISS/AP recipients who are reduced to nil as a result of the reassessment;
• Treatment changes as a result of the Statutory Increase (SI) or global refresh of MIs and/or SHs reassessment; and
• Clients going on or off Period of Grace will be advised of the outcome.

New Department Letterhead Logo

We will be implementing the new Australian Government Department of Veterans' Affairs logo on our letterhead and envelopes for this mailout.

Financial Assets Reassess-ment

The asset value of managed investment and/or share data will be reassessed as part of this process.  Clients with MI and/or SH data in their assessment will receive a paragraph advising them of the ...Change to Value of Shares and/or Managed Investments...

Managed Investments and/or Shares Information Attachment

All less than maximum rate income support recipients with MIs and/or SHs in their assessment will receive a full listing of all their Managed Investments and/or Shares regardless of which MIs and/or SHs have been reassessed.

A full Income and Assets Attachment will not be provided.

CPI

There will be a brief reference made in the advice letters about the CPI increase after the 'Change to Value of Shares and/or Managed Investments' paragraph.

Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE)

There will be a brief reference to MTAWE made in the advice letters after the 'Change to Value of Shares and/or Managed Investments' paragraph.

Advice on CPI and MTAWE variations will be included in the September edition of VetAffairs – VetAffairs distribution is to commence on Thursday, 18 — th September 2003 to be completed by Friday, 26 — th September 2003.

Obligations suppressed

Obligations are to be suppressed for all letters produced.  Reference will be made to previous obligations issued to clients and in the case of Service Pension and Income Support Supplement recipients, reference will also be made to obligations provided in the 'You and Your Pension' Booklet.

The Financial Obligations paragraph (including the Prescribed Rates) will be present in the advice for all clients (excluding Blinded pensioners and clients reduced to nil.)

$1 Minimum Variation Rules

The $1min rules will be applied to all less than max rate SP and ISS variation cases ie., an increase or reduction must be equal to or greater than a $1 amount to receive an advice.

$1min rules do not apply to Age Pensioners.

Continuation Cases

Cases where the 'old rate' resulting from the Statutory Increase (SI) processing and the 'new rate' resulting from MI/SH refresh end up being the same amount after the reassessment will not have an advice produced.

Treatment Advices to be Checked

As is the procedure for quarterly processing all Enclosure (treatment changes) advice letters will be printed at the IBM printhub and sent via courier to each State Office.  We request that these letters be checked for accuracy prior to sending, and reconciled against the reports received by each State Office.

Tasmanian Clients with Overseas Address

Tasmanian State Office clients who have an overseas postal address will have the full, meaningful overseas address printing on their advice letters.

The advice letters for Tasmanian overseas clients will be printed, enveloped and sent from the mailing house. This is a change from previous years where the letters were sent back to the Tasmanian Branch for posting.

Group Addressees/

Special Register  Advices

Special Register advice letters are to be streamed for the South Australian State Office only - they will be printed at the IBM Printhub at St Leonard's in Sydney and forwarded to the South Australia State Office for checking and posting.  All other State's Special Register advices will form part of the bulk advices to be printed and sent from the mailing house.

Blinded Clients will not Receive an Advice

As blind persons are not subject to the income and assets test they will not receive an advice regardless of whether they have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment - as any changes to their MIs/SHs as a result of the reassessment will not affect their rate of pension.  However, if they are in a joint assessment where their partner is not blind the non-blind member of the couple will receive a single advice where they are on less than the maximum rate of income support pension and have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment.

General Information Sheet

Each letter will contain a General Information Sheet (GIS).  This will act as the consistent last page for gatemarking purposes at the mailing house.

The GIS provides details of new rates and threshold information.  A number of wording changes have been made to the GIS.  We have provided additional information on the Gold Card Income and Assets Limits and have clarified to whom they do and do not apply.

Single & Joint Letters

All Service Pensioners and Income Support Supplement recipient couples will receive a joint letter, provided the pensioner addresses are identical.

Age Pensioner couples will receive separate letters.

Processing

Processing is scheduled to run from PM Friday, 12 — th September 2003 through until approximately PM Sunday, 14 — th September 2003.

Critical Dates

Processing Weekend within DVA (includes 'advices' processing)

Friday (pm) 12 — th September 2003 – Sunday (pm) 14 — th September 2003

Commence dispatch of Production Data to SMS

Monday, 15 — th September 2003

Commence printing Advice Letters

Tuesday, 16 — th September 2003

End Printing Advice Letters

Friday, 19 — th September 2003

National Lodgement of Advice Letters with Australia Post

By COB Friday, 19 — th September 2003

Client Numbers

The following is a summary of client numbers in each State.  The numbers are approximates only:

STATE

NO. OF LETTERS

(Approx Only and includes Special Register, Overseas and Enclosures)

New South Wales (incl ACT)

9,274

Victoria

7,075

Queensland

6,062

Western Australia

2,920

South Australia

2,728

Tasmania

952

Tasmania – Overseas

87

TOTAL

29,098

(Based on March 2003 Statistics)

Printing of Letters

Security Mailing Services (SMS) Sydney, will print, fold and insert advice letters in the week from Tuesday, 16 — th September 2003 through until Friday 19 — th September 2003.

Lodgement of Letters

All State's letters will be lodged with Australia Post on Friday, 19th September 2003.  A representative from National Office will notify and confirm all lodgement details.

The State Office Contacts for this exercise will be given progress reports and advised of any changes to this timetable.

Foreign Pension Refresh Program known as GROOVER

The foreign pension refresh program referred to as 'GROOVER' (Global Refresh Of Overseas Exchange Rates) is a separate processing exercise to the September SI and is scheduled to run on 20 — th – 21 — st September 2003 - the weekend following the September SI processing. The effective date of the Foreign Pensions Refresh Run is 20 — th September 2003 for effective payday 2 — nd October 2003.

Separate advices are produced for clients who have foreign pensions, excluding the BRI pension types (08 & 09).  Clients whose pension has been varied will receive an advice.  Advices from this processing will be printed at the IMB Printhub and couriered to each State Office for checking and posting.

Special Register, & Enclosure Advice Letters

Special Register (for SA State Office only) and Enclosure (treatment changes) advice letters will be printed at the IBM Printhub at St Leonard's in Sydney and sent via courier to each State Office.  These should be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received by each State Office.

Each State Office will receive a report detailing the advice letters produced in each of these categories.  We will advise SSOs in each State when to expect delivery of these letters.  Please notify Pat Webb, Advices and Cards Team on (02) 9213 7288 if the letters do not arrive or if they do not match the reports.

Reprints of selected letters

Reprints of individual Quarterly Advice letters can be requested via VIEW – Advices Tab reprint facility immediately following the processing weekend.

'HELD' Advices to be Forced

As part of the Batch processing run any advices in 'Held' status will be forced to print.  Forced held advices will print at each respective State Office's nominated printer as part of the production processing.  Please ensure your designated printer is fully operational during the processing period.  These advices will need to be checked to ensure the information in them is correct prior to posting.

Holding of daily advice letters

Daily payment advice letters produced after the processing run on the weekend of 12 — th  - 14 — th September 2003 for clients who have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment, should be held pending notification that the quarterly letters have been dispatched.  This will ensure that pensioner's receive their advice letters in chronological order.

State Office Point of Contact

A contact person from each State has previously been identified to act as a liaison point for the National Office Advices Team and will be the responsible person for distributing any information regarding the global refresh and mailout to staff.

State Office Contacts for the September quarterly processing are:

NSW: Genia Sacharczuk - 02 9213 7106

VIC: David Price - 03 9284 6379

QLD: Steve Jensen – 07 3223 8835

SA: Graham Bate - 08 8290 0425

WA: Kim Gooding - 08 9366 8549/John Gliddon - 08  9366 8417

TAS: Bryon Kelly – 03 6221 6698

ACT: Kristie Chynoweth - 02 6289 6019

Feedback from State Offices

Any concerns regarding letters produced as part of this run should be directed to the National Office Contact Officer, Pat Webb.  Please forward your feedback on this exercise to the National Office Contact Officer, noting the nature of the query together with any relevant information – every effort will be made to develop solutions to address any concerns raised.  Please ensure that problems are reported as early as possible.

Contacts

There will be one National Office contact for this mailout.  Any queries regarding advice wording, data cartridges, mail house printing and  lodgement of letters with Australia Post should be referred to:

Pat Webb

(02) 9213 7288 (Phone)

(02) 9213 7889 6553 (Fax)

pat.webb2@dva.gov.au [14] (email)

Systems issues should be directed to:

Warren Walsh on (02) 9213 7254 or Renee Arkinstall on (02) 6289 6777.

Letters

Prior to the issue of this Departmental Instruction, the State Office Contact Officers for this exercise and Managers Income Support were provided with copies of the proposed paragraph sequencing and mock-ups of advice letters for this run.

All recommendations received have been taken into consideration for the final version of paragraphs and sequencing.  An email will be forwarded to the State Contact Officers advising of the changes in respect of all comments received.

Copies of the amended advice letters for this run are at Attachment A of this DI.

Attachment A – Paragraph sequencing and Advice Letter Examples

Example 1: Overall Decrease - either from Maximum  Rate to less than Maximum Rate or decrease in Less than Max Rate Amount,  Payment Information Attachment, MI/SH Information Attachment, General Information Sheet (GIS)

Example 2: Increase from Less than Maximum Rate to Maximum Rate  - WITH Managed Investments and/or Shares in Assessment.  Service Pension - Single advice

Example 3: Overall Increase - remaining on Less than Maximum Rate Income Support Supplement, WITH MIs/SHs in assessment.  Payment Information Attachment, MI/SH Information Attachment, and GIS

Example 4: Age Pension increase remaining on Less than Maximum Rate, Disability Pension in payment, WITH MIs/SHs in assessment.

Example 5: Reduction to Nil, with MIs/SHs in assessment, Single advice

Letter Variables

Please note, in the following samples:

• Letterhead, DC name and signature block will change according to State;
• The words “service pension”, “age pension”, “income support supplement” each represent variables which will appear for those clients in receipt of the applicable pension.
• State specific 'closing' paragraphs with the preferred contact telephone number for Income Support related issues will be used for this mailout.

GPO Box 651, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Date

Name

Payment Destination

Amount Deposited

02/10/03

J SMITH

BSA 574286330

$xxx.xx

M SMITH

BSA 574286330

$xxx.xx

TOTAL

$xxx.xx

16/10/03

J SMITH

BSA 574286330

$xxx.xx

M SMITH

BSA 574286330

$xxx.xx

TOTAL

$xxx.xx

Description

Units

Asset Amount

VVVVVVVVVV

XX

$XX.XX

CCCCCCCCCCCCC

XXX

$XX.XX

Description

No. of Shares

Asset Amount

XXXXXX

X,XXX

$XX,XXX.XX

QQQQQQQQQQQQQ

XXX

$    X,XXX.XX

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction provides information on:

the format and issuing of the 2004 PCCs;

procedures for applying for replacement travel vouchers; and

arrangements for the ongoing daily issuing of PCCs.

Background

The PCC is issued by the Commonwealth 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).

The PCC is issued annually either through a bulk issue or through individual daily issue for clients who become eligible.

The following table provides a summary timetable of key dates in this year's PCC process.

What has changed

• The postal address of up to 4 lines (at 38 characters each line) will appear  in uppercase on the carrier.
• The residential address of up to 3 lines (at 30 characters each line) will appear in mixed upper and lower case on the card.
• The return journey WA free trip voucher has been replaced with two single journey vouchers.
• Information about the State/Territory specific concessions has been deleted and the carriers are now reasonably generic.  Font size has been increased for easier reading.
• The State Office Return Address will be in upper and lower case.
• The pension payday fridge magnet calendar will be distributed with the PCCs instead of the Vetaffairs.

What remains the same

• The pensioner's name will be constructed as follows: forename, 2 — nd initial, 3 — rd initial (where applicable) and surname (all in upper case) up to 37 characters.

• The partner's name will be constructed as follows: forename, 2 — nd initial, 3 — rd initial (where applicable) and surname (in upper and lower case) up to 37 characters.

•        Dependent children's first name (truncated to 9 characters if more than 3 children) and file number will appear in upper and lower case.
•        Victoria will issue replacement vouchers on behalf of their State transport Authority throughout the year.
•        South Australia will issue replacement vouchers on behalf of their State transport Authority throughout the year.
•        Blind clients will have a hole punched in the top right hand corner of the card and the word “BLIND” printed at the top of the card.
•        PCC Summary Report will be produced on CD-ROM.

Concession Information Sheet

A State specific “Concessions Information” sheet will be inserted during the bulk printing for VIC, SA, TAS and WA married carriers.  This is in order to provide information that is unable to fit onto the carrier due to the number of vouchers these States require.

Cross Reference Cases

Where there is a cross reference for a person, the 2004 PCC bulk issue will be issued in the payment number.

Partners on PCCs

The PCC program will include the following in order to comply with current FaCS policy regarding the issue of Centrelink PCCs:

Where both members of a couple are in receipt of an income support payment, they will be cross-listed as dependants on one another's cards.

If spouse/defacto of a veteran is not eligible or payable, but is present in the assessment, the spouse/defacto is added as a dependant to the veterans' card (blind veterans included).

Veterans who are not in payment (and therefore will not receive a PCC), will appear as a dependant on the PCC of their blinded service pension partner.

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.

Card Production

The printing of approximately 272,550 PCCs for 2004 will commence on Tuesday, 9 September 2003, following the extract of client data on the weekend of 6 - 7 September 2003.

The 2004 PCC will be personalised, enveloped and despatched by the mailing house – Security Mailing Services in Sydney.  Lodgement with Australia Post will commence on 15 September 2003 and is expected to be completed by Tuesday, 30 September 2003.

Card Numbers

The approximate numbers for each State/Territory are as follows:

State/Territory

No. of PCCs

New South Wales

91,420

Victoria

61,060

Queensland

56,910

South Australia

25,590

Western Australia

24,640

Tasmania

10,045

NT

      580

ACT

2,305

TOTAL

272,550

2004 PCC Stock

For the 2004 bulk PCC issue, there will be 2 different carriers for:

• couples (to be used in the bulk issue only); and
• singles (blind and special register go on single carriers).

The pre-printed format of the card for both singles and couples cards will be the same as the 2003 card.

Carrier Layout

The 2004 carrier layout for single pensioners remains the same as the layout for the 2003 carrier, with the vouchers printed at the bottom of the carrier.

The 2004 carrier layout for couples will incorporate 2 cards positioned at the bottom edge of an A4 carrier and the appropriate number of vouchers positioned where they best fit on the carrier and depending for which State the PCC is issued.

For couples' PCC units, the left card and left column of vouchers will be personalised with the client's details - the right side card and vouchers being used for the partner details.

Blind Pensioners – Special PCCs

The word 'BLIND' will be printed in 14 point lettering on the top centre of the 2004 PCC for blind pensioners.  The PCC for blind pensioners issued during the bulk exercise will have a hole punched in the top right hand corner of the card.

Special Register PCCs

Special Register and Special Register Blind clients' PCCs will be enveloped and forwarded directly to each State Office Contact for checking prior to dispatch to the Special Register addresses.

Fridge Magnet Calendar

The State specific magnetic refrigerator calendar will be included with the bulk issue of PCCs.  States will be issued with a supply of 2004 calenders to cater for new clients.

Vouchers

The number of vouchers attached to the carriers will vary with each State/Territory and will be separated from the carrier with perforations.  The vouchers will include the pensioner's name and entitlement number, and in the case of Tasmania will also contain the pensioner's residential address and Date of Grant.

The vouchers provide fields for personal details to be lasered.  The information required to be lasered onto vouchers are as follows:

For this State

And this Card/Carrier

This information will be inserted onto the Voucher

NSW

NIL

NIL

ACT

NIL

NIL

NT

NIL

NIL

VIC

Single (1 voucher and 1 coupon)

Name

Entitlement Number

VIC

Couple (2 vouchers and 2 coupons)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

QLD

NIL

NIL

QLD

NIL

NIL

SA

Single (2 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Number

SA

Couples (4 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

WA

Single (2 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Number

WA

Couples (4 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

TAS

Single (4 vouchers)

Name

Address

Date of Grant

Entitlement Number

No. of Dependants

TAS

Couple (8 vouchers)

Names

Addresses

Date of Grant

Entitlement Numbers

No. of Dependants

Reports

State offices will be provided with the following listings of cases after the bulk extract:

• a list of clients who did not receive a PCC and the reason for not receiving a PCC, eg clients with an overseas address;
• Special Register clients;
• Blind Cases – listing cases of blind pensioners who receive a PCC; and
• Blind and Special Register Cases – listing cases where the pensioner is blind and a Special Register Case.

The reports will automatically print in the State Office following the data extraction processing on the weekend of  6 – 7 September 2003.

CD-ROM

At the completion of the exercise the mailing house will provide each State office with a summary report on CD-ROM that lists the PCC recipients from the bulk issue.  The CD-ROM is expected to be dispatched to the nominated State contact officers in October.

The CD-ROM files (*.pdf format) can be accessed via Acrobat Reader 5.0 which can be found on the DVA LAN.  From the Start up menu select Departmental/Applications/Internet Tools/Acrobat Reader 5.0.

New and replacement PCC's

The procedures for the ongoing issuing of new and replacement PCCs remain the same as in other years i.e., new and replacement issues of PCCs are to be extracted by batch processing each night for printing daily on the local printers located in each State Office.

The last automatic daily extract for any issue/reissue of the 2003 PCCs will be on Friday, 6 September 2003.

Formatting and any re-alignment of local printers to accommodate the 2004 PCC will be addressed by IMU.  Please advise Kevin Richardson on

(02) 6289 6330 as soon as possible if you experience any difficulties in printing replacement or new grant PCCs.

Manual Card Prints

Please be aware that after the live run (weekend of 6 – 7 September 2003) there will be a short period of time until the 2004 PCCs become valid i.e., 1 October 2003.  State Offices are to manually print the 2003 PCCs until the 2004 card is distributed.

Manual Voucher Issue

From Monday, 8 September 2003, 2004 PCC stock is to be used for daily issues.  However, any new grant or transfer-in between 8 September and 31 December 2003 will still require manually issued 2003 travel vouchers for this period.

Replacement PCC's – voided Vouchers

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 2004 DVA PCC processed with vouchers, then lost and regained eligibility during the course of the year; or

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

Voucher Replacement

For most States, neither Centrelink nor DVA will have the facility to issue replacement vouchers.  The PCC carriers display a warning stating that DVA cannot issue replacement vouchers.  Where State rail authorities have provided them, contacts and procedures for applying for replacement vouchers are listed at attachment A of this instruction.

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.

Replacement vouchers in

SA & VIC

As in previous years South Australian Rail has given the South Australian State Office authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf.  The South Australian carrier includes contact numbers for pensioners to contact for replacements.

The Victorian Rail Authority has given the Victorian State Office authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf.  The Victorian carrier includes contact numbers for pensioners to contact for replacements.

Blind Pensioners

When issuing a blind pensioner a PCC in the daily issue, the PCC stock provided and current issuing procedures should apply.  The reprint program will enable the word 'BLIND' to be printed on the PCC.

Normal PCC stock should be used for blind pensioners.

New PCC Stock

All State Offices should have received stock of 2004 PCCs and fridge magnet calendars during the first week in September.

Report Problems to National Office

Staff are reminded that it is important that they keep a log of problems identified following the bulk issue of PCCs.  Every endeavour will be made to rectify any identified problems.

Contact Officer

The contact officer for this exercise is Kerry-Anne Rowe on 02 6289 6663.

VIC

The Victorian Rail Authority continue to give the DVA Victorian State Office authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf for an indefinite period.

SA

SA Rail continue to give the DVA South Australian State Office authority to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf indefinitely

WA

(08) 9326 2222 – WAGR

              For a period up until the 31 — st January 2004, WAGR have given authority to our WA State Office to issue replacement vouchers on their behalf.

After this date people can phone WAGR to apply for replacement vouchers.

Note: WAGR may charge for replacement vouchers.

Purpose of Instruction

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to provide information about the Pounds Sterling exchange rate variation exercise.

Introduction

Following the recent variation in UK - Australian exchange rates, DVA will apply a new exchange rate for the assessment of the rate of income support pensions for those also in receipt of British Pension..

New exchange rate A$2.3992

The exchange rate used to convert Pounds Sterling to Australian Dollars for income support assessment purposes has changed from one Pound = A$2.4606 to one Pound Sterling equals A$2.3992 (ie A$1 = ?0.4168).

This rate reflects the average of the “on demand airmail buying rate” for the two weeks to 29 August 2003.

Date of effect

2 September 2003

Effective from 2 September 2003 the current exchange rate will change.

On pension payday 18 September 2003 (pay period 58) pensioners will receive a full instalment at the new assessed rate.

Date of processing run

Processing to implement the new exchange rate is scheduled for the evening of Monday, 1 September 2003.

Automatic superannuation processing

The amount recorded as BRI non-indexed super type 08 or BRI indexed super type 09 will be varied by applying the exchange rate to the amount recorded, to determine the new rate of superannuation.  The pension amount will then be reassessed automatically.

Manual cases and MS cases

Cases with actions in frozen status will not be processed automatically.  These cases will be listed on the manual listing for follow up action, and CMS/PIPS cases will be created automatically for State Office action.  Any cases processed through PIPS/PC should be reassessed from the beginning of the pension period for pension payday 18 September 2003 – ie 2 September 2003.

Advice letters

The advice letters for this exercise will be joint advices where both members of a couple are in receipt of BRI and their pension payment varies.  Age Pensioners will receive separate advices.

The letter will advise the new exchange rate and the amount of income.  An advice will only be produced for cases where a variation in payment results.

IBM GSA implications

IBM GSA will produce the cartridge and forward it to Security Mailing services (SMS) in Sydney.

Overseas, Special Register and Enclosure Advices

Overseas, Special Register, Enclosure Advice letters (ie cases where a change to treatment entitlement occurs) and reduction to nil cases will be separated by IBM GSA and despatched to the State Office for manual distribution.  This arrangement is the same as for daily advice letters.

Mail out of bulk advices

Security Mailing will print and prepare the advices for lodgement with Australia Post by 12 September 2003.

British DP case paid Rent Assistance

Income Support pensioners who are in receipt of Rent Assistance (RA) and who also receive British Disability Pension direct from Britain (not EATS and Composite cases) should have that Disability Pension converted to $A using the BRI exchange rate.  RA should be manually recalculated.  These cases can be extracted through AIS by each state.  If you have any problem please contact Nasreen Haque on the number below.

Note: If DP has already been assessed as income in determining Hardship cases it should not also be assessed as income for RA.

Contact officer

The Income Support Branch contact officer is:

Nasreen Haque Telephone:   (02) 6289 1125

11 Feb 99

to

19 May 99

0.3905

2.5608

20 May 99

to

28 July 99

0.4079

2.4516

New Date of Effect Rules

13 July 99

to

9 August 99

0.4271

2.3414

10 August 99

to

1 Nov 99

0.4105

2.4361

2 Nov 99

to

10 Jan 00

0.3952

2.5304

11 Jan 00

to

6 March 00

0.4069

2.4576

7 March 00

to

1 May 00

0.3927

2.5465

2 May 00

to

29 May 00

0.3807

2.6267

30 May 00

to

10 July 00

0.3907

2.5595

11 July 00

to

16 Oct 00

0.4022

2.4863

17 Oct 00

to

2 April 01

0.3737

2.6759

3 April 01

to

14 May 01

0.3550

2.8169

15 May 01

to

23 July 01

0.3674

2.7218

24 July 01

to

6 August 01

0.3803

2.6295

7 August 01

to

1 October 01

0.3701

2.7020

2 October 01

to

29 October 01

0.3430

2.9155

30 October 01

to

10 December 01

0.3588

2.7871

11 December 01

to

7 January 02

0.3709

2.6961

8 January 02

to

18 March 02

0.3612

2.7685

19 March 02

to

27 May 02

0.3723

2.6860

28 May 02

to

10 June 02

0.3830

2.6110

11 June 02

to

08 July 02

0.3928

2.5258

09 July 02

to

22 July 02

0.3758

2.6610

23 July 02

to

05 August 02

0.3643

2.7450

06 August 02

to

02 September 02

0.3503

2.8547

03 September 02

to

03 March 03

0.3620

2.7624

04 March 03

to

28 April 03

0.3816

2.6205

29 April 03

to

26 May 03

0.3929

2.5452

27 May 03

to

1 September 03

0.4064

2.4606

2 September 03

to

0.4168

2.3992

Purpose

This Instruction sets out the procedure which should be followed to obtain and record post 1998 service records when processing claims.

Issue

Recently there have been an increasing number of inefficiencies identified when dealing with post 1998 service record requests.  These have caused delays in processing claims and some duplication of requests.

Contents

For ease of reference:

• Part I gives the basic instructions.

• Part II provides more detail.

Not included

This Instruction does not cover confirmation of service prior to 1998.  Such confirmation should be obtained as usual from CARO or from Navy/RAAF personnel records.

Steps in obtaining post 1998 service information

Before requesting service information from Defence, a Claims Assessor, or the person requesting the information must:

• check on VIEW  and on file (both M and C files, including previous files) to see if service information on the claimant has already been received; 

and where appropriate,

• also check the declared lists of ADF members on CLIK for East Timor service on operations Faber, Warden, Stabalise, or Tanager;

If the necessary information is on CLIK, make a file note to put with the service documents and statements of service on the file and record the service information on VIEW / CCPS.

When to contact Defence

If the necessary service information has not been found after the above actions, then contact Belen Mansford at the Department of Defence at belen.mansford@defence.gov.au [18]

Request only confirmation of any periods of service not already verified.

As soon as the requested service information is received it must:

• be recorded on VIEW / CCPS, and
• the supporting paperwork put with the service documents and statements of service on the file.

Before contacting Defence

It is particularly important that an assessor who is processing a disability claim checks whether the service information for the claimant has previously been obtained for qualifying service purposes and vice versa.

In States where it is customary for staff other than claims assessors (for example, registry staff) to request the service information, the claims assessors should take particular care to check whether service information has already been requested from Defence to avoid duplicating that request.

If a claims assessor finds a document on file that appears to relate to post 1998 deployment and is not sure about its authenticity, the Claims Assessor should contact National Office on the “DVA Policy Eligibility Research”

e-mail address for confirmation.

Post 1998 deployments

Since 1998 there have been ADF deployments in:

• East Timor 
• Bougainville 
• Solomon Islands (various)
• Afghanistan (War on Terrorism) 
• Iraq conflict (2 — nd Gulf War)

Of the above deployments, allotment certificates listing individual ADF members have so far only been issued for some operations in East Timor.  It is expected that the Department of Defence will continue to progressively issue such Instruments for all post 1998 “warlike” service.

East Timor Service

Where a claimant states that they were in East Timor during the period, or operation, for which an allotment certificate has been issued, this service can be confirmed by checking the allotment certificates on CLIK.

CLIK should be checked before requesting information from Defence to prevent superfluous requests being made.

NOTE: The information on the allotment certificate may be used to confirm service, but must not be used to exclude any claimants.  If a claimant states that they were on one of these operations, but is not listed, or if there are concerns about the service details shown, contact  National Office on the “DVA Policy Eligibility Research”

e-mail address.

If the service information required is provided on these lists, the Claims Assessor does not need to contact the Department of Defence, but must make a File Note to put on the file with the service documentation, detailing where the confirmed service information came from.

ADF members on CLIK

The allotment certificates listing all ADF members who served on operations Faber, Warden, and Stabalise are on CLIK.  The allotment certificate listing those who served on operation Tanager is expected to be added shortly.  To view:

1. Open CLIK
2. Go to 'Legislation Library'
3. Open 'Service Eligibility' on the left-hand side of the screen
4. Open 'Service Determinations'
5. Open 's. 6F Warlike Service'
6. Open 'East Timor'
7. Open 'List of ADF Members'

Links to Allotment Certificates for Faber, Warden and Stabilise are shown on the right of the screen.  Tanager will be added as soon as it is available.

Operation Faber 16/9/99 – 23/2/00

If the claimant was on Operation Faber, click on the first link: 'Operation Faber'.  Once this opens, you will need to choose the 'page' menu at the top of the screen and select 'next page'.  A list of personnel who served on Operation Faber will be displayed.

Operation Warden 16/9/99 – 10/4/00 / Stabilise 16/9/99 – 23/2/00

The link is '16 May 2002 List of Personnel – Operation Warden/Stabilise'.

Once the link is opened select the relevant Operation /Service tab.

Requests to Dept of Defence

If the relevant service information is not on file, or on CLIK, requests for service details should be e-mailed to:

Belen.Mansford@defence.gov.au [19]

All requests should include as much information as possible (for example dates and the names of operations if known) and must include:

• Full name
• Date of birth
• Service number / PMKEYS Number
• Branch of Service

NOTE: Although requests are made direct to Defence, their reply will be through the Policy, Eligibility and Research Section (PER) in National Office and Claims Assessors will be individually advised by PER of the result of their requests.

Privacy

All E-mail to and from the DVA and the Department of Defence is sent via a secure link.   Therefore, personal information including sensitive information can be exchanged by the Departments without any risk of outside scrutiny that would breach the Privacy Act 1988.

Problems

Any long delays or problems encountered with these requests to Defence should be reported to the “DVA Policy Eligibility Research” e-mail address.

Recording advice received

When a Claims Assessor receives advice about the service of a claimant, that Claims Assessor must:

1. Record the advice on VIEW / CCPS; and

2.   Put a copy of that advice on with the service documents and statements of service on the file.

• Conclusion

Claims assessors must:

• Check for information on file, VIEW or CLIK before contacting Defence; AND
• Record new service information on VIEW / CCPS immediately; AND
• Place verification of service (from whichever source) with the service documents and statements of service on the file.

Purpose

To provide information about the bulk issue of the 2003/04 CSHC.

Background

The CSHC was introduced on 1 July 1994 and provides entitlement to Commonwealth Concessions for pharmaceuticals listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).

From 1 September 2001, CSHC holders who are eligible telephone subscribers, became eligible for a quarterly Telephone Allowance payment.

Great Southern Railway offers concessional fares to CSHC holders on The Indian Pacific, The Ghan and The Overland.

In addition, CSHC holders may be entitled to further state/territory concessions on presentation of their card to the relevant department or authority.

Eligibility

The CSHC is intended to assist eligible veterans and their partners (including widow(er)s), and war widow(er)s of pension age who fail to qualify for pension due to assets or income in excess of the current limit.  Eligibility is determined manually by State Office staff.

CSHC income test

The CSHC income test is based on the annual adjusted taxable income.  The CSHC income limit is as follows:

• $50,000 if single;
• $80,000 (combined), if a member or a couple;
• $100,000 (combined), if an accepted as being separated due to ill health or respite care.

The above amounts are increased for each dependant child by $639.60.

Card numbers for the annual bulk run

The number of cards and carriers to be produced for the annual bulk run will be approximately 7,572.  This figure was derived from the full data extract dated 8 August 2003.  The state break down is as follows:

STATE

NO. FOR BULK ISSUES

NSW (incl ACT)

2,586

VIC

1,808

QLD

1,210

WA

1,252

SA (incl NT)

595

TAS

121

TOTAL

7,572

Blank stock for daily issues

Blank stock for the new daily issues was sent to the States on Monday, 4 August 2003.

State Offices are to begin using the new daily stock on Monday, 18 August 2003.

Changes to card and carrier

Text changes have been made to the both the card and carrier.  The text on the carriers is now identical for each State.

The carrier will display the name and postal address (up to 4 lines of address) in upper case.

The card will display the name and residential address (up to 4 lines of address) in mixed case.

Last years blank stock

Due to text changes on the back of the carrier, the State Offices are to discard last year's blank CSHC stock.

Production and timing

The bulk 2003/04 CSHC live extract of the client data will occur on Saturday, 16 August 2003.  Printing will commence on Monday, 18 August 2003.  The CSHC's will be lodged with Australia Post on Monday, 25 August 2003.

Post production reports

Post production Summary and Non-Issued Reports will be printed on the State Office's printers following the live run.  State Offices are to examine the reports and undertake any necessary action.

Report daily issue difficulties

Any difficulties in relation to daily issue templates are to be reported to Kevin Richardson on (02) 6289 6330.

National Office contact

If you have any enquiries relating to this topic, please contact Kerry-Anne Rowe on (02) 6289 6663.

Purpose of instruction

The purpose of this departmental instruction is to amend Departmental Instruction C18-2003 issued on 22 July 2003 which provided information about the July 2003 reassessment of Comsuper and DFRDB superannuation pensions.

Amendment

Departmental Instruction C18-2003 advised that the CPI increase to be applied to the July 2003 adjustment is 1.02%.

This adjustment amount is incorrect and the Departmental Instruction should read – 'The CPI increase to be applied to the July 2003 adjustment is 2.0%.'

Contacts

Advice issues - Pat Webb  (02) 9213 7288.

Systems issues - Kevin Chapman (02) 6289 6749.

Purpose of instruction

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to provide information about the July 2003 reassessment of Comsuper and DFRDB superannuation pensions.

Background

Comsuper and DFRDB superannuation pensions are adjusted bi-annually in January and July.  The CPI increase to be applied to the July 2003 adjustment is 1.02%

Processing date

Reassessment processing to reflect the July 2003 CPI increase to Comsuper and DFRDB superannuation pensions will be conducted on Saturday, 26 July 2003.

Effective date

The effective date of the reassessment will be 22 July 2003.

On pension payday 7 August 2003, pensioners will receive a full installment at the new assessed rate.

Advice letter target audience

A letter will be produced for Income Support pensioners in receipt of Commonwealth Superannuation and/or DFRDB and following the reassessment have a variation to their pension payment.  There will be approximately 20,000 advice letters produced nationally.

Printing and mailing of advice letters

The advice letters will be printed and mailed through the Department's bulk mailing house, Security Mailing Services (SMS) in Sydney.  All letters will be lodged with Australia Post by COB Friday, 1 August 2003.

Streamed advices requiring state office action

The following advices will be streamed and printed by IBMGSA, and sent via courier to each State Office for checking and despatch:

• special registers - SA only
• overseas
• reductions to nil
• cases which result in multiple payment boxes (ie., Payment Information Attachment); and
• enclosures (treatment changes).

'Held' advices to be forced

As part of the batch processing run any advices in 'held' status will be forced to print.  Forced 'held' advices will print at each respective State Office's nominated printer.

Contacts

Advice issues - Paula Green (02) 6289 4779.

Systems issues - Kevin Chapman (02) 6289 6749.

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction is to provide information about the processing arrangements for the June 2003 Statutory Increase (SI) advice letters, Payment Summaries (formerly named Group Certificate), and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates mailout.

Introduction

In June each year, the Department undertakes a bulk exercise to issue approximately 350,000 households with advice letters to persons in receipt of service pension, age pension or income support supplement.  The majority of these letters will include PAYG (Pay As You Go) Payment Summaries for the end of the financial year.

Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates will also be issued at this time.

Significant issues

The June 2003 mailout will incorporate the following:

• Production of advice letters to all service pensioners, age pensioners and income support supplement recipients;
• Adjustment of pension rates, allowances and thresholds in accordance with adjustments to the Income Free Area and Assets Free Area;
• Increase to the deeming thresholds;
• Advice to pensioners of any gain or loss of treatment eligibility;

• End of financial year Payment Summary production;

• Page numbering to be included on the Payment Summary;

• Standalone Payment Summaries ie., Payment Summaries without a covering letter, and Statement of Earnings - issued to those eligible pensioners who do not receive an advice letter;

• Full Obligations will be provided for all maximum rate pensioners - this is in line with the Repatriation Commission policy that pensioners receiving maximum rate of pension be provided with their full obligations at a minimum interval of once every five years;

• Full obligations will be suppressed for less than maximum rate pensioners, however reference will be made to previous obligations issued;

Significant issues Contd

• Less than maximum rate pensioners will receive the Financial Obligations paragraph (including their Prescribed Rates) in their advice letter;

• Income and Assets Attachments will not be issued;
• Payment of Telephone Allowance to those eligible;
• Production of Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates (MLEC);
• The number of Medicare Levy exemption days to be advised to all Blinded pensioners;
• Tasmanian clients who have an overseas address will have the full, meaningful postal address printed on their advices; and
• Changes to the format of Advices as part of the DOCGEN2 project (Stateline 0252700E refers).

Processing Weekend -

19/06/03 -

23/06/03

Processing is scheduled to run from Thursday evening 19 June until Monday, 23 June 2003 with any pension variations effective from 1 July 2003 for payday 10 July 2003.

Critical Dates

Letter Production

Security Mailing Services, Kingsgrove, Sydney will print the advice letters, add inserts and envelope them.  Production of letters is expected to occur over period 24 June – 4 July 2003.

Lodgement of Letters

Letters will be progressively lodged with Australia Post for posting commencing Monday, 30 June 2003.  All letters are to be posted by Friday, 4 July 2003.

Letters

Prior to the issue of this Departmental Instruction, the June SI State Contact Officers, System Support Officers and Managers Income Support were provided with copies of the proposed paragraph sequencing and mock-ups of advice letters for this run.

A number of recommendations were received and have been taken into consideration for the final version of paragraphs and sequencing.  Details of the Paragraph Sequencing and Target Audience can be found at Attachment B.  Copies of the expected advice letter content for this run are reproduced at Attachment C to this DI.

PAYG (Pay As You Go) Payment Summary -individual Non-business

• Service Pension, or

• Age Pension, or
• Income Support Supplement

Payment Summaries will be issued to all pensioners whose pensions are taxable.

Pay As You Go (PAYG) Payment Summaries will form part of the advice letter sent from the mailing house.  This includes those clients with or without withholdings (tax deductions).

The Payment Summary will be sequenced to print before the General Information Sheet (GIS) which is the consistent last page for every advice.

Page numbering will be included on the Payment Summary - in previous years no page number printed on the Payment Summary but printed on the GIS, which prints after the Payment Summary.  This caused numerous concerns for clients thinking pages were missing.

General Information Sheet (GIS)

Each letter will have a General Information Sheet (GIS).  The GIS will be sequenced to print after the Payment Summary - the GIS must be used as the consistent last page to enable the enveloping machines at the mailing house, to identify the last page of each persons letter ie. gatemarking purposes.

Standalone

PAYG Payment Summaries – without a covering letter

Standalone PAYG Payment Summaries - do not have a covering advice letter and will be issued to the following Group of clients:

• Eligible Veterans' Children Education Scheme (VCES) Recipients;
• Working Rule B Widows;

•     Those pensioners who are no longer in payment and do not receive an advice but a payment summary for that part of the year for which they were in payment; and
•     Unknown Addresses.

Standalone Payment Summaries for those listed above are to be printed at the Mailing House and returned to the State Offices for distribution.

Please note: Payment Summaries for those clients who died during the financial year are no longer printed at the Mailing House.  The State Offices are able to re-print on request a Payment Summary for deceased clients.

Full Obligations - for all maximum rate pensioners

Full Obligations are to be provided for all maximum rate SP/ISS/AP recipients.  This is in line with the Repatriation Commission policy that pensioners receiving maximum rate of pension be provided with their full obligations at a minimum interval of once every five years.

Financial Obligations including Prescribed Rates for less than maximum rate pensioners

The Financial Obligations paragraph (including the Prescribed Rates) will be present in the advice for all less than maximum rate SP/ISS/AP pensioners.

Income and Assets Attachment

Income and Assets Attachments will not be issued as part of the June 2003 SI.

Telephone Allowance

Pensioners entitled to a telephone allowance payment will receive a paragraph advising them about their quarterly payment.  The TA paragraph will advise pensioners that ....'TA is a separate payment and is not included in your total fortnightly payment information referred to in the letter.'

Non taxable pensioners

Those pensioners whose pensions are not taxable (eg, service pension on the grounds of permanent incapacity and under 65 years of age for males, 62 years for females) will receive an advice letter only ie, no payment summary.  A Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate (MLEC) will be issued separately to these clients advising them of the number of Medicare Levy exemption days.

Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates

(MLEC)

A Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate will be issued to those Gold Card beneficiaries who are not in receipt of a taxable income support pension and who do not receive an advice letter ie,

• War widows who do not receive income support supplement; or
• Those veterans who are eligible for a gold card due to their disability entitlement, who are not in receipt of an income support payment; or
• Australian veterans with Qualifying Service and over 70 years of age, who are not in receipt of an income support payment; or
• Those pensioners whose pensions are not taxable (eg, service pension on the grounds of permanent incapacity and under 65 years of age for males, 62 years for females).

The number of medicare levy exemption days, where applicable, will be stated on the Payment Summary for all other pensioners.  See Attachment D for a sample of an MLEC.

Medicare levy exemption days for blinded

An issue was raised following the 2002 June SI which highlighted that veterans and spouses in receipt of an Income Support payment who are 'Blind' are eligible for full or half Medicare Levy exemption.  DVA have not previously advised blind pensioners of the number of days they are exempt from the Medicare Levy.  From the June 2003 SI, the number of days will be printed on their Payment Summaries.

This affects approximately 660 clients.

Overseas addresses

Tasmanian clients who have an overseas address will have the full, meaningful postal address printing on their advices.

The advices for Tasmanian overseas clients will be printed at the IBM Printhub in St Leonard's, Sydney in June and returned to the Tasmanian State Office for checking prior to posting to ensure address changes are correct.  In future June SI runs Tasmanian overseas letters will be sent from the mailing house.

DOCGEN2 Project - New Advice Format

As previously advised, the new advice format has been designed to standardise and simplify the look of advices by introducing a succinct and more readily understandable letter.  This new look will be implemented for the first time for a June SI with this run.

ATO/ Centrelink/

DVA insert

A 'pensioner flyer' produced by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), in conjunction with Centrelink and DVA will be included with all advice letters issued in this exercise.  It is hoped that this flyer will significantly reduce the number of queries the State Office receives about taxation matters.  The brochure is titled “Do you Need to lodge a Tax Return?”.  This brochure will be included with all Payment Summaries and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificates.

Each of the State offices have been supplied with a quantity of the flyers to insert with their Special Register (SA only), Treatment Changes (Enclosures) and Standalone Payment Summaries.

Automatic Payment Summary (Group Certificate) reprint facility

From 1 July 2003, reprints of Payment Summaries for financial year 2002/2003 can be generated using the 'Payment Summary Reprint' facility located under the Advices Tab in VIEW.

Please Note:

1)  A Payment Summary Template, which was previously available, is no longer available for producing Payment Summaries.

2)  The 'year of issue' will not print in the Payment Summary heading for reprinted payment summaries requested via VIEW.  The 'Payment From' and 'Payment To' date range will accurately reflect the correct year/dates payment range.  The 'Authorising Person' will reflect the respective State's Deputy Commissioner based on the date the reprint is requested.

3)  The client's actual tax file number (TFN) will not print in the TFN space but a default number of 444 444 444 will print.  This is an ATO code identifying the client as a pensioner.

Reprints of MLEC

System Support Officers and State Office contact officers have been provided with a Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate (MLEC) word document to enable them to produce a MLEC.

Mailout procedure

The printing of letters is to be undertaken for the two weeks following processing (ie, June 23 – 4 July 2003) at Security Mailing Services in Sydney.

Letters will be progressively lodged on a State by State basis with Australia Post with all state's letters to be posted between Monday, 30 June and COB Friday, 4 July 2003.

States will be notified when their State's letters have been lodged and of any production or lodgement delays if they should occur.

Letter Content

Details of the proposed content of the letters, including sample letters and sequencing of paragraphs are included in Attachments B and C.

Special Register and Overseas

Special Register advices are to be streamed for the South Australian State Office only - they will be printed at the IBM Printhub in Sydney and forwarded to the South Australia State Office.  All other State's Special Register advices will form part of the bulk advices and be printed and sent from the mailing house.

Overseas cases for Tasmania will be printed by IBM in St Leonard's, Sydney and forwarded to the Tasmanian State Office with other daily advice output for checking and mailing.

Advice Schedule Reports - Hard Copy and Online Access

Each State Office will receive a 'hard copy' of the advice schedule reports following the June SI processing run.  These will be printed at the IBM Printhub in St Leonard's, Sydney and forwarded to each State's System Support Officer (SSO).

Access to this information will also be available 'on-line'. Instructions for accessing the advice schedule reports will be provided separately to this instruction.

Enclosure Letters

As is the procedure for quarterly processing Enclosure (treatment) advice letters will be printed at the IBM Printhub and sent via courier to each State Office.  It is suggested that these be checked for accuracy and be reconciled against the reports received by each State Office to ensure they reflect the correct treatment paragraphs.

'HELD' Advices to be Forced

As part of the Batch processing run all advices in 'Held' status will be forced to print.  Forced held advices will now print in each respective State Office's nominated printer as part of the production run.  Please ensure your nominated printer is fully operational on Thursday evening, 19 June 2003 as the forced advices will print at that time.  All forced advices will need to be checked to ensure the information in them is correct prior to posting.

Handling of Daily Advices

Cases processed in advance for payday 10 July 2003 should have the daily advice dispatched prior to the June advice letter being sent.

Daily payment advices processed after the processing run on 19-23 June 2003 for 10 July 2003, should be held by the State Offices until confirmation is received from the June SI Business Co-ordinator to release such advices.  This will ensure that pensioners who have pension variations processed for payday 10 July 2003 will receive their daily advice after the quarterly advice rather than in advance of it.

To minimise the number of daily advices to be held while the June advices are processed, it is suggested that only manual cases (and essential processing) should be processed for payday 10 July 2003.

State Office Contact Officers

NSW  - Genia Sacharczuk  - 02 9213 7106

VIC - David Price - 03 9284 6379

QLD - Steve Jensen - 07 3223 8835

SA - Graham Bate - 08 8290 0425

WA - John Gliddon - 08 9366 8417

TAS - Bryon Kelly - 03 6221 6684

ACT - Kristie Chynoweth - 02 6289 6019

Feedback from State Offices

Any concerns regarding letters produced as part of this run should be directed to the June SI Business Co-ordinators in National Office - Pat Webb or Paula Green.  At the end of this process we will be collating all State feedback to analyse any issues raised and develop solutions to address any concerns raised.  Any problems noted should be reported to the Business Co-ordinator, together with any background information detailing the issue.  Please ensure that any problems are reported as early as possible.

Contacts

Any queries regarding advice wording, data cartridges, mail house printing and letter lodgement should be referred to:

Pat Webb

(02) 6289 6444 (Phone)

(02) 6289 6553 (Fax)

OR

Paula Green

(02) 6289 4779 (Phone)

(02) 6289 6553 (Fax)

Type

NSW

VIC

QLD

SA

WA

TAS

AUST

Total - Advices Only

88,218

60,807

56,936

25,707

23,986

9,621

265,275

MLEC

28,339

19,585

17,326

  6,470

  6,955

2,377

  81,052

Pay Sums without a letter

2,563

1,682

2,203

728

931

381

8,488

Total

119,120

82,074

76,465

32,905

31,872

12,379

354,815

Date

Name

Payment Destination

Amount Deposited

10/07/03

F A SMITH

123456

xxx.xx

A I SMITH

123456

xxx.xx

TOTAL

xxx.xx

24/07/03

F A SMITH

123456

xxx.xx

A I SMITH

123456

xxx.xx

TOTAL

xxx.xx

Commonwealth Department of

Veterans' Affairs

2003 PAYG Payment Summary - Individual Non Business

Service Pension

Original

DVA File No: QX999999

Payer's ABN:

2396 4290 824

Tax File Number:                111 111 111

Payment From: 01/07/2002

Payment to: 30/06/2003

DOB:  26/02/1971

Client's Name

1st Line of Client's Address

2nd Line of Client's Address

3rd Line of Client's Address

Gross payments:

$0.00

Medicare Levy

Full or Half

Exemption Days: 0

Remote Area

Allowance: $0.00

ThousandsHundredsTensUnitsCents

Total tax withheld -

whole dollars only in wordsNILNILNILNIL      00

Total tax withheld (whole dollars)$0.00

Authorised Person:16/06/03

DOES NOT PRINT IN FINAL VERSION

Commonwealth Department of

Veterans' Affairs

2003 PAYG Payment Summary - Individual Non Business

Service Pension

Client Copy

DVA File No: QX999999

Payer's ABN:             2396 4290 824

Tax File Number:               111 111 111

Payment From: 01/07/2002

Payment to: 30/06/2003

DOB: 26/02/1971

Client's Name

1st Line of Client's Address

2nd Line of Client's Address

3rd Line of Client's Address

Gross payments:

$0.00

Medicare Levy

Exemption Days: 0

Remote Area

Allowance: $0.00

ThousandsHundredsTensUnitsCents

Total tax withheld - NILNILNILNIL     00

whole dollars only in words

Total tax withheld (whole dollars)$0.00

Authorised Person:16/06/03

DOES NOT PRINT IN FINAL VERSION

Purpose

This departmental instruction provides information about the Budget 2003?04 initiative to exempt from the income test restitution payments made to Holocaust victims of National Socialist (Nazi) persecution.

Commencement Date

13 May 2003

CLIK &
Fact Sheet

The policy changes are reflected in the CLIK Policy Library Part 10, Chapter 1, Section 5 and the Fact Sheet IS87 'Income and Assets Tests.'

Contact

For further information in relation to these changes please contact Jacqui Mitchell on (02) 6289 6372 or Georgina Dudzinski on (02) 6289 4895.

Background

In 1987 and 1989, Holocaust restitution payments became exempt if paid by the German or Austrian governments, respectively.

Issue

Since that time, the number of countries paying Holocaust payments has grown and now includes France and The Netherlands.  The measure to exempt all payments, regardless of the country of origin, will restore the broad policy intent behind the current income test exemption.

Legislative changes

Subsection 5H(8) of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 and subsection 8(8) of the Social Security Act 1991 will be amended so that all restitution payments paid in respect of victims of National Socialist persecution are excluded from the income test assessment of pensions, benefits and allowances.

Systems Changes

There will be no systems changes.

Procedural Changes

Continue as per the German and Austrian payments, that is, record payments as income with a zero value under Other Direct Income.

Population affected

Centrelink estimate that less than 70 of their customers will be affected.

Due to the lack of data integrity it is not possible to identify the number of cases of DVA income support recipients that may receive compensation paid in respect of National Socialist persecution.  However, based on the Centrelink estimates, it is anticipated that the number of DVA cases arising will be very low.

Interim arrangements

Pending passage and Royal Assent of the legislative amendments, interim arrangements will be made should the need arise.  Details of any cases that come to light should be forwarded by email to National Office on 'NAT Policy Advisings Income Support'.  Approval to introduce the necessary interim arrangements will be obtained by National Office and advice on how to proceed with the case will be sent back to the requesting State Office.

Conclusion

As at 13 May 2003, DVA and Centrelink will disregard all restitution payments made to victims of Nationalist Socialist (Nazi) persecution when assessing the rate of income support payable, regardless of the country making the restitution payment.

Pending Royal Assent of the legislative amendments, interim arrangements will be put in place should the need arise.