Purpose of instruction

This instruction clarifies the role of the Income Support Policy Section in providing policy input relevant to AAT review involving Income Support and outlines new reporting procedures applicable to Departmental Advocates and other procedures applicable generally to such matters.

Reasons for request

Clearly some AAT reviews involve cases which have implications under both the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (the VEA) and the Social Security Act 1991.  One such case, which raises concerns about means test implications under both Acts only came to the notice of the Income Support Policy Section some weeks after the decision was handed down.  In another matter, policy input was not requested until late in the afternoon on the day of the AAT hearing.  These examples highlight the requirement for advocates to recognise the need for policy advice and for it to be obtained early in the case preparation stage.

Other benefits of reporting process

The reporting process should also improve the quality of cases being defended before the Tribunal as well as assisting the Income Support area to identify additional cases where policy input is warranted.

Role of Income Support Policy

The Income Support Policy Section is available to provide policy input on all Income Support matters other than those where the substantive issue involves Qualifying Service.  Income Support Policy will liaise with the Department of Family and Community Services or the Legal Services Group as appropriate.

How do I obtain policy advice?

A request for policy advice on a particular AAT case can be sent by e-mail to NAT Policy Advisings Income Support.  The critical date for a response should be specified.

When should Policy direction be obtained?

The following are examples of the types of cases in which policy advice should be sought:

• Where the section 57 decision overturns the primary determination and AAT review is sought.

• Where there is doubt over the soundness of the decision on which AAT review is being sought.

• Where it is anticipated that the AAT decision may have implications beyond the specific case being reviewed.

• Cases involving rejection of a claim for service pension or income support supplement where there are other than the usual eligibility criteria to be considered eg where residency is in question.

• More complex cases involving issues such as family discretionary trusts, family private companies, the possible existence of beneficial interests and/or the interpretation of financial statements.

Where it is unnecessary to seek policy input?

The above list is indicative and it is recognised that some Income Support cases are less complex and do not warrant referral to Income Support Policy.  However, as we wish to maintain a monitoring role for all Income Support AAT cases, they should be reported to Income Support Policy on the form attached.

What matters need to be reported?

An Income Support matter, excepting one where the substantive issue is Qualifying Service, involving an application for AAT review where the primary decision has been reviewed by a delegate under section 57 of the VEA.

What matters do not need to be reported?

It is not necessary to report details of cases to Income Support where the substantive issue is Qualifying Service.  The Disability Compensation Branch monitors these issues and input is sought from Income Support as required

What information needs to be provided?

Please refer to the attachment for details that are required to be reported on an ongoing basis to Income Support Policy

How do I report an IS case?

By e-mailing the completed attachment to NAT Policy Advisings Income Support.

Instructions required

If the AAT or an Advocate wishes to have an Income Support matter determined by the AAT “on the papers”, specific approval to do so should be sought from either the Director Income Support Policy or the Branch Head, Income Support.

The minute requesting instructions to have the matter determined on the papers should provide:

• a brief outline of the issue;

• an assessment whether the case is unique or may have more general implications for Income Support;

• reasons for the request.

E-mail the request for these instructions to: NAT Policy Advisings Income Support.

Authorised by

Roger Winzenberg

Branch Head

INCOME SUPPORT

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 foreign exchange rates, it is appropriate for DVA to apply a new exchange rate for income support pension assessment purposes.

New exchange rate A$2.6961

The exchange rate used to convert Pounds Sterling to Australian Dollars for income support assessment purposes has changed from one Pound = A$2.7871 to one Pound Sterling equals A$2.6961 (ie A$1 = ?0.3709).

This rate reflects the average of the “on demand airmail buying rate” for the two weeks to 7 December 2001.

Date of effect

11 December 2001

Effective from 11 December 2001 the current exchange rate will change.

On pension payday 27 December 2001 (pay period 13) 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 Tuesday 11 December 2001.

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 find the new rate of superannuation.  The pension amount will then be reassessed accordingly.

Manual cases and MS cases

Cases with actions in frozen status will not be processed.  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 27 December 2001 – ie 11 December 2001.

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, the amount of income and a payment box.  An advice will only be produced for cases where a variation in payment results.

IBM GSA implications

IBM GSA will be producing the cartridge and will forward it to Security Mailing 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 for daily advice letters.

Mail out of bulk advices

Security Mailing will print and prepare the advices for lodgement with Australia Post by 17 December 2001.

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 for the exercise will be:

Nasreen Haque           Telephone:   (02) 6289 1125

29 Jan 98

to

25 Feb 98

0.3972

2.5176

26 Feb 98

to

6 May 98

0.4125

2.4366

7 May 98

to

15 July 98

0.3997

2.5019

16 July 98

to

12 August 98

0.3663

2.7300

13 August 98

to

9 Sept 98

0.3817

2.6199

10 Sept 98

to

21 October 98

0.3690

2.7100

22 October 98

to

4 Nov 98

0.3505

2.8531

5 Nov 98

to

2 Dec 98

0.3676

2.7203

3 Dec 98

to

27 January 99

0.3834

2.6082

28 January 99

to

10 Feb 99

0.3719

2.6889

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

10 December 01

0.3588

2.7871

11 December 01

To

0.3709

2.6961

Purpose

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to provide legislation, policy and procedural systems information with regards to the 2001/2002 Budget Initiative, “Extend Access to the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS) for British Commonwealth and Allied veterans (BCAL)”, commonly known as the BCAL or Orange Card initiative.

Commencement

The changes commence on 1 January 2002.

ROGER WINZENBERG

Branch Head

INCOME SUPPORT

Introduction

From 1 January 2002, access to the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (RPBS) will be extended to eligible Commonwealth and Allied veterans and Allied mariners (herein referred to as BCAL veterans).

Legislation

The Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (2001 Budget Measures) Act 2001, No. 102, 2001 received Royal Assent on 4 September 2001.  Schedule 1 of this Act inserts new Part VA Extension of the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Link to Act: http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/comact/11/6390/top.htm [5]

New card

BCAL veterans who are eligible for the RPBS under this extension of eligibility will receive a plastic Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Card (Orange Card).

Eligibility for card

To be eligible for the Orange Card a BCAL veteran must:

1. Be 70 years of age or older; and
2. Have rendered qualifying service for either WWI or WWII; and
3. Have been an Australian resident for a continuous period of at least 10 years (or an aggregate period of 10 years, where one of those periods is at least 5 years).

Legislative ref: s 93M VEA

Note that the Orange Card is not subject to the income or assets tests.

Card benefits – medicines

The Orange Card will give BCAL veterans access to all medicines listed in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) as well as those items (including  medicines and dressings) listed in the RPBS at the concessional rate.  This means that BCAL veterans will have access to prior approval authorisation for non-listed items through the Veterans' Affairs Pharmaceutical Approval Centre (VAPAC).

More info: for more detailed information on the benefits of the Orange Card, refer to HSV 69, Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Card (Orange Card) on DVA Facts: http://internet-mirror/factsheets/default.htm [6]

Card benefits - PA

The Orange Card entitles the holder to receive the Pharmaceutical Allowance (PA).

Legislative ref: para 118A(1)(c)

Some Orange Card holders may already receive PA as part of their Service Pension or Disability Pension entitlement, or in some cases if they already hold a Repatriation Health Card – for Specific Conditions (White Card) or receive it as part of a Centrelink entitlement.  Note that in cases where PA is already received, it will not be paid twice.

Legislative ref: ss 118B(1A), 118B(2).

No treatment

The Orange Card does NOT entitle the holder to receive any treatment benefits.

Legislative ref: ss 93L(2) VEA

Dual card eligibility –orange & white

Where a veteran holds both a White Card and an Orange Card:

• the White Card should be used for prescribing both treatment and PBS/RPBS listed medicines for treatment of their accepted conditions;
• the Orange Card should be used for prescribing PBS/RPBS listed medicines for treatment of all other conditions (there is NO treatment entitlement).

Dual card eligibility –orange & gold

Some Gold Card holders will also be eligible for the new Orange Card.  This group will have the new eligibility (PBB) recorded, but will not be issued with the Orange Card.  If they lose eligibility for the Gold Card, the Orange Card will be automatically issued.

Claim form

A new claim form, Claim for a Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Card, D2622 is available on DVA Forms.

Link: http://internet-mirror/clientforms/default.htm [7]

Fact Sheet

A new fact sheet, Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Card (Orange Card), HSV 69 is available on DVA Facts.

Link: http://internet-mirror/factsheets/default.htm [6]

RPBS

A copy of the RPBS is available on CLIK, in the Legislation Library, under Health Schemes and Determinations.

Processing a New Claim with Orange Card eligibility

Processing a Service Pension New Claim through PIPS/PC alone will not automatically produce an Orange Card.  Follow the process shown in the table below for Service Pension New Claims where the veteran is also eligible for an Orange Card.

Step

Action

1

Register an RPB QS claim in CMS (in addition to the New Claim registration)

2

Set attribute to 'Successful'

3

Record 'PBB' eligibility in EATERS (using EN.BC)

4

Process New Claim through PIPS/PC

5

De-register DP Grant (this was automatically created when PBB eligibility was set)

Important: Remember that the process to set PBB eligibility in EATERS will generate an Orange Card - it is not dependent on finalisation of a PIPS/PC case.  This means that the card will still be produced and sent by HIC - for example if the claim results in a rejection (e.g. income/assets in excess), or for some reason the PIPS/PC case is not finalised for some weeks (e.g. perhaps further investigation in necessary).  If you don't want the card to go out, PBB eligibility should be set to 'OFF' to prevent the card being printed.  This must be done in a timely manner.

SP entitlement code

Remember that the SP entitlement code should be changed to an appropriate BCAL type code in Adult Details when processing the claim in PIPS/PC.

New warning

A new Warning will appear in PIPS/PC at create Worksheet and Authorise, for cases where certain SP entitlement codes exist.  The warning is a reminder that EATERS has to be used to set Orange Card eligibility.

Advice – doe pre 1/1/02

New Claims advices (where DoE is prior to 1 Jan 2002) will not have an Orange Card paragraph included in the daily advice.   A standard letter should be sent to advise the veteran of Orange Card eligibility – SLS 'Grant from Claim Pre Jan02' may be used.

Advice – doe on or after 1/1/02

New Claims advices (where DoE is on or after 1 Jan 2002) will have an Orange Card paragraph included in the daily advice, provided EATERS action has been done to set eligibility.

BCAL claims (card only) determined after 28/11/01

Where a veteran lodges a claim for an Orange Card (card only) and the case is determined after 28 November 2001, follow the process shown in the table below.

Step

Action

1

Register an RPB QS claim in CMS

2

If eligible, set attribute to 'Successful'

3

Record 'PBB' eligibility in EATERS (using EN.BC)

4

'Record Decision' in EATERS

5

Grant Pharmaceutical Allowance where appropriate

6

Advise veteran – standard letter.

Other eligibilities - no

If there are no other eligibilities recorded for that veteran, a DP Grant will be automatically registered in CMS – this should be used to grant PA where appropriate.

Other eligibilities - yes

If other eligibilities are recorded for that veteran (e.g. a White Card), a CMS case will not be registered – a DP Data Change case will have to be registered manually.

Interstate Transfers – new transaction EN.BC

There is one minor change to the way in which Interstate Transfers are handled.  From 1 January 2002, and only where the veteran has an Orange Card, an EATERS transaction must be completed prior to the transfer-in action in PIPS/PC.

The transaction is exactly the same as for treatment card issue, except the transaction used to data collect in EATERS will be EN.BC.  Records Administration staff and other staff who process Interstate Transfers need to be aware of this new transaction.

PA processing

The majority of Orange Card holders will already receive PA through another entitlement.  Orange Card holders who require payment of PA are likely to be holders of a Commonwealth Seniors' Health Card, or in receipt of nothing at all from DVA or Centrelink.

Other eligibilities - no

If there are no other eligibilities recorded for a veteran, a 'DP Grant' will be automatically registered in CMS when EATERS action is completed – this should be used to grant PA.

Other eligibilities - yes

If other eligibilities are recorded for a Veteran, a CMS case will not be registered – a 'DP Data Change' case must be registered manually in CMS and PA granted using that registration.

Daily advices

Some changes have been made to daily advices to cater for the Orange Card.  Additional paragraphs will be included in daily advices when card eligibility changes, when a New Claim is processed and when pensioners transfer interstate.

Standard Letters

A new batch of letters dealing with acknowledgments, grants and rejections are located under the new 'BCAL Card' tab in IS Standard Letters.  Note that Standard letters relating to CSHC, where the claimant is also eligible for an Orange Card, are located in the new CSHC tab.

EATERS – PBB elig type

EATERS has been changed to recognise the new Orange Card.  A new eligibility type 'PBB' has been created for the card.   Eligibility for the Orange Card cannot be set to a date that is prior to 1 January 2002.

EATERS – EN.BC

A new screen 'EN.BC' has been created in EATERS – this screen should be used to set the new eligibility for the Orange Card.  The Country Code field in this screen already exists and new country codes have been created for the BCAL group of Veterans.  These new country codes are at Attachment A – Country Codes.

The functionality of this new screen is no different to existing screens – to make changes to a veteran's eligibility, a CMS case has to be registered and 'Stage Completed' to “Await Prepare Record'.

Entitlement Card (EC)  Changes

Changes have been made to accommodate the new card.  The commands and the functionality in EC have not changed.  There has been an additional field added to EC – 'RPBC card'.  If you need to inquire on or update a veteran's record where that veteran holds an Orange Card, type Y in that field.  If the field is left blank, other card eligibility will be displayed.

VIEW changes

VIEW changes include:

• the addition of a new folder in the Eligibility Tab;
• a new folder in the Cards Tab; and
• a new card type in the Summary Tab.

WAR PREFIX CODE

ENTITLEMENT NAME

COUNTRY CODE

A

Algeria - WW2

DZ

A

Argentina - WW2

AR

A

Belgium - WW1

BE

A

Belgium - WW2

BE

A

Brazil - WW2

BR

BUR

Burma

BU

A

Bulgaria - WW2

BG

A

China - WW2

CN

A

Chile - WW2

CL

CN

Canadian - WW1

CA

CNX

Canadian - WW2

CA

A

Czechoslovakia - WW2

CZ

A

Denmark - WW2

DK

A

Egypt - WW2

EG

A

Estonia - WW2

EE

A

Ethiopia - WW2

ET

A

Finland - WW2

FI

A

France - WW1

FR

A

France - WW2

FR

A

Greece - WW1

GR

A

Greece - WW2

GR

HKX

Hong Kong - WW2

HK

A

Netherlands - WW2

NL

A

Hungary - WW2

HU

IND

INDIA (all conflicts)

IN

A

Italy - WW1

IT

A

Italy - WW2

IT

A

Japan - WW1

JA

A

Latvia - WW2

LV

A

Liberia - WW2

LR

MAL

Malaysian Pensioners

MA

A

Montenegro - WW1

YU

MTX

Malta - WW2

MT

N

New Zealand - WW1

NZ

A

Norway - WW2

NO

WAR PREFIX CODE

ENTITLEMENT NAME

COUNTRY CODE

NX

New Zealand - WW2

NZ

P

British - WW2

GB

A

Panama - WW2

PA

A

Poland - WW2

PL

PMS

British Merchant Navy - WW1

GB

A

Portugal - WW1

PT

PSW

British Merchant Navy - WW2

GB

PX

British - WW2

GB

RD

Rhodesia - WW1

ZW

RDX

Rhodesia - WW2

ZW

A

Rumania - WW1

RO

A

Russia - WW1

RU

A

Russia - WW2

RU

SA

South Africa - WW1

SA

SAX

South Africa - WW2

SA

A

Serbia - WW1

YU

A

Syria - WW2

SY

A

Uruguay - WW2

UY

A

United States - WW1

US

A

United States - WW2

US

A

Venezuala - WW2

VE

A

Yugoslavia - WW2

YU

Purpose

This Departmental Instruction is to advise of enhancements that will be introduced to further automate processing of Claims Management System (CMS) and Death Processing System (DPS) actions for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders.

Background

A Stateline was circulated in September 2001 which described the introduction of system changes to facilitate the processing of CSHC claims.  That Stateline indicated that further enhancements were being made to the system to further automate CMS and DPS processing capabilities.

Implementation Date

The enhancements to CMS and DPS will be introduced during the week commencing Monday 10 December 2001.  Contact officers for the CSHC project will be informed when the promotions are made.

Attachments

There are two attachments which describe the CMS and DPS processing changes.

Contact Officer

Any questions regarding these changes should be directed to David Owen by e-mail or phone (02 6289 6685).

Introduction

This attachment outlines the changes to the way CMS actions will be processed for CSHC claims.

Current Processing

Currently the recording of, and all changes to, a “Senior's Card” registration are totally manual .

The following table provides the steps that are currently required.

Step

Action

1

Register a CMS case via CM.CI screen in “Await Prepare Record” stage.

2

Update case attributes via CM.UA.  Note either of the mandatory attributes; “Successful claim” or “Unsuccessful Claim”, must be set.

3

Update the stage via CM.SC screen.

If the stage is progressed to:

1. “Prepare Recording” then move to Step 4.
2. “Case Finalisation” then move to Step 5.
3. “Case Withdrawn” Then move to Step 6.

4

Update the stage from “Prepare Recording” via CM.SC screen.  Note that the stage can only be progressed back to “Await Prepare Record”.

5

The case if now finalised and will be included in the appropriate CMS reports.

6

The case has been withdrawn.

Changes

There is currently no interaction between CMS and the new CSHC recording facility in VIEW.  The enhancements to be introduced will provide automatic case progression functionality as a part of the VIEW recording process.

New Processing

Following the introduction of the enhanced functionality there will be two options with regard to CMS actions.  These two options are:

• Manually registering a case via CM.CI in “Await Prepare Record” stage.
• No manual interaction at all.

If a CMS action ...

... been manually created then when the CSHC eligibility is recorded in VIEW...

has

•     the attribute will be automatically updated according to the claim's success.
•     the stage will be automatically progressed to “Case Finalised”.

has not

•     a “Senior's Card” action will be automatically created with a receipt date equal to the date of processing.
•     the attribute will be automatically updated according to the claim's success.  Eg.  if the CSHC eligibility is recorded as “On” then the mandatory attribute, “Successful Claim”, will be set to “Y”

• the stage will be automatically progressed to “Case Finalised”.

Points to note

There are several points to note regarding then new functionality:

• If a case is manually created then it can still be withdrawn if required.
• If a case is automatically created the CMS reporting will not reflect the correct time taken to process and, therefore, it is still preferable to manually register the claim upon receipt.

Introduction

This attachment outlines the changes to the way DPS actions will be processed for CSHC holder who die.

Current Processing

Currently the CSHC eligibility is only recorded in the database as a “SHC” BELI type.  The recording of a date of death (DOD) for a CSHC holder triggers:

• DPS to “Off” the “SHC” BELI (as well as any other BELI) for the DOD
• the card system to remove the card eligibility.

Changes

The introduction of the new CSHC recording  facility in VIEW and the (possible) eligibility of CSHC holders to telephone allowance has necessitated the introduction of extra database records.  Unfortunately, technical issues with system environments preclude DPS from being able to update these new records upon a client's death.

The changes that will be introduced will update these new records upon a client's death.

New Processing

A new program will be introduced to run immediately following DPS each evening.  DPS will provide the same functionality as it currently does with the new program providing the required updates to the new records.

For each CSHC client that has a DOD recorded and is processed by DPS the following will occur:

• The CSHC eligibility recorded in VIEW (specifically in the CL_BEN_ELIG O* table) will be set to “Off” with “Effective Date” equal to the DOD and “Decision Date” equal to the date of processing.
• A check is made to ensure that the BELI has been turned off.
• If the deceased client has not been reassessed (with a corresponding new DPS assessment) then the file number is inserted into the TA reassessment trigger table (specifically CL_TO_RECORD_TSI).  This is because a DPS reassessment will reassess TA for the deceased and any partner but if this has not occurred the TA reassessment trigger must be set.

DPS Reports

A new section has been added to the daily DPS report which lists the file number, client suffix and unique identifier for any client who has had the CSHC record turned off and TA recalculated.

Points to note

There are several points to note regarding then new functionality:

• This functionality will ordinarily be fully automatic.
• If the case is not processed by DPS automatically then the CSHC record should be checked and set to “Off” in VIEW manually if required.  These cases will appear on the existing DPS report as requiring manual processing.

Purpose

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to provide information about system changes impacting treatment eligibility during the bereavement period for the surviving veteran.

Start date

The changes commenced on 26 November 2001.

Issue

Reassessments of the survivor's income and assets carried out at the time of death by the Death Processing System can result in the loss of treatment entitlement during the bereavement period.  Under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA), any determination by Commission to reduce entitlement as a result of death should take effect at the end of the bereavement period

Aim of change

The main aim is to stop veterans from losing their treatment from an incorrect date and also to make sure they are advised of any future loss of benefits.

Who is affected?

There are very few cases that this scenario affects.

DPS

DPS would reassess from the day of death the income and assets in the clients assessment.  Where there were joint income and assets these generally were halved and held under the survivors' ownership.  Income and Assets held under ownership of the deceased were deleted from the survivors' new assessment.

Reassessment

With the reassessment of income and assets the surviving veteran may have income or assets which would result in the loss of treatment, either TSP or TSD.  If no other entitlement to treatment exists then DPS would put up an OFF date for the client's eligibility as being the day after death.  No advice is produced that notifies the veteran of this loss.

Commencement date

The changes commence in the Production Environment on 26 November 2001.

Enhancement

Based on the low number of cases falling into this scenario, in addition to the complexities of DPS, the most cost effective option is for DPS to identify these cases and report them out for manual processing.  Manual processing will require a PIPS transaction to terminate the deceased from the assessment, as well as additional work on the surviving client's assessment and/or treatment entitlement.

Business Rules

DPS will identify those surviving veterans who will lose their treatment entitlement because of the reassessment performed by DPS.

DPS will report out for manual actioning, including creating a CMS case registration, the processing of the death of the partner.

DPS will produce on the Processing Report and also on the Daily Report a message alerting the actioning officer of the reason for manual action.  (The message will read “FOR INFO – SURVIVOR LOSING TREATMENT – PIPS CASE CREATED”)

Treatment

Because it is possible for a client to have more than one eligibility for Treatment we must be careful to only identify those clients that would actually suffer a true loss of treatment entitlement.

Eg. a client who might lose TSP and TSD but still have eligibility under TDE, TQX or TDP should NOT be identified by DPS.  If the client only had TSP, and is now reassessed to be above the limits for provision of Treatment, then he will be identified by DPS.

Manual PIPS PC Action

When the CMS case is created by DPS a PIPS PC case must be actioned to terminate the deceased client from the assessment.  This should be done as per normal bereavement procedures.

Losing TSP

Where the client has lost TSP but retains a payment of Service Pension another case should be created to make the now single assessment a manual rates case.  The correct rates of payment should be entered.  This is to prevent any $FORT's, other BAL processes or accidental PIPS PC cases being actioned during the bereavement period that creates the need to be made manual rates.

The actioning officer must also change the date on the EN.OT screen that relates to treatment OFF date to be the correct OFF date.  That being date of death + 99 days.

It is possible to use the POG facility within Manual Rates Screen to set up the TSP OFF date but care needs to be taken to have as the Effective date of the case the same date as the TSP OFF date created by the first PIPS case.  Ie. The next available payday date as used by the BELI system.

A Standard Bereavement advice should be produced and sent that includes the notification of loss of treatment at the end of bereavement period.

At the end of the Bereavement period and usually as a result of the 13 week reassessment of income and assets the client should be removed from being manual rates and treatment cancelled.

Losing TSD

Where the client has lost TSD (has lost payment of Service Pension) there is no need for another case to be created to make the single assessment a manual rates case.

The surviving client now has a method of assessment as DP Only.  Having this method of assessment should prevent any $FORT's, other BAL processes or accidental PIPs PC cases being actioned during the bereavement period that might impact on the clients assessment.

The actioning officer must change the date on the EN.OT screen that relates to treatment OFF date to be the correct OFF date.  That being date of death + 99 days.

It is advisable that States monitor these cases to ensure that treatment OFF dates are actioned properly and the correct advices produced.

Contact

Contact officer for enquiries relating to this topic is Steve Claypole on 02 6289 6792

Students

At Home

$

Living Away from Home  $

Homeless

$

Under 16 years

37.40

199.41

301.70

16 – 17 years

165.10

301.70

301.70

18 years and over

198.60

301.70

301.70

Double Orphans

$

Under 16

164.50

16 - 20 years

301.70

21 years and over

366.40

Age/Education Level

Method of Indexation / Increase

Primary students

indexed annually in line with CPI for the previous financial year (in accordance with the provisions of section 1191(1) table item 3A of the Social Security Act 1991)

Secondary/tertiary students aged under 16 and living at home

indexed annually in line with CPI for the previous financial year (in accordance with the provisions of section 1191(1) table item 3A of the Social Security Act 1991)

Secondary/tertiary students aged under 16 and living away from home

aligned with the rate for Assistance to Isolated Children (AIC) as determined by the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs

Secondary/tertiary students aged over 16 and living at home or away from home

increased annually and aligned with the maximum rates for Youth Allowance as determined by the Department of Family and Community Services under part 3.5 of the Social Security Act 1991

Secondary/tertiary homeless students

increased annually and aligned to the maximum rate for Youth Allowance for people who are independent as determined by the Department of Family and Community Services under point 1067G-B3 of the Social Security Act 1991

Double orphans aged under 16

set by using formula:  VCES double orphan education allowance rate for 16 to 20 year olds less the amount of the double orphan's pension

Double orphans aged 16 to 20

the equivalent of  the Youth Allowance rate for 18 years and over living away from home

Double orphans aged 21 and over

the equivalent of the maximum rate of Youth Allowance Special Rate

Double orphans at “frozen” rates

students on “frozen rates” remain on that rate until such time as the frozen amount is equivalent to, or less than, the DO rate that they would be entitled to due to age

(Refer to C31/98 [11] for origin of and need for “frozen” rates)

Purpose

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

Background

Every 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, they are forwarded back to DVA with the new valuation amount.  The output is then forwarded to the State Offices for 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 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 3 November 2001.  The data containing information on the automatic review was forwarded to the AVO on 13 November 2001.  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 years bulk run:

State

Auto

Manual

NSW

646

210

VIC

716

142

QLD

550

128

SA

140

41

WA

166

64

TAS

153

13

Total

2,371

598

Criterion for extracting cases

The following criteria was used for extracting cases:

• All income support and income support supplement recipients who are asset tested;

All income support 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 (26 November 2000);
• All single pensioners who are assessed as blinded and are not paid rent assistance;
• 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 format 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 necessary valuations in the period from December 2001 to April 2002.  The AVO will update the valuation information and forward the updated information to DVA by the end of April 2002.

Updated data forwarded to State Offices

Printouts and an Excel spreadsheet of the updated property valuations will be provided to the contact officer in each State Office.  These reports can be expected early May 2002.

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 2002 (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 convenient payday.

Date of valuation to be used

All States should use 3 November 2001 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 [13].

Contact Officer

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

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 foreign exchange rates, it is appropriate for DVA to apply a new exchange rate for income support pension assessment purposes.

New exchange rate A$2.7871

The exchange rate used to convert Pounds Sterling to Australian Dollars for income support assessment purposes has changed from one Pound = A$2.9155 to one Pound Sterling equals A$2.7871 (ie A$1 = ?0.3588).

This rate reflects the average of the “on demand airmail buying rate” for the two weeks to 26 October 2001.

Date of effect

30 October 2001

Effective from 30 October 2001 the current exchange rate will change.

On pension payday 15 November 2001 (pay period 10) 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 Tuesday 30 October 2001.

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 find the new rate of superannuation.  The pension amount will then be reassessed accordingly.

Manual cases and MS cases

Cases with actions in frozen status will not be processed.  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 15 November 2001 – ie 30 October 2001.

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, the amount of income and a payment box.  An advice will only be produced for cases where a variation in payment results.

IBM GSA implications

IBM GSA will be producing the cartridge and will forward it to Security Mailing 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 for daily advice letters.

Mail out of bulk advices

Security Mailing will print and prepare the advices for lodgement with Australia Post by 5 November 2001.

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 for the exercise will be:

Nasreen Haque           Telephone:   (02) 6289 1125

29 Jan 98

to

25 Feb 98

0.3972

2.5176

26 Feb 98

to

6 May 98

0.4125

2.4366

7 May 98

to

15 July 98

0.3997

2.5019

16 July 98

to

12 August 98

0.3663

2.7300

13 August 98

to

9 Sept 98

0.3817

2.6199

10 Sept 98

to

21 October 98

0.3690

2.7100

22 October 98

to

4 Nov 98

0.3505

2.8531

5 Nov 98

to

2 Dec 98

0.3676

2.7203

3 Dec 98

to

27 January 99

0.3834

2.6082

28 January 99

to

10 Feb 99

0.3719

2.6889

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

0.3588

2.7871

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 foreign exchange rates, it is appropriate for DVA to apply a new exchange rate for income support pension assessment purposes.

New exchange rate A$2.9155

The exchange rate used to convert Pounds Sterling to Australian Dollars for income support assessment purposes has changed from one Pound = A$2.7020 to one Pound Sterling equals A$2.9155 (ie A$1 = 0.3430 Pounds).

This rate reflects the average of the “on demand airmail buying rate” for the two weeks to 28 September 2001.

Date of effect

2 October 2001

Effective from 2 October 2001 the current exchange rate will change.

On pension payday 18 October 2001 (pay period 08) 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 October 2001.

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 find the new rate of superannuation.  The pension amount will then be reassessed accordingly.

Manual cases and MS cases

Cases with actions in frozen status will not be processed.  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 October 2001 – ie 2 October 2001.

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, the amount of income and a payment box.  An advice will only be produced for cases where a variation in payment results.

IBM GSA implications

IBM GSA will be producing the cartridge and will forward it to Security Mailing 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 for daily advice letters.

Mail out of bulk advices

Security Mailing will print and prepare the advices for lodgement with Australia Post by 8 October 2001.

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 for the exercise will be:

Nasreen Haque           Telephone:   (02) 6289 1125

29 Jan 98

to

25 Feb 98

0.3972

2.5176

26 Feb 98

to

6 May 98

0.4125

2.4366

7 May 98

to

15 July 98

0.3997

2.5019

16 July 98

to

12 August 98

0.3663

2.7300

13 August 98

to

9 Sept 98

0.3817

2.6199

10 Sept 98

to

21 October 98

0.3690

2.7100

22 October 98

to

4 Nov 98

0.3505

2.8531

5 Nov 98

to

2 Dec 98

0.3676

2.7203

3 Dec 98

to

27 January 99

0.3834

2.6082

28 January 99

to

10 Feb 99

0.3719

2.6889

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

0.3430

2.9155

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction is to provide information about processing arrangements for the September 2001 global refresh advice letter mailout.

Introduction

We do not send advice letters in September to all pensioners whose pensions are adjusted because of the CPI increase that applies for 20 September 2001.  Information on these increases is contained in the latest edition of VetAffairs (distribution commences on 4 — th September 2001 - 13 — th September 2001).  However, letters will be sent to pensioners affected by the events set out in the following paragraph.

Significant Issues - of Managed Investment and Share Global Refresh Mailout

The September 2001 Quarterly mailout will incorporate the following events for payday 4 October 2001 (WEF 20 September 2001):

•       The asset value of managed investment and share data will be reassessed;
•       The Full Income and Assets Attachment will be suppressed for this exercise and will be replaced with a full listing of the client's Managed Investments and/or Shares regardless of what has been reassessed.  This is a 'new' strategy designed to reduce the volume of low outcome pension review work that traditionally increases following a quarterly mailout;
•       Treatment changes as a result of the SI or Global refresh reassessment.

Advice Letter Target Audience

A letter will be produced only for those clients who have Managed Investments (MIs) and/or Shares (SHs) in their assessment and who meet the following:

•       Less than maximum rate service pensioners (SP), income support supplement recipients (ISS) and age pensioners (AP)
•       Max rate SP/ISS/AP who move to less than max rate as a result of the reassessment
•       Less than max rate SP/ISS/AP who move to max rate as a result of the reassessment
•       Reduction to nil cases as a result of the reassessment
•       Treatment changes as a result of the Statutory Increase (SI) or Global Refresh of Managed Investments and/or Shares reassessment.

New Advice Format and Content - replacement of Full Income and Asset Attachment with a Managed Investment and Shares  Information Attachment

A 'new' Attachment listing ALL Managed Investments and/or Shares a client has in their assessment has been included for the September 2001 processing run.  A paragraph explaining the 'new' Attachment will also print in the body of the letter.

This Attachment replaces the Full Income and Assets Listing that has been used previously.  We have advised clients that we have not provided them with a complete listing of any other income or assets they may have in their assessment as they have not changed, but they continue to be used in assessing the amount of pension they are paid.

Financial Assets Reassessment

The asset value of managed investment and 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 managed investments...

CPI

There will be a brief reference made in the advice letters about the CPI increase after the 'Change to value of shares and 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 managed investments' paragraph.

Advice on CPI and MTAWE variations will be included in the September edition of VetAffairs.

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 Special Register, Overseas and Enclosure (treatment changes) advice letters will be printed by IBM in Melbourne and sent via courier to each State Office.  We always request that these be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received by each State Office.

There is a known problem with 'treatment entitlement' processing which will require you to check all enclosure advices.  You will need to check the client's treatment entitlement to ensure they have received the correct treatment card information in their advice appropriate to the client's change in treatment eligibility.

The program in processing these cases, applies the period of grace (POG) provisions against all clients, and if there is a TSP change then the advice will be streamed as an enclosure advice.  The program does not look at any higher priority treatment eligibility such as TQX or TDP.  As a result, in some cases the advice may not have a treatment paragraph - this may be appropriate to the particular case as the client may have a higher priority treatment eligibility precluding him/her from any changes to treatment.  Letters should only be sent in this instance if the client has MIs/SHs in their assessment.

However, for those clients who have had a valid treatment change, regardless of whether they have MIs/SHs in their assessment - their letter should be sent.

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.

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 Thursday evening 20 — th September until Monday evening 24 — th September 2001.

Critical Dates

Processing Weekend within DVA (includes 'advices' processing)

Thursday (pm), 20 — th September 2001 - Monday (pm), 24 — th September 2001

Dispatch Production Data to SMS

Tuesday, 25 — th September 2001

Commence Printing Advice Letters

Wednesday, 26 — th September 2001

End Printing Advice Letters

Thursday, 27 — th September 2001

Lodgement of Advice Letters with Australia Post

Friday, 28 — th September 2001

Client Numbers

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

STATE

NO. OF LETTERS

(Approx Only Based on March 2001 SI Statistics and includes Special Register, Overseas and Enclosures)

New South Wales

10,722

Victoria

7,748

Queensland

6,143

Western Australia

2,766

South Australia

3,020

Tasmania

1,194

TOTAL

31,593

Printing of Letters

Security Mailing Services (SMS) Sydney, will print, fold and insert advice letters in the week from Tuesday 25 — th September thru till Friday 28 — th September 2001.

Lodgement of Letters

All letters will be lodged with Australia Post on Friday 28th September 2001.  A representative from National Office will notify details of lodgement for each State as they occur.

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

Special Register, Overseas & Enclosures

Special Register, Overseas and Enclosure (treatment changes) advice letters will be printed by IBM in Melbourne and sent via courier to each State Office.  These should be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received by each State Office.  This arrangement is the same as for daily advice letters.

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, and it is essential that Systems Delivery is notified if they do not arrive.  It is also necessary to advise Carol Walsh, Systems Delivery on (02) 6289 6729 if the delivered letters do not exactly match the reports.

Please note the reference to the section on 'Treatment Advices to be Checked' mentioned earlier in this Departmental Instruction.  We request that all treatment advices be checked for accuracy prior to posting.

Monitoring of Pensioner Contact Following Mailout

The intake of pensioner initiated reviews (PIRs) increases significantly following the quarterly advice mailouts, and anecdotal evidence suggests that a proportion of PIRs received following the quarterly mailout produce nil, or low outcomes for the pensioner.  The inclusion of Full Income and Asset listings is considered to be a major factor contributing to this increased workload.  As part of the review strategy to reduce the volume of low outcome pensioner review work we have replaced the Full Income and Asset listing with a Managed Investment and Share Information Attachment.

To ascertain the effectiveness of this strategy we will be monitoring the intake of PIRs following the quarterly mailout.  We also require feedback from staff on the level of pensioner contact following the mailout.  In particular, we need information to gauge the impact that the new MI/SH Information Attachment has had on the number of phone calls received in comparison to what you would 'normally' expect to receive.

Managers will be contacted in the weeks following the mailout in respect of feedback received.

Reprints of selected letters

Any requests for reprints of individual Quarterly Advice letters should be referred to System Support Officers to organise a reprint.

'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 of 20 - 24 September 2001, may be sent to clients who do not have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment and therefore have not been updated as part of the Global Refresh.

However, payment advice letters produced for clients who have MIs and/or SHs must be withheld pending notification that the quarterly letters have been dispatched.  This will ensure that pensioner's receive their advice letters in chronological order.

$FORT run - Monday 17 September 2001

$FORT has been scheduled to run on Monday night 17 September 2001.  Advices from this run should be sent immediately.

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 mailout to staff.

State Office Contacts for the September quarterly processing are:

NSW: Genia Sacharczuk

VIC: Peter Rogers

QLD: Steve Jensen/ Roger Vickerstaff

SA: Graham Bate

WA: Kim Gooding/John Gliddon

TAS: Chris Craven

ACT: Martin McGlashan

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.  At the end of this process we will be collecting and collating all State feedback to analyse issues raised and develop solutions to address any concerns raised.  Any problems noted should be reported to the National Office Contact Officer with the nature of the query and any relevant information pertaining to the query.  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 letters lodgement should be referred to:

Pat Webb

(02) 6289 6444 (Phone)

(02) 6289 6553 (Fax)

Systems issues should be directed to:

Carol Walsh on (02) 6289 6729

Letters

Prior to the issue of this Departmental Instruction, System Support Officers and Manager's 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.  An email will be forwarded to the September SI State Contact Officers advising of the changes in respect of all comments received.

Copies of the amended advice letters for this run are at Attachments A and B of this DI.

Attachment A – Paragraph sequencing

Attachment B – Advice Letter Examples

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

Example 2: Increase from Less than Max Rate to Maximum Rate, Payment Attachment, MI/SH Information Attachment, and GIS

Example 3: Overall increase - remaining on Less than maximum rate, Payment Attachment, MI/SH Information Attachment, and GIS

Example 4: Age Pension increase remaining on Less than Max Rate, Disability Pension in payment, Payment Attachment, MI/SH Information Attachment, and GIS

Example 5: Reduction to Nil as a result of MI/SH reassessment, Payment Attachment, MI/SH Information Attachment, GIS

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.
•       The bolded and underlined wording shown in the mock-up advices attached, is present to highlight the wording changes - wording in the production advices will not be reflected in this manner.

Paragraph

To Whom

State specific letterhead

All

Opening

All

Change to value of shares and managed investments

All

Effective Date

All

“You have been increased to the maximum rate of pension”

All increase to max rate cases

Your DP has/has not been varied

Those with DP,WWP

Reduction to Nil para

Reduction to Nil cases

Payment Information

All

Payment Diversion Table

All

Fringe Benefits

Reduction to Nil cases

Your Right to Re-Apply

Reduction to Nil cases

Treatment On/Off

Any cases where a change in treatment eligibility is detected (with or without MI/SHs in assessment)

Financial Obligations (incl Prescribed Rates)

All (not Reduction to Nil cases or Blinded clients)

Your Obligations (reference to previous)

All (not Reduction to Nil cases)

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

All

Your Right of Review

All

State specific closing paragraph and Signature

All

Payment Information Attachment

All

Managed Investment and/or Shares Information Attachment

All

General Information Sheet

All

Date

Name

Payment Destination

Amount Deposited

T-PAYDIVER-DATE

T-PAYDIV-PAYEE

T-PAYDIV-PAYDEST

T-PAYDIV-AMOUNT

Description

No. of Shares

Asset Amount

XXXXXX

X,XXX

$XX,XXX.XX

QQQQQQQQQQQQQ

XXX

$    X,XXX.XX

Description

Units

Asset Amount

VVVVVVVVVV

XX

$XX.XX

CCCCCCCCCCCCC

XXX

$XX.XX

Date

Name

Payment Destination

Amount Deposited

T-PAYDIVER-DATE

T-PAYDIV-PAYEE

T-PAYDIV-PAYDEST

T-PAYDIV-AMOUNT

Date

Name

Payment Destination

Amount Deposited

T-PAYDIVER-DATE

T-PAYDIV-PAYEE

T-PAYDIV-PAYDEST

T-PAYDIV-AMOUNT

Date

Name

Payment Destination

Amount Deposited

T-PAYDIVER-DATE

T-PAYDIV-PAYEE

T-PAYDIV-PAYDEST

T-PAYDIV-AMOUNT

Date

Name

Payment Destination

Amount Deposited

T-PAYDIVER-DATE

T-PAYDIV-PAYEE

T-PAYDIV-PAYDEST

T-PAYDIV-AMOUNT

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction provides information on

The format and issuing of the 2002 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.

Concession Information Sheet

A State specific “Concessions Information” sheet will be inserted during the bulk printing for VIC, TAS and QLD 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 2002 PCC bulk issue will be issued in the payment (ie cross referenced) number.

Partner's on PCCs

The PCC program will include the following in order to follow current DFACs policy regarding the issue of Centrelink PCC's:

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

What remains the same

• Single pensioner PCCs will be the same format as previous years i.e. one carrier; one card with vouchers attached. 
• On-going daily issues of PCCs will be produced in the same format as previous years i.e. one carrier, one card regardless of single/couple status.
• The pensioner's name will be constructed as follows: forename, 2 — nd initial, 3 — rd initial (where applicable) and surname (all in title case) with the exception of MAC/MC surnames, these will be printed in upper case on the card.
• The pensioner's name will be printed in title case with the street address, suburb and state printed in upper case on the card.
• The pensioner's name and address (street, suburb and state) will be printed in upper case on the carrier.
• 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.
• A 2002 state specific fridge magnet calendar will be inserted in each envelope.

Card Production

The printing of the approximately 370,000 2002 PCCs will commence on Thursday 20 September, following the extract of client data on the weekend of 8 - 9 September.

The 2002 PCC will be personalised, enveloped and despatched by the mailing house – Security Mailing Services in Sydney.  Lodgement with Australia Post will commence on 4 October and expected to be completed by Friday 12 October.

Card Numbers

The approximate numbers for each State/Territory for the bulk issue in September 2001 are as follows:

State/Territory

No. of PCCs

New South Wales

124,256

Victoria

82,873

Queensland

74,952

South Australia

34,761

Western Australia

34,076

Tasmania

13,188

NT

610

ACT

2,998

TOTAL

367,714

2002 PCC Stock

For the 2002 bulk PCC issue, there will be 2 different carriers – one for couples (to be used in the bulk issue only) and one for singles.  The pre-printed format of the rear of the card for both singles and couples cards will be the same as the 2001 card with a “Valid from Oct 2001 to Dec 2002” date.

The DVA National contact numbers, State Office street locations and postal addresses will be included on the carrier.

Carrier Layout

The 2002 carrier layout for single pensioners remains the same as the layout for the 2001 carrier, with the vouchers printed at the bottom of the carrier.

The 2002 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 on 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 person's partner details).

Blind Pensioners – Special PCCs

The word 'BLIND' will be printed in 14 point lettering on the top centre of the 2002 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 for checking prior to dispatch to the Special Register addresses.

Fridge Magnet Calendar

A State specific 2002 magnetic refrigerator calendar will be included with the bulk issue of PCCs.

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 numbers, and in the case of Tasmania will also contain the pensioner's 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 (Single & Couples)

NIL

ACT

NIL (Single & Couples)

NIL

NT

NIL (Single & Couples)

NIL

VIC

Single (2 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Number

VIC

Couple (4 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

QLD

Single (4 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Number

QLD

Couple (8 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

SA

Single (2 vouchers)

Name

Entitlement Number

SA

Couples (4 vouchers)

Names

Entitlement Numbers

WA

Single (1 voucher)

Name

Entitlement Number

WA

Couples (2 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 following the bulk extract:

• Rejection Report of clients who did not receive a PCC and the reason, 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 be addressed to the State Office PCC contact officers.  You should expect the reports on Monday 10 September, following the data extraction processing on the weekend of 8-9 September.

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 by the end of October.

The CD-ROM files (*.pdf format) can be accessed via Acrobat Reader 3.0 which can be found on the DVA LAN.  From the Start up menu select Departmental/Applications/Internet Tools/Acrobat Reader 3.0.

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 2001 PCCs will be on Friday, 7 September 2001.

Formatting and any re-alignment of local printers to accommodate the 2002 PCC will be addressed by the PCC National Office, IMU programmers.  Please advise Robert Krajina on 02 6289 6044 as soon as possible if you experience any difficulties in printing replacement or new grant PCCs.

Manual Voucher Issue

From Monday, 10 September 2001, all new grant and card replacement transactions will generate a 2002 PCC record on the client data base with an expiry date of 31/12/2002 for all States. The 2001 PCC stock must not be used for daily issues, from and including Monday, 10 September 2001.  However, any new grant or transfer-in between 10 September and 31 December 2001 still requires manually issued 2001-travel voucher/s and 2001 stock is to be used.

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 2002 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.

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

S A & VIC

As in previous years SA Rail have 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 have 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 2002 PCCs by 31 August. The fridge magnet calendar stocks will be supplied to the State Offices 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 Robert Krajina on 02 6289 6044 or fax 02 6289 6553.

Purpose

This Departmental Instruction provides assessment information relating to franked dividends.

Background

Prior to 1 July 2000, for taxation purposes Centrelink and Veterans' Affairs income support payment recipients could only take advantage of the imputation credits from franked dividends if they lodged tax returns and paid income tax.  The credits were used by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to reduce a persons tax liability.  Customers below the taxable income thresholds could not take advantage of the credits because they had no tax liability to be reduced.  Also those on lower marginal rates of tax could not fully utilise the credit.

The imputation credit rules were changed with the introduction of the new tax system to enable shareholders to access imputation credits regardless of whether they pay income tax or not.

Pensioners and others holding shares that attract imputation credits can access the value of the imputation credit from tax refunds for the 2000/01 financial year.  From 1 July 2001 companies will be able to provide early refund to a shareholder at the time the dividend is paid.

What is a franked dividend?

Franked dividends are defined in section 160AQF of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (see attachment).  They are dividends, or shares of company profits, paid or credited by an Australian resident company from profits that have had Australian company tax paid on them.

Franked dividends can be wholly or partially franked, that is, either the whole or part of the amount of the dividend carries an imputation credit.

What is an imputation credit?

An imputation credit is a credit to a person owning shares for the tax that has already been paid by the issuing company on their dividends.  These are known as franking credits.

Pre 1 January 2002 income test assessment

Publicly Listed Shares

Shares in a publicly listed company are part of a person's financial assets.  The assessable income for income support pension purposes is the deemed income.  The changes to imputation credits will not change these rules.

Private Trust or Private Company Shares

Under current rules, dividends on shares including franking credits from a private company or private trust should be held as income for the individual for 12 months from the date of the distribution/refund.  The gross amount of the dividend payment is assessable.

It is important that income support pensioners advise of receipt of dividends and imputation credits from private trusts and private companies at the time they are received.

1 January 2002 rule change.

Private Trusts & Private Company Shares

From 1 January 2002, if a pensioner is attributed with the assets or income of a private trust or private company, there will be no need to advise of the receipt of imputation credits.  This is because the net assessable income of the private trust or private company will be attributed to the attributable stakeholder(s).

s160AQF

ITAA 1936

INCOME TAX ASSESSMENT ACT 1936

Part IIIA Franking of Dividends

Division 5 Franking of Dividends

Subdivision A Franking

160AQF What constitutes franking with a franked amount.

(1) Current class A franked dividend multiplied by specified percentage

Where:

(a) a frankable dividend (in this subsection called the "current dividend") is

     paid to a shareholder in a company; and

(b) the company is a resident at the time of payment; and

(c) if the current dividend is paid under a resolution:

1. before the reckoning day for the current dividend, the company  makes a declaration that each dividend to which the resolution relates is a class A franked dividend to the extent of a percentage (not exceeding 100%) specified in the declaration in relation to the dividend; and

2. the percentage so specified is the same for each of the dividends to which the resolution relates; and

(d) if the current dividend is not paid under a resolution - the company makes          a declaration before the reckoning day for the  current dividend that the current dividend is a class A franked dividend to the extent of a percentage (not exceeding 100%) specified in the declaration;

the current dividend shall be taken to have been class A franked to the extent

of the amount calculated in accordance with the formula:

State

No. - Bulk issue

Blank supply

for daily issue

NSW

1945

800

VIC

1309

800

QLD

826

500

WA

922

400

SA

409

400

TAS

93

300

TOTAL

5504

3200

STATE

QUANTITY

CONTACT

PHONE

FAX

NSW

800

Sue Cooney

(02) 9213 7874

(02) 9212 7885

VIC

800

Peter Rogers

(03) 9284 6379

(03) 9284 6797

QLD

500

Carolyn Lindsay

(07) 3223 8842

(07) 3223 8533

WA

400

John Gliddon

(08) 9366 8417

(08) 9366 8239

SA

400

Maria Lewandowski

(08) 8290 0439

(08) 8290 0412

TAS

300

Bryon Kelly

(03) 6221 6684

(03) 6221 6601

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 foreign exchange rates, it is appropriate for DVA to apply a new exchange rate for income support pension assessment purposes.

New exchange rate A$2.7020

The exchange rate used to convert Pounds Sterling to Australian Dollars for income support assessment purposes has changed from one Pound = A$2.6295 to one Pound Sterling equals A$2.7020 (ie A$1 = 0.3701 Pounds).

This rate reflects the average of the “on demand airmail buying rate” for the two weeks to 6 July 2001.

Date of effect

7 August 2001

Effective from 7 August 2001 the current exchange rate will change.

On pension payday 23 August 2001 (pay period 04) 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 6 August 2001.

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 find the new rate of superannuation.  The pension amount will then be reassessed accordingly.

Manual cases and MS cases

Cases with actions in frozen status will not be processed.  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 23 August 2001 – ie 7 August 2001.

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, the amount of income and a payment box.  An advice will only be produced for cases where a variation in payment results.

IBM GSA implications

IBM GSA will be producing the cartridge and will forward it to Security Mailing 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 for daily advice letters.

Mail out of bulk advices

Security Mailing will print and prepare the advices for lodgement with Australia Post by 13 August 2001.

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 for the exercise will be:

Nasreen Haque           Telephone:   (02) 6289 1125

29 Jan 98

to

25 Feb 98

0.3972

2.5176

26 Feb 98

to

6 May 98

0.4125

2.4366

7 May 98

to

15 July 98

0.3997

2.5019

16 July 98

to

12 August 98

0.3663

2.7300

13 August 98

to

9 Sept 98

0.3817

2.6199

10 Sept 98

to

21 October 98

0.3690

2.7100

22 October 98

to

4 Nov 98

0.3505

2.8531

5 Nov 98

to

2 Dec 98

0.3676

2.7203

3 Dec 98

to

27 January 99

0.3834

2.6082

28 January 99

to

10 Feb 99

0.3719

2.6889

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

0.3701

2.7020

Purpose of Instruction

The purpose of this departmental instruction is to amend Departmental Instruction C06/2001 [22] issued on 21/06/2001 which provided information about processing arrangements for the June 2001 Statutory Increase letter, Payment Summary (formerly named Group Certificate), and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate mailout.

Amendment

Department Instruction C06/2001 [22] advised that all pensioners would receive a full Income and Asset Attachment as part of their June Statutory Increase advice letter.

Pensioners were not issued with a full Income and Asset Attachment as part of this advice mailout.

Contact Officer

Any queries on this matter should be directed to Pat Webb on telephone (02) 6289 6444.

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 foreign exchange rates, it is appropriate for DVA to apply a new exchange rate for income support pension assessment purposes.

New exchange rate A$2.6295

The exchange rate used to convert Pounds Sterling to Australian Dollars for income support assessment purposes has changed from one Pound = A$2.721 to one Pound Sterling equals A$2.6295 (ie A$1 = 0.3803 Pounds).

This rate reflects the average of the “on demand airmail buying rate” for the two weeks to 22 June 2001.

Date of effect

24 July 2001

Effective from 24 July 2001 the current exchange rate will change.

On pension payday 9 August 2001 (pay period 03) 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 23 July 2001.

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 find the new rate of superannuation.  The pension amount will then be reassessed accordingly.

Manual cases and MS cases

Cases with actions in frozen status will not be processed.  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 9 August 2001 – ie 24 July 2001.

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, the amount of income and a payment box.  An advice will only be produced for cases where a variation in payment results.

IBM GSA implications

IBM GSA will be producing the cartridge and will forward it to Security Mailing 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 for daily advice letters.

Mail out of bulk advices

Security Mailing will print and prepare the advices for lodgement with Australia Post by 1 August 2001.

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.  The resulting reassessment of their income support pension could vary the RA paid.  A listing of affected cases can be obtained from Kevin Chapman, Systems Delivery Unit.

Contact officer

The Income Support Branch contact officers for the exercise will be:

Nasreen Haque           Telephone:   (02) 6289 1125

Kevin Chapman           Telephone:   (02) 6289 6749

29 Jan 98

to

25 Feb 98

0.3972

2.5176

26 Feb 98

to

6 May 98

0.4125

2.4366

7 May 98

to

15 July 98

0.3997

2.5019

16 July 98

to

12 August 98

0.3663

2.7300

13 August 98

to

9 Sept 98

0.3817

2.6199

10 Sept 98

to

21 October 98

0.3690

2.7100

22 October 98

to

4 Nov 98

0.3505

2.8531

5 Nov 98

to

2 Dec 98

0.3676

2.7203

3 Dec 98

to

27 January 99

0.3834

2.6082

28 January 99

to

10 Feb 99

0.3719

2.6889

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

0.3803

2.6295

Purpose

The purpose of this departmental instruction is to set out revised procedures for providing newly granted income support pensioners with the 2001 edition of You and Your Pension.

It also sets out the changes to the letters from the Integrated Advices system for new grants of service pension, income support supplement and social security age pension (paid by DVA).

Related Documents

This departmental instruction should be read in conjunction with:

• Stateline, You & Your Pension (All States) dated  July 2001.

Introduction

The hard copy of You and Your Pension was first printed in June 1998 and direct mailed to all pensioners in receipt of service pension and income support supplement.  The production of the book followed extensive consultation with veterans, ex service representatives and staff.

Objectives of You and Your Pension

The objectives of You and Your Pension are to:

• improve pensioner's understanding of their benefits, rights and obligations;
• reduce the worry many pensioners have about fulfilling their obligations;
• reduce workload through pensioners being better informed of the events they do and do not need to tell DVA about; and
• provide comprehensive information about the full range of DVA benefits and services available to income support pensioners.

The issue of the book with a covering letter (ie the new grant advice) is also a legal notification of obligations under section 54 of the VEA and sections 67 and 68 of the SSA.

Background

Prior to stocks of You and Your Pension running out, the book was sent with the new grant advices for newly granted service pensioners and income support supplement recipients.  Obligations were suppressed in the advices and pensioners were referred to the book for information about their benefits, rights and obligations.

Since stocks have run out, staff have reverted to advices which contain full obligations for new grants of service pension and income support supplement.  In some states, lists have also been kept of pensioners to whom the new  book can be sent.

Which letters have changed

There are changes to the new grant letters.  The letters that will change are:

• SP and ISS grants
• AP grants (the 2001 edition of You and Your Pension contains information for age pensioners paid by DVA)
• new grant of partner SP, vet already in payment

What the changes are for SP and ISS grants

The obligation paragraph has been changed so that when SP or ISS is granted, obligations can be suppressed and the book sent with the advice.  When obligations are suppressed, the following paragraph will be included in the grant letter:

Events you need to tell us about

You must notify within 14 days (28 days if you live overseas or receive remote area allowance) of changes to your circumstances which might affect the rate of your pension.  The attached booklet You and Your Pension is a notice under section 54 of the Veterans' Entitlements Act and sets out your obligations to ensure that your pension is paid at the correct rate.  If you do not tell us of any of these changes you may be overpaid.  We are entitled under the above Act to recover any overpayments.

The booklet also includes the following information:

• things you don't need to tell us about;
• additional allowances and benefits;
• the income and assets tests and how different types of income and assets are counted for pension purposes;
• your obligations and rights as a recipient; and
• other services available from Veterans' Affairs.

What the changes are for AP grants

The obligation paragraph has been changed so that when AP is granted, obligations can be suppressed and the book sent with the advice.  When obligations are suppressed, the following paragraph will be included in the letter:

Events you need to tell us about

You must notify us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas) of changes to your circumstances which might affect the rate of your pension.  If you become aware that you have received or are to receive a compensation payment, you must tell us within 7 days (28 days if you are living overseas).  The attached booklet You and Your Pension sets out your obligations to ensure that your pension is paid at the right rate.  If you do not tell us of any of these changes you may be overpaid.  We are entitled under social security law to recover any overpayments.

The booklet also includes the following information:

• things you don't need to tell us about;
• additional allowances and benefits;
• the income and assets tests and how different types of income and assets are counted for pension purposes;
• your obligations and rights as a recipient; and

• other services available from Veterans' Affairs.

What the changes are for new grants to partner SP

The following paragraph is a new paragraph for new grants partner SP.  It will be included in the letter when obligations are suppressed.

A copy of the booklet You and Your Pension should have previously been sent to your partner.  If you do not have a copy of the booklet you should contact the Department and request a copy.

Effective date

The revised letters will go into production effective from 23 July 2001.  Stocks of You and Your Pension should be available in the States from

20 July 2001.

Who is affected?

All new grants of service pension, income support supplement and social security age pension (paid by DVA) effective from 23 July 2001.

Procedures for requesting letters for new grants of SP, ISS and AP

When granting a new service pension, income support supplement or social security age pension, it will be necessary to suppress printing the full listing of obligations.  These obligations are contained in You and Your Pension.

The following table sets out the new procedures for requesting letters for new grants of SP, ISS and AP.

Step

Action

1

As part of the granting a new pension procedure go to the 'advice' screen in PIPS

2

Change the default selection of “full” under the obligations section to “suppress”.  This will:

• insert the paragraphs mentioned above
• suppress the pensioner's full listing of obligations from being printed in the Integrated Advices system letter

3

After the letter has been printed, include a copy of the booklet You and Your Pension with the letter package to be mailed to the pensioner.

Additional procedures for blind pensioners

For newly granted service pensioners, income support supplement recipients and social security age pensioners who are blind, it will be necessary to send an audio cassette version of You and Your Pension as well as the booklet.

If “blind” is selected in the 'adult details' screen of PIPS then an audio cassette should also be included in the letter package.

Where blind pensioners are members of a couple, one booklet and one audio cassette is required.

Note that the cassette is not yet available.  Advice about timeframe for availability of cassette will follow.

Stocks of You and Your Pension

Stocks of You and Your Pension may only be requested from the warehouse by the contact officer in each State Office.

Contact officer

The Income Support Branch contact officer for this exercise is:

Jill de Vaus     Telephone (07) 3223 8516

Purpose

The purpose of this departmental instruction is to provide policy advice relating to a change in the deemed interest rates applicable to financial assets effective 1 July 2001.

Related Documents

This departmental instruction should be read in conjunction with the:

• Stateline, June Quarterly SI to SSO (All States) dated 19 June 2001; and
• Departmental Instruction, C06-2001, June 2001 Statutory Increase Advice Letter, Payment Summary and Medicare Levy Exemption Certificate Mailout date 21/06/2001.

Legislation

Division 3 of Part IIIB of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 contains the rules relating to deemed income from financial assets.

Section 46J of the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 provides that the below threshold rate and the above threshold rate are the rates applicable for the purposes of Division 1B or Part 3.10 of the Social Security Act 1991.

Section 1082 of the Social Security Act 1991 provides that the Minister for Family and Community Services must determine the below threshold rate and the above threshold rate via disallowable instrument.

Determination

On 12 June 2001, the Minister for Family and Community Services determined that the deeming threshold rates should be reduced.  Social Security (Threshold Rates) Determination 2001 refers.  The determination varies the threshold rates for Division 1B of Part 3.10 of the Social Security Act.

The disallowable instrument also revoked the Social Security (Threshold Rates) Determination 2000.

Announcement

The change to the deemed interest rates was announced by the Minister for Family and Community Services on 20 June 2001.

Revised Deeming Rates

From 1 July 2001 the:

• Below Threshold rate will reduce from  3.5% to 3.0%; and
• Above Threshold rates will reduce from 5.5% to 4.5%.

Deeming Thresholds

From 1 July 2001, the deeming threshold are being increased as follows:

• Not a member of a couple will increase from $31,600 to $33,400;
• Partnered Combined will increase from $52,600 to $55,800.

This increase is due to annual indexation and has occurred separately to the Minister's determination in relation to the below and above threshold rates of interest applicable to the income testing of financial assets.

Impact

The combined impact of these changes for reduced rate income support pension recipients is an increase in pension.

Action

Changes to pension processing systems has been undertaken.  Changes to procedural and pensioner information such as FactSheets, Clik is currently underway.

The advice letters that will be issued for the June Quarterly Statutory Increase reflects the new deemed income rates and thresholds.

Q&As

A modified version of Q&As prepared by the Department of Family and Community Services are set out at attachment A.

Purpose

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to provide legislation, policy and procedural information with regards to the 1999/2000 Budget Initiative, Enhance Debt Recovery.

Start date

The changes commence on 1 July 2001.

JEANETTE RICKETTS

BRANCH HEAD

INCOME SUPPORT

Introduction

From 1 July 2001, changes to some of the debt recovery provisions in the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA) were introduced via the 1999/2000 Budget measure known as 'Enhance Debt Recovery'.

Note: similar changes to the social security law will affect age pensioners paid by DVA.

Background

Feedback and past experience has highlighted inequities with parts of the old debt recovery policy, including:

• Imposition of an administrative charge even where a debtor is making repayments; and

• Not having the legislative authority to recall funds that have been released after a person's death, or released to an incorrect bank account.

Aim of change

The aim of the changes is to overcome these difficulties by:

• Not imposing an administrative charge on a debtor who is making an effort to repay; and
• Ensuring that public monies are directed to those most in need, by being able to recover misdirected funds.

Who is affected?

Service pensioners and Income Support Supplement recipients and Age Pensioners paid by DVA are affected by the changes.

Application of admin charge

Prior to 1 July 2001, an administrative charge was applied under the VEA, when the debt:

• arose due to a breach of the VEA, such as failure to notify within the notification period; and
• was greater than $200; and
• was not repaid within 3 months after the person was advised in writing of the amount of the debt.

Note: there was no penalty interest provision under the VEA.

Amount of admin charge

• The administrative charge was a one off charge, calculated by adding $15 + 10% of the balance outstanding after 3 months.

• The admin charge could not exceed $515.

Example: if $250 was outstanding after 3 months, the admin charge calculated would be $40 (i.e. $15 + $25).

Age pensioners

Prior to 1 July 2001, penalty interest was imposed on age pensioners under the Social Security Act 1991 (SSA) when:

• The person was not in payment; and
• The person had not repaid the debt or entered into an agreement to repay the debt within a specified time frame.

Note: there was no administrative charge provision under the SSA.

Commencement date

The new rules commence on 1 July 2001.

New penalty interest

Penalty interest can be applied to debts if the debtor is no longer in payment and fails to enter into, or breaks an existing, repayment arrangement.

New admin charge

A one off administrative charge of $50 will be applied to debts that are liable to have penalty interest applied.

FI recall

DVA will have the authority to recall misdirected funds from financial institutions.

Who is affected?

The new rules apply to:

• service pensioners;
• income support supplement recipients; and
• age pensioners paid by DVA.