Identifying a package of services for vision impaired customers 106-01030010

Services Australia must support customers to be aware of their eligibility for payments or services, and obligations. This includes informing them of the types of assistance and choices available to them, and the types of referrals that can be made to meet their individual requirements.

When customers contact Services Australia seeking help, they should receive support to identify a package of services that meets their needs.

By presenting customers with an individually tailored service offer, Services Australia can provide customers with a selection of products and services that have been put together in response to the customer's current life situation and delivered in a way that meets their needs and expectations.

Some examples of the services available to customers who are blind or who have low vision:

• Age Pension (Blind) or Disability Support Pension (DSP) (Blind). To qualify the customer must be permanently blind
• Pensioner Concession Cards (PCCs). All PCCs issued to blind customers, including replacement, new grant and annual renewal cards will have a tactile indicator. This is a small hole drilled in the lower left hand corner of the card
• Vision Australia provides a specialist service to produce accessible alternative formats for information
• Age Pension (Blind) and DSP (Blind) customers may be eligible for a Medicare levy exemption or reduction
• Age Pension (Blind) and DSP (Blind) customers are not affected by income and assets tests unless they are claiming Rent Assistance (RA). If claiming this payment, or if they have a partner receiving an Income Support Payment (not blind), Age Pension (Blind) and DSP (Blind) customer’s must advise their income and assets

Accessible letters

Age Pension (Blind) and DSP (Blind) customers can choose to receive their Centrelink letters in one of the following formats:

• read over the telephone
• converted to a larger font
• converted to Rich Text Format and sent on a compact disk
• converted to Braille

The service is currently restricted to letters only, not forms or flyers.

Customers interested in this service should phone the Centrelink Disability, sickness and carers line or the Centrelink’s older Australians line during office hours. The Resources page contains a link to 'Phone us' contact information.

A customer must agree to have the 'Accessible Letters Manager’ recorded as their postal address. This arrangement is required to enable relevant customer's letters to be identified. Once identified, letters can be reformatted as requested by the customer. The Accessible Letters Manager has no legal authority regarding the customer's payments or eligibility; it is an administrative solution to allow Centrelink to provide this service. See Accessible letters for customers with vision loss.

Mobility Allowance customers selected for a Review of Mobility Allowance can request to have a fillable form issued to them. See Process page in Mobility Allowance (MOB) Reviews for instructions on issuing an electronic version (MA003m) of the Review of Mobility Allowance form.