Brian receives a UK pension that is subject to exchange rate fluctuations every month. He would like to know why his assets are not devalued more regularly as well.
Q. Brian
I have been on an AgePension for some time now and I would like to find out about asset values. I receive a pension from the UK and an Age Pension from Centrelink, with an exchange rate applied to the UK pensioneach month.
I have been getting monthly updates for some years now, so why doesn’t Centrelink reduce my assets yearly, by say 10 per cent?
A.
Pensioners with overseas income and assets (apart from financial investments) have them revalued automatically each month using a current exchange rate. However, the value of overseas financial investments is only updated every six months in March and September.
The exchange rate used to assess overseas income or assets, for all days in a calendar month, is the Commonwealth Bank’s on-demand airmail buying rate current on the fifth working day before the first business day in that month. For example, to calculate the exchange rate for any day in March 2015, the exchange rate current on 24 February 2015 (five working days prior to the first business day of March) is applied.
Apart from the exchange rate changes, Centrelink does not revalue assets regularly up or down. If you think that the value of your assets overseas, or in Australia have changed, then you can ask for a reassessment at any time. For example, if the value of your car has fallen, then you can contact Centrelink and advise the new value.
If you think that you have an asset which has fallen in value, and this could impact your Age Pension entitlement, you can contact Centrelink on 13 2300.
