SOCIAL
SERVICES, HOUSING AND BENEFITS SELECT COMMITTEE - 15 APRIL 2004
HOUSING AND COUNCIL TAX
BENEFITS BEST VALUE REVIEW IMPROVEMENT PLAN
REPORT OF THE LEAD MEMBER FOR THE BENEFITS BEST VALUE REVIEW AND THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
REASON FOR SELECT COMMITTEE
CONSIDERATION
To seek Member approval of the improvement plan developed in response to reports by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate and from the Best Value Review of the Benefits Service.
ACTION REQUIRED BY THE SELECT COMMITTEE
The
Committee approve the plan and agree to a six-monthly progress report to enable
its progress to be monitored.
BACKGROUND
The Department of Works and Pensions introduced a set of performance standards in 2002 covering the administration of housing and council tax benefits and at that time indicated that all local authorities would be expected to meet these standards on a phased basis.
In July 2003 the Council’s benefit service was inspected by the Benefit fraud Inspectorate to ascertain the extent to which the council were meeting the performance Standards, a detailed report of their findings was published in January 2004.
This report made a number of recommendations and the Benefits Service have developed an action plan to implement these recommendations. This plan is still to be approved by the Benefit fraud Inspectorate
At the same time as the BFI inspection a Best Value Review of the benefit service was commenced and this involved close working with the BFI inspectors thus avoiding duplication. This review has now been completed and an improvement plan developed.
Both plans have been merged into a single document which is attached as an appendix to this report.
The BFI inspectors report identified good progress in a number of areas, these include:
· The provision of local offices with knowledgeable staff
· Closer working with local agencies, social landlords and welfare groups
· Full compliance with the verification framework
· The introduction of a system of performance monitoring
It also highlighted areas where improvements were needed to bring us up to standard:
· Improved procedures and training for all areas of benefits, a training and appeals officer was appointed in November 2003 to deal with this.
· Improved processing times for new claims and changes in circumstance
· Developing partnerships to improve customer awareness and to increase benefit take-up
· Improving the collection and recovery of benefit overpayments
The
Best Value Review also highlighted speed of processing, enhanced working with
partners, and benefit take-up as key areas for improvement, and has been able
to help to instigate some of the improvement work.
Through consultation it also helped to identify specific issues to enhance customer service, such as improved information and accessibility, along with better ICT and telephony, and internal communications.
The improvement plan, which addresses all of the above issues, shows that some of the recommendations have already been achieved and we are currently working on others. In addition we recently commenced work with the BFI action team in two specific areas, claim processing and overpayments.
RELEVANT PLANS, POLICIES, STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
CONSULTATION PROCESS
Extensive
consultation was carried out as a part of the Best Value Review. This included
a range of difficult to reach users each with different needs; Housing
Associations and private landlords; the Pension Service, Job Centre Plus, and
the Inland Revenue; support agencies including Age Concern; and Revenues and
Benefits staff.
FINANCIAL, LEGAL, CRIME AND DISORDER IMPLICATIONS
No extra resources are required to deliver the improvement plan
There are no specific legal or crime and disorder implications
APPENDICES ATTACHED
Appendix 1: Improvement Plan
BACKGROUND PAPERS USED IN THE
PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT
Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report
Contact Point: Mike Toney F 823930 [email protected]
ERICA OULTON PAUL WILKINSON
Lead Member for Benefits Chief Financial Officer