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SOCIAL SERVICES, HOUSING AND
BENEFITS SELECT COMMITTEE – 22 JANUARY 2004 HOUSING AND COUNCIL TAX BENEFITS REPORT OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER |
To provide members with an update
on progress towards meeting the Performance Standards, on forthcoming
legislative changes, and on the progress of the Best Value Review.
The benefit service aims to meet the performance standards set by the Department of Works and Pensions and during the current financial year has made progress in a number of the areas that were identified in the service plan as key objectives:
· The provision of local offices
· Closer working with local agencies, social landlords and welfare groups
· Full compliance with the verification framework
· The introduction of a system of performance monitoring
In addition there have been two
major legislative changes covering both housing and Council Tax benefit:
PERFORMANCE
INFORMATION
Figures shown below are for the first three quarter of the current financial year. These represent the average times allowing for the delays by some claimants in providing all evidence and proofs.
Quarter 1 Quarter
2 Quarter 3
Days to process new claims 78.6 75.7 69.9
Days to process changes in
circumstance 17.5 16.7 14.1
Reviews processed on time 67.9% 71.1% 71.8%
FUTURE PLANS
To enable us to fully implement the performance standards an action plan is currently being developed covering the objectives set out in our service plan and the recommendations made in the report following the inspection carried out by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate. (The final plan will also include actions to address the issues raised in the Best Value Review). The plan includes:
· Improved procedures and training for all areas of benefits, a training and appeals officer was appointed in November 2003 to deal with this.
· Improved claim processing times and the provision of more comprehensive performance information
· Developing partnerships to improve customer awareness and to increase benefit take-up
· Improving the collection and recovery of benefit overpayments
This plan will be finalised once the Inspectors report is published later this month. Following this meeting there will be an informal presentation to the Committee by Alan Sullivan of the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate. He will present an overview of his report, and answer Members' questions, but cannot do so in a formal session because it is not yet a public document.
FORTHCOMING CHANGES
Benefit is an area that has been subject to continuous legislative change and further major changes will come into effect from April 2004. These changes aim to reform housing benefit to improve administration and to provide a better way of dealing with fraud. The main aspects are:
· The abolition of all benefit periods thus removing the need for renewal claims
· Open-ended benefit claims with an in-claim management regime based on improved data matching
· Targeted interventions
· Triggered intervention at the point of predicted change.
The key features of this new regime are:
· Monthly data matching with the records held by the Department of Works and Pensions and other statutory bodies (currently it is only carried out quarterly).
· Visits to confirm whether information contained in the original claim has changed
· Risk-based reviews either by letter or telephone.
The total number of claims the Authority is required to review annually using the above methods has been set at 40% of the total caseload, which equates to 5190 cases.
As part of this process it is essential to raise claimants awareness of the importance of reporting changes in circumstances promptly and we will be working closely with Landlords and welfare organisations both in relation to this and to promote benefit take-up.
BEST VALUE REVIEW
This report briefly covers the
work carried out so far, and the issues which have been raised. It cannot, at
this stage, go into the detailed plans needed to address the issues, although
some improvements are already being put into place, and are referred to below.
There has been extensive
consultation with service users, external support agencies, related IWC
departments, and Benefits Service staff and managers.
Some specific comparison work with
other LA's has been carried out.
The review has worked closely with
the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate, planning the work to avoid any overlaps.
While the issues necessarily
concentrate on "areas for improvement", several common themes have
come through the user consultation. Firstly the staff and management of the
Benefits Service are friendly and helpful, including those at the Help Centres,
which are seen as a welcome innovation. Other positive points are the accuracy
of the processing, and the joint working with landlords and other agencies.
Probably the major issue for users
and support agencies is the speed of processing, and this impacts in a number
of ways. For instance, some of the issues raised by staff, such as the number
of telephone queries, will be greatly helped by a reduction in processing time.
Speed of processing has also been
a major issue for the BFI, so the BV review has not concentrated on it.
For users there are issues about
the complicated application form, and the detailed amount of evidence which
needs to be supplied.
There are also points about the
quality of some of the letters issued by the system, the difficulty of phone
access, better information on the web-site, and making e-applications.
Improving the wording of letters, and making better use of the current phone
system, are pieces of work in progress.
The service would be improved if
potential applicants, perhaps helped by support agencies, could be given an
estimate of what their Benefit is likely to be. We are currently looking at
several computer-based quickcalc packages, with a view to selecting one for
common use on the Island.
Many people entitled to benefits
of all kinds may not be claiming them, and a wide-spread publicity campaign is
being launched soon. This will build on successful joint events with other
organisations such as Age Concern and the DWP.
More training, for both Benefits
staff and outside organisations, is being planned. A training officer is now in
post.
The Benefits service has too low a
profile within the IW Council, given its role in the quality of life of many
disadvantaged people and its contribution of nearly £40 million pa to the
Island Economy. The issue of Member awareness is starting to be addressed.
On-going internal issues include the heavy reliance on computer systems (which greatly affects speed of processing) and the effectiveness of communications.
BACKGROUND PAPERS
DWP Information Circulars
Best value Performance Indicators
Contact Point: Mike Toney 826930 [email protected]
PAUL WILKINSON
Chief Financial Officer