3 February 2004 - Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report: Portsmouth City Council
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Andrew Smith has today published an inspection report by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) on the administration of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and counter-fraud activity by Portsmouth City Council.
BFI inspected the council against the Performance Standards for housing benefits. The report found that the council was not at standard for any of the seven functional areas – strategic management, customer services, processing of claims, working with landlords, internal security, counter-fraud, and overpayments.
However, the council had made significant progress in some of the areas since the findings from the Comprehensive Performance Assessment were published in December 2002, when the council’s Benefits service was assessed as poor. The council reacted by reorganising the services and refining its work processes.
The report found that the council needed to pay particular attention to the areas of overpayments and counter-fraud, its weakest area, to improve its overall performance. In particular, it needed to revise its prosecution policy and develop procedures for its counter-fraud officers.
The council demonstrated its commitment to customer services by providing a range of services through 8 area offices, with opening hours in excess of the standard. It had clear, simple and accessible benefit claims forms and dealt with complaints promptly. The work in encouraging take-up of benefits through the Access Point initiative was particularly commendable.
Portsmouth City Council’s average processing times for housing benefits claims was 38 days, compared to the national target of 36 days.
The council did not have an overpayment or debt recovery policy and there was no overpayment procedural guidance in place. Also, it could not produce accurate reports on the amount of benefit overpayments outstanding.
In 2002/03, Portsmouth City Council administered approximately £61 million in housing benefits. This is approximately 14.6 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure.
BFI is an independent unit within the Department for Work and Pensions that reports directly to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the standard of benefit administration and counter-fraud activity.
Chris Pond, Work and Pensions Minister announced the publication of the report in a written ministerial statement.
Notes for editors
- The process for the inspection at Portsmouth City Council included an initial fact finding stage, an on-site visit, and production and clearance of the report. The on-site visit took place during July 2003.
- The Comprehensive Performance Assessment in December 2002 assessed Portsmouth City Council’s Benefits service as Poor. And the Comprehensive Performance Assessment Improvement Reporting in December 2003 assessed the council’s Benefits service as Fair.
- Each BFI inspection report is considered by the Secretary of State who decides whether any further action is appropriate. The Secretary of State has powers to issue directions to a local authority to secure acceptable or minimum standards in performance.
- In its response to the Housing Green Paper of November 2000, the Department for Work and Pensions developed a performance framework for housing benefits. The HB/CTB Performance Standards, published in April 2002, enable local authorities to make a comprehensive self-assessment of whether they deliver benefit effectively and securely. They are the standards that the Department for Work and Pensions expects local authorities to aspire to and achieve in time.
- The Department for Work and Pensions has not set a timescale for when the standards need to be met by local authorities.
- BFI inspects against the seven functional areas of the Performance Standards:
- Strategic management – clearly stated aims and action, resources and monitoring, with effective training and IT
- Customer services – providing an efficient and prompt service that meets the needs of all claimants and persons with a legitimate interest in a claim
- Processing of claims – speedy and accurate claims processing with effective verification
- Working with landlords – to give private landlords the confidence to let to claimants and to support delivery of social housing
- Internal security – preventing internal fraud
- Counter-fraud – deterring, preventing, detecting and pursuing fraud
- Overpayments – preventing, identifying and recovering overpayments.
- The HB/CTB Performance Standards can be downloaded from: www.dwp.gov.uk/housingbenefit/publications/2003.
- Media copies of the BFI inspection report can be obtained from the Department for Work and Pensions Press Office on 020 7238 0866.
- All BFI inspection reports can be found on the BFI website – www.bfi.gov.uk.
Press office: 020 7238 0866
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Website: www.dwp.gov.uk