4 February 2004 - Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Report: Wokingham District 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 Wokingham District 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, Wokingham District Council was performing to a fair standard overall in its benefits administration and counter-fraud activities.
The report acknowledges the problems and challenges faced by the council since July 2002, when it brought its Benefits service back in-house following a period of outsourcing to an external contractor. Along with the return of the service, the council had also inherited a backlog of work.
The council’s efforts were noted in the recent Comprehensive Performance Assessment announcement where it had improved from a poor to a fair performing council after introducing a range of improvements.
In the 12 months between bringing the service back in-house and the inspection, the council had successfully restructured the Benefits service and introduced a new benefits IT system.
The process of gathering evidence to support claims to benefit was generally good but the speed of processing claims was poor. The report notes concern about the possible impact that unreasonable delays were having on existing and potential customers.
Towards the end of the inspection, backlogs were being reduced and clearance times were improving.
The council’s fraud investigations were generally effective but were hampered by unreasonable time delays. The council had effective processes for recovering benefit overpayments but the report notes concern that some overpayments were occurring due to the council’s inability to action changes of circumstances quickly.
BFI noted the positive response from the council to the report findings and a commitment to address the issues raised in the report.
In 2002/03, Wokingham District Council administered approximately £13.1 million in housing benefits. This is approximately 8.4 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 Wokingham District 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 and August 2003.
- The Comprehensive Performance Assessment in December 2002 assessed Wokingham District 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.
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Website: www.dwp.gov.uk