8 March 2005 - Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) Report: Torridge District Council
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Alan Johnson 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 Torridge District Council.
In 2003/04, Torridge District Council administered some £10 million in housing benefits, 31 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure.
BFI inspected the council against the Performance Standards and 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. Torridge District Council is in the bottom 15 per cent of all local authorities for claims processing performance and is providing a poor service overall.
The Benefits service has been given a low priority within the Council for several years and this was reflected in its consistently poor overall performance.
There has been a lack of effective management at strategic and operational level, and Members and senior managers had failed to address weaknesses that had been apparent for at least 2 years.
Service improvements have been hindered by the lack of a strategic service delivery plan and formal policies and procedures. Managers have been running the service with limited management information and checks.
While good progress has been made in countering fraud, little is done to recover overpayments.
There is now a commitment to improve the service provided to customers and at the time of BFI’s inspection, in September 2004, a reorganisation of benefits services had taken place and the case for additional resources was being addressed.
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.
Notes for editors
- Inspection at Torridge 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 September 2004.
- 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 Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Performance Standards, published in April 2002, enable local authorities to make a comprehensive self-assessment of whether they deliver benefit effectively and securely. These 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 customers 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 customers 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.asp
- 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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