19 May 2004 - Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) Follow-up Report: Kerrier District Council
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Andrew Smith has today published a follow-up inspection report by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) on the administration of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and counter-fraud activity by Kerrier District Council.
BFI inspected the council against the Performance Standards for housing benefits. The report finds that the council’s Benefits service had made progress in improving its performance, implementing 68 per cent of the recommendations from the earlier report, published in October 2001.
Kerrier District Council had a clear vision, which was underpinned by policies, strategies and effective planning. Good progress had also been made in the area of overpayments, where sound practices were evident and recovery from benefit was strong.
Verification of evidence supporting benefit claims was good in the majority of areas and management checking was clearly evidenced and used to good effect.
However, speed of claims processing remained poor, compounded by a continuing backlog of work, with the council taking an average 88 days to process new benefit claims compared to the Performance Standard of 36 days.
The council’s counter-fraud policy and positive drive towards quality fraud investigations had prompted a number of successful and publicised sanctions and prosecutions. This demonstrated that the council is serious about tackling benefit fraud.
A comprehensive benefits overpayments policy and procedures manual was in place, high levels of management checks and controls were utilised, and most overpayment recovery methods were used.
In 2002/03, Kerrier District Council administered some £23.1 million in housing benefits, about 60 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure. Compared to the Performance Standards, 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.
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 Kerrier 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 December 2003 and January 2004.
- BFI published its first inspection report on Kerrier District Council in October 2001.
- 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. 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 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.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.
Department for Work and Pensions Press enquiries: 020 7238 0758
BFI Press enquiries: 01423 83 2938
Out of hours: 07659 108 883
Public enquiries: 020 7712 2171
Website: www.dwp.gov.uk