11 November 2004 - Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) third report: Swale Borough Council
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Alan Johnson, has today published a third inspection report by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) on Swale Borough Council’s administration of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and counter-fraud activity.
In 2002/03 Swale Borough Council administered some £29 million in housing benefits, about 48 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure.
This third BFI inspection was undertaken because of concerns that the council had not improved in the administration of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit since the second BFI report in September 2002. BFI inspected the council against the Performance Standards for housing benefits, finding 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.
The report found the council’s Benefits service had not implemented 56 per cent of the recommendations made in the earlier inspection report. Performance was not monitored and inadequate management information undermined the council’s ability to effectively manage the Benefits service and counter-fraud activity.
It took the council on average 168 days to process new claims and 66 days to process changes of circumstances, compared with Performance Standards of 36 and 9 days respectively.
A quarter of telephone calls to the Benefits service went unanswered. Decision letters needed to give clearer guidance and be more informative. There were delays in dealing with complaints and replies were unfocused, misleading and lacked sufficient detail.
The management of counter-fraud resources and the quality of investigative work were poor. Delays in dealing with changes of circumstances increased the level of preventable overpayments. Between March 2003 and March 2004, outstanding debt increased by 95 per cent.
Notes for editors
- The process for the inspection at Swale Borough 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 June 2004.
- BFI published its first inspection report on Swale Borough Council in April 2000 and the follow-up report in September 2002.
- 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 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
DWP Press enquiries: 020 7238 0866
BFI Press enquiries: 01423 83 2938
Out of hours: 07659 108 883
Public enquiries: 020 7712 2171