31 January 2005 - Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) Report: Glasgow City Council
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Alan Johnson has today published an inspection report by the BFI on the administration of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and counter-fraud activity by Glasgow City Council.
The report concludes that the council has made significant progress since the first inspection and overall the level of performance was assessed as fair.
BFI’s first inspection of Glasgow City Council in March 2001, reported that it needed to develop a more effective, efficient and secure benefits administration system.
In 2003/04, Glasgow City Council administered some £350 million in housing benefits, about 17 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure.
BFI inspected the council against 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.
Customers received a good service in terms of caller facilities and the council had made significant improvements in the speed of processing claims. However it was failing to effectively protect the gateway to benefits due to inadequate verification of new claims and a lack of interventions after a claim had been awarded.
The council had taken a number of positive steps to improve the overpayment recovery process and while it had made a significant investment in resources for its Benefit Counter Fraud Unit, there continued to be insufficient controls around the number and quality of investigations.
BFI found a clear commitment to improve performance including plans to implement new Benefits IT systems and the implementation of the Department’s Verification Framework.
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 Glasgow 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 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 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.
Press office: 020 7238 0866
BFI Press enquiries: 01423 83 2938
Out of hours: 07659 108 883
Public enquiries: 020 7712 2171