27 January 2005 - Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) Focused Inspection – processing of claims: Chelmsford Borough Council
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Alan Johnson, has today published a report by BFI on the processing of claims for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit by Chelmsford Borough Council.
Chelmsford Borough Council was selected for inspection because it was reporting that it was taking 101 days on average to process claims, compared to the DWP standard of 36 days.
At the time of inspection only 33 per cent of new claims were decided within 14 days of all information being available and claims were taking an average of 93 days from date of receipt to date of decision.
The council attributed poor clearance times over the last 2 years to the effects of introducing new IT and document management systems and the Verification Framework over a short period in late 2003. There were delays at most stages of the new claims process and staff lacked confidence in using the new systems.
Also, although Chelmsford Borough Council had good policies and procedures for verifying claims, these were not always followed.
There were clear strengths in verification of identity, confirming residency and verifying National Insurance numbers but weaknesses in other areas.
Chelmsford Borough Council is aware of its problems and has already sought assistance from the DWP Performance Development Team. In 2003/04 Chelmsford Borough Council administered some £27 million in housing benefits. This is approximately 36 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 focused inspection at Chelmsford Borough Council included an initial fact finding stage, an on-site visit, and production and clearance of the report. BFI’s shorter, focused inspections support improvements in performance in specific areas of benefits administration and security.
- 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.
- This report only looked at those elements of Strategic management and Processing of claims in the Performance Standards that BFI considered to have a direct impact on the speed of processing of new claims for HB and CTB.
- 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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