Select Committee on Social Security First Report


ANNEX

A Brief Guide to the FC and DWA Units

SOCIAL SECURITY SELECT COMMITTEE VISIT TO

FAMILY CREDIT AND DISABILITY WORKING ALLOWANCE UNITS

20 OCTOBER 1998

BACKGROUND

  Family Credit was introduced in April 1988 to replace Family Income Supplement

  It was the first computerised benefit, as part of the Governments Social Security review

  A centralised benefit, based in Blackpool and Preston, to provide:

    —  financial assistance to working people on low incomes bringing up children

    —  paid weekly in arrears for an initial period of 26 weeks

  Initially received some 350,000 claims annually, it now expects to receive nearly 2 million claims this year

  Disability Working Allowance was introduced during April 1992 with the aim of encouraging disabled people to leave long-term sickness benefits in order to take up or return to employment.

  It is also a centralised benefit, based in Preston.

  Initially receiving 26,000 claims annually, the DWA Unit now expects to receive 40,000 claims during 1998/9.

  Both are key players in the Government's "Welfare to Work" initiatives.

HOW FAMILY CREDIT AND DISABILITY WORKING ALLOWANCE ARE ADMINISTERED

  Administered by the Family Credit and Disability Working Allowance Units

  They:

    —  are responsible for the efficient management and payment of Family Credit and Disability Working Allowance;

    —  are divided into operational and support areas;

    —  employ more than 1,900 staff;

    —  organise their work based around alphabetical splits;

    —  assess and pay benefit, either by order book or into a customers bank account.

  The majority of customer enquiries are made by telephone

  Phone calls to both Units are handled by central telephone Helpline sections

Handout providing a brief and visual account of the claims process

  Support areas within the Units include fraud, security, business development, customer services and a joint systems development and testing team.

  Targets are reviewed annually to ensure that they are challenging and cover areas of business which are crucial to the success of the Agency.

  Performance against targets is measured and monitored monthly.

  The Units have a good track record on progress. However, during 1997/8 both Units failed to achieve one of their individual targets, however measures have been put in place to address these issues:

    —  For FC this meant ensuring that the demanding 90 per cent target for clearing Express claims required improved monitoring.

    —  For DWA this involved obtaining funds from the Incentivising Accuracy initiative in order to control and improve accuracy.

ADMINISTRATION IMPROVEMENTS

  Since their inception both Units have shown an ability to respond to continuous change.

  This flexible approach has resulted in many changed and improved administrative arrangements.

  Within Family Credit particular examples include:

  Management Review—a fundamental review, in 1991, of the FC management structure and practices. This resulted in:

    —  the Unit becoming more quality and customer focused;

    —  a flatter management structure;

    —  a better balance being struck between quality and claims clearance;

    —  a dedicated Customer Service section being set up;

    —  the introduction of customer surveys, the latest of which determined that 97 per cent of customers were at least satisfied with the service provided;

    —  visits and close liaison with major employers has brought about a marked improvement in relationships and information gathering;

    —  Quality Assurance and Adjudication Liaison sections were established to monitor and improve levels of accuracy;

    —  greater emphasis is placed on training and development of staff. This was reflected in March 1998 when FC became an Investors In People accredited Unit;

    —  a clearly defined communications strategy has been formulated, which facilitates clearer and more consistent communications throughout the Unit.

THE DWA UNIT WAS SET UP SOME 6 MONTHS FOLLOWING THE FC MANAGEMENT REVIEW AND WAS ABLE TO TAKE ON BOARD MANY OF THE ISSUES RAISED, RATHER THAN CHANGE LATER

  The FC Helpline was set up during 1993 and replaced the Central Telephone Answering Service (CTAS). As a result:

    —  staff numbers were increased, making optimum use of part-time staff;

    —  new lines and equipment were purchased;

    —  opening hours were extended to 7.30 to 18.30, Monday to Friday, resulting in both improved service for the customer and less interruption to operational areas, allowing them to concentrate upon claims clearance.

  FC & DWA Projects sections, and latterly FC/DWA Benefits Management Team, mediate between policy makers and benefit deliverers. Heavily involved in development, implementation and evaluation of FC/DWA policy, they analyze statistical data, ensuring that realistic measure can be put in place to resolve problems and make improvements as soon as they are identified. Their main role is:

    —  to examine operational constraints and implications of policy options;

    —  provide administrative costings;

    —  lead systems development, changes, scans and tests;

    —  evaluate and monitor changes;

    —  provide necessary guidance, training and support to ensure that staff in the field correctly handle change;

    —  make appropriate amendments to FCU instructions, forms and leaflets.

  The Research and Development team were recently set-up to look at ways of continuously improving the business. Initiative include:

    —  providing a structured approach to best practices, including process re-engineering

    —  providing a "role" business model for the Unit taking account of the unit cost information.

  Procedural changes have allowed the promotion of FC and DWA as "back to work" initiatives by ensuring a faster claims processing service for the newly employed and "first time" customers.

  Express FC is:

    —  a fast method for processing claims from the newly employed and first time customers;

    —  was piloted in April 1995;

    —  fully rolled out across FC by July 1996;

    —  has a target to clear 90 per cent of claims within 5 working days;

    —  involved greater use of evidence gathering by fax and telephone.

  It has ensured that claimants of Income Support and Job Seekers Allowance are more willing to take up and remain in employment, being assured that their FC claim will be processed within 5 days, compared to the previous primary and secondary targets of 13 and 42 days.

  For newly self-employed customers there is a separate, internal target to clear 95 per cent of claims within 10 working days.

  DWA also have Faster processing of claims with targets of 80 per cent to be cleared within 5 days.

  Specialist sections have been set up for Fraud, Security and Debt Recovery.

  End to end checking arrangements were introduced in 1995 and improved controls placed on existing procedures.

ORGANISATION AND BUSINESS

  Better standards and structures have been put in place to ensure the provision of a good service. This has been rewarded by:

  Family Credit attaining:

    —  BA Quality Award in 1994;

    —  BA Quality Award in 1997 (using BEF1 criteria), the first Unit within BA to do so.

    —  Charter mark in 1995 (reapplication submitted in July 1998).

    —  Investors In People accrediation in 1998.

  Disability working Allowance attaining:

    —  BA Quality Award in 1996.

    —  Charter Mark in 1996.

    —  Investors In People accrediation in 1996.

RECENT INTIATIVES INCLUDE

  Continued consultation with customers, customer groups and staff to initiate business improvements.

  Statements devised which detail the individual Units charter standard, setting out:

    —  the service the customers can expect;

    —  what to do if they are not satisfied;

    —  how complaints will be dealt with;

    —  continued training to underpin the Units effectiveness;

    —  textphone facilities available for the deaf and hard of hearing;

    —  language list detailing multi-lingual staff.

1 Business Excellence Framework.


 
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