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 Reviewa 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.
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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