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Wyre Borough Council (Benefit Fraud Inspectorate)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Chris Pond):
On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the benefit fraud inspectorate (BFI) report on Wyre borough council's processing of claims for housing benefits was published today and copies of the report have been placed in the Library. In 2002–03 Wyre borough council administered approximately £19 million in housing benefits. This is approximately 45 per cent. of its gross revenue expenditure.
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Wyre borough council was selected for inspection as it was taking on average just 23 days to process new housing benefit and council tax benefit claims, compared to the Department for Work and Pensions standard of 36 days. This suggested scope for BFI to identify and disseminate good practices.
Over a two year period Wyre borough council has achieved significant improvements in both the speed and accuracy of processing claims. Its performance on the average time for processing new claims improved from 71 days in 2001–02 to 33 days in 2003–04. Its reported performance of cases processed accurately was 93 per cent. in 2001–02 rising to 98 per cent. in 2003–04.
Wyre borough council achieved this very good performance through a change programme that made significant changes to work processes and how work and staff were managed and monitored.
By taking an informed and incremental approach Wyre borough council has developed its benefits service so that it now delivers a better service to customers, gives a high level of assurance to senior managers and elected members and provides development opportunities for staff.
BFI believes that improvements in Wyre borough council's strategic management, by, for example, developing procedural guidance would further enhance performance.
The report makes recommendations to help the council improve the administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is now considering the report and may ask the council for its proposals in response to BFI's findings and recommendations.
Renfrewshire Council (Benefit Fraud Inspectorate)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Chris Pond): On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the benefit fraud inspectorate (BFI) report on Renfrewshire council's processing of claims for housing benefits was published today and copies of the report have been placed in the Library. In 2003–04 Renfrewshire council administered some £51 million in housing benefits. This is approximately 11 per cent. of its gross revenue expenditure.
Renfrewshire council was selected for inspection because it was reporting that it was taking 87 days on average to process new housing benefit and council tax benefit claims, compared to the Department for Work and Pensions standard of 36 days. BFI found that errors in the council's use of its IT system led to incorrect calculations of the performance against the best value performance indicator. The council was actually taking an average of 43 days to process new claims for housing benefits.
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Even within the actual times taken BFI found several process weaknesses that caused unnecessary delays in handling new claims and a weak management case-checking process that allowed errors to be repeated.
The report makes recommendations to help the council improve the administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit. It also contains the council's action plan for implementation of the recommendations immediately.
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The council has made organisational changes designed to address weaknesses in the management of the benefits service and responded positively to the findings from the inspection by implementing a number of the recommendations. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is now considering the report and may ask the council for its proposals in response to BFI's findings and recommendations.