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Benefit Fraud Inspectorate Good Practice Review of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

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 BFI good practice review of Rotherham Metropolitan borough council was published on 8 March and copies of the report are available in the Library.

In 2003–04, Rotherham metropolitan borough council administered some £60 million in housing benefits, 15 per cent. of its gross revenue expenditure.

The BFI helps to improve the effectiveness and security of benefits administration by disseminating good practice. Good practice reviews identify practices and procedures that can help other councils. This report identifies and describes the good practices the BFI found in Rotherham metropolitan borough council's administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit.

The BFI found that a partnership between the council and British Telecom (BT) provided the benefits service with a clear strategic purpose and modern IT conducive to a more effective service to customers.

Rotherham is in the top quartile of all councils for the speed of processing new claims and changes of circumstances. This strong performance was maintained during the implementation of the verification framework. Proactive case management, using accurate management information, has enabled managers and team leaders to identify potential processing delays and take appropriate action. On top of this, considerable improvements have been made to prevent, deter and detect fraud by introducing comprehensive counter-fraud policies and using the full range of sanctions. Other councils may well be able to learn from Rotherham's approach.

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