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Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (Bridgend County Borough Council)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. James Plaskitt): On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the BFI inspection report on Bridgend county borough council was published today and copies have been placed in the Library.
In 2004–05 Bridgend county borough council administered some £33.3 million in housing benefits, about 14.8 per cent. of its gross revenue expenditure. The inspection focused on the council's arrangements for processing claims, as it was taking an average of 58 days to process new claims for housing benefit in 2004–05.
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The council introduced a new benefits IT system in April 2004. The subsequent transfer of data and issues with installation resulted in the IT system being inaccessible for six weeks. This led to backlogs of work. Senior management and Members were supportive of the need to address this and employed temporary staff to clear the work.
BFI found that the outstanding work on new claims had been cleared by April 2005 and that processing performance in this area had since improved to 30 days. The inspection identified no other backlogs of work.
Inspectors found that the council had largely overcome difficulties with the implementation of the new benefits IT system and had many good practices in place. The main aspect of performance that required attention related to processing changes of circumstances, which remained below the Department's standard.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is now considering the report and may ask the council for its proposals in response to the BFI's findings.