Supplementary evidence from the Department
of Work and Pensions
FOLLOW UP
NOTE ON
CUSTOMER ERROR
1. At the PAC Hearing on Customer Error on 1
February, I agreed to write in response to questions from Mr Hancock
and Ms Creasy on arrangements for visits to new claimants to Disability
Living Allowance (DLA), and underpayments arising from customer
error.
2. Mr Hancock asked whether customers making
a new claim to DLA were routinely visited. We do not routinely
visit customers at the new claim stage as DLA claims are based
on a self-assessment by the customer. However, the decision maker
can request a range of additional evidence to help assess a new
claim, including information from the customer's health care professional
(eg the GP, hospital). Decision makers are also able to request
that a health care professional visits the customer to provide
an independent medical opinion where appropriate. There is, though,
provision for local services to visit customers at their request
to help complete claim forms.
3. The Government's current consultation on DLA
reform looks specifically at the assessment stage of a new claim,
including the possibilityin the futureof a face-to-face
meeting for all new claims.
4. While we estimate the amount of fraud and
error in DLA, we do not presently estimate how much is attributable
to the initial claim. However, I have asked analysts to consider
how we might be able to develop that data for the future.
5. Separately, Ms Creasy asked if there was a
target to reduce underpayments, and the budget to do so.
6. We do not have a separate target to reduce
underpayments, although we do routinely measure (and set targets
for) the accuracy of decisions. Of course, the initiatives we
have in place to address customer error, along with those we will
be introducing in the future as part of the fraud and error strategy
(announced in 2010), identify and correct both over and underpayments
of benefit. For example, between April and December last year,
one initiative to reduce error in Pension Credit found weekly
underpayments totalling £23,000.
7. Where underpayments are found they are rectified
and arrears covering the whole period of the underpayment are
paid to the customer as a matter of course. Since, as we discussed,
benefit spending is treated by HM Treasury as Annually Managed
Expenditure, such rectification of underpayments is not budget
constrained.
8. On a related point, to clear any residual
confusion, the target to reduce fraud and error by 25% by 2015
is to reduce overpayments from fraud and error. So there are no
perverse incentives on the levels of underpayments.
9. Lastly, as promised, I have copied the costs
and savings profile for the new fraud and error strategy to the
National Audit Office.
February 2011
| | |
| Profiled DEL Spend (£m)
| | Profiled AME Savings (£m)
| | | |
Funding Source |
Name | Brief Description
| Delivery Business
| 2010-11 | 2011-12
| 2012-13 | 2013-14
| 2014-15 | Total
| 2010-11 | 2011-12
| 2012-13 | 2013-14
| 2014-15 | Total AME Savings
| MVFE Reduction |
Customer Error
MVFE Reduction
|
Spend to Save Phase 1agreed funding
| Business Rules Engine |
Apply business rules at the point of claim to identify and prevent fraud and error from entering PC, IS and JSA
| PDCS | 5
| 10 | 2
| 2 | 2
| 21 | 3
| 12 | 21
| 29 | 29
| 94 | 26
| 7 |
| ATLAS
| Notify local authorities automatically when a Tax Credit (or a range of other benefits) is awarded or when there is a change to an existing award.
| WWG | 13
| 3 | 1
| 1 | 1
| 20 | 0
| 85 | 100
| 100 | 75
| 360 | 130
| 81 |
| Pension Credit Case Cleanse
| Reviewing complex pension credit cases to identify and correct error.
| PDCS | 5
| 0 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 5 | 24
| 0 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 24 | 22
| 3 |
| Right Payment Programme
| Checking DLA cases outside of the usual checking cycle, focusing on those with the greatest propensity to change.
| | 1 |
1 | 1
| 1 | 1
| 5 | 1
| 4 | 8
| 12 | 12
| 37 | 11
| 5 |
| Additional Pension GMP Correction
| Correcting known errors made in the calculation of Additional Pensions with a Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP).
| | 4 |
4 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 9 | 6
| 15 | 15
| 15 | 0
| 51 | 14
| 2 |
| JCP Call Cleansechange of circumstances management
| Making outbound telephone calls to a target group of customers to identify changes of circumstances based on a risk model
| JCP | 4
| 24 | 16
| 16 | 4
| 63 | 13
| 76 | 112
| 104 | 18
| 323 | 102
| 97 |
| JCP ESA Cleanse
| Case cleansing to prevent IB error being carried into ESA on migration (staff based)
| | 0 |
0 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 1 | 1
| 5 | 9
| 12 | 8
| 35 | 11
| 4 |
| JCP SDP
| Establish a link between the Disability Living Allowance Computer System and the Income Support Computer System that will allow information regarding DLA awards to be routed to "process management" software.
| | 0 |
0 | 1
| 1 | 0
| 3 | 1
| 3 | 4
| 5 | 0
| 13 | 5
| |
| Debt Management: Reduction in Customers Awaiting Action
| Scaling up of business as usual activity to reduce outstanding debt cases.
| GFD | 1
| 1 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 2 | 3
| 19 | 6
| 0 | 0
| 28 | 0
| 0 |
| Debt Management: Mining the Debt Stock
| Investigating those customers that are neither in recovery or awaiting action.
| | 3 |
5 | 1
| 0 | 0
| 9 | 6
| 37 | 21
| 0 | 0
| 64 | 0
| 0 |
| Debt Management: Tracing "Gone Away" Customers
| Investing in systems and staff to integrate facilities with HMRC to trace customers who DWP has lost contact with.
| | 0 |
1 | 1
| 0 | 0
| 2 | 0
| 2 | 4
| 2 | 0
| 8 | 0
| 0 |
| | SUB-TOTAL
| | 36
| 50 | 24
| 22 | 8
| 139 | 58
| 258 | 300
| 279 | 142
| 1037 | 321
| 199 |
Universal Credit Business Case
| Universal Credit |
| TBC |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
OBR/HMT yet to sign off |
SFIS | Single Fraud Investigation
| TBC | 0
| 7 | 20
| 6 | 6
| 44 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 5 | 19
| 24 | 17
| |
| | SUB-TOTAL
| | 0
| 7 | 20
| 6 | 6
| 44 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 5 | 19
| 24 | 17
| 0 |
| IRIS |
Risk and Intelligence | TBC
| 0 | 31
| 76 | 38
| 38 | 221
| 0 | 27
| 87 | 122
| 118 | 354
| 111 | 38
|
| Accreditation
| Staff Accreditation |
TBC | 0
| 2 | 2
| 2 | 2
| 9 | 0
| 2 | 7
| 9 | 9
| 27 | 8
| |
| EASD |
IT Prompt | PDCS
| 0 | 1
| 0 | 0
| 0 | 2
| 0 | 0
| 2 | 3
| 3 | 8
| 3 | 1
|
| PC Prompt
| IT Prompt | PDCS
| 0 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 1 | 2
| 2 | 5
| 2 | 1
|
No. 10 Fraud | Hotline
| Fraud Hotline | TBC
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| 0 |
|
and Error | Taskforce
| Regional Targeting |
TBC | 0
| 9 | 9
| 9 | 9
| 46 | 0
| 16 | 30
| 30 | 31
| 107 | 28
| 10 |
strategy | LA Data
| | TBC
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| 0 |
|
OBR/HMT | ID Fraud Unit
| | TBC
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| 0 |
|
yet sign off | PDCS Cleanse
| Manual Case Cleanse |
PDCS |
| 6 | 10
| 13 | 10
| 49 | 24
| 56 | 101
| 147 | 57
| 384 | 134
| 19 |
| Debt |
More Effective Recovery |
TBC |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| | 0
| |
| Sanctions
| Increased Sanctions |
TBC | 0
| 4 | 0
| 0 | 0
| 6 | 0
| 0 | 18
| 45 | 70
| 132 | 0
| 0 |
| Obligations
| Clearer Client Obligation
| TBC |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| | 0
| |
| Comms |
Targeted Communications |
TBC |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| | 0
| |
| Measurement
| Refine Measurement |
TBC |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| | 0
| |
| PMO |
Programme Management | TBC
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| 0 |
|
| | SUB-TOTAL
| | 0
| 55 | 98
| 62 | 59
| 333 | 24
| 102 | 244
| 358 | 290
| 1017 | 287
| 69 |
| | TOTAL
| | 36
| 111 | 141
| 89 | 73
| 516 | 82
| 360 | 544
| 642 | 451
| 2079 | 625
| |
Feb-11
|