Written evidence
submitted by Northgate
INTRODUCTION
1. Northgate Public Services warmly welcomes
the opportunity to respond to the House of Commons Select Committee
enquiry into the White Paper on Universal Credits.
2. Our response focuses on key areas where we
believe that the White Paper requires further development and
the Committee could assist in that development. It highlights
some of the key issues that need to be considered further in relation
to disadvantage and inequality. It proposes user involvement in
the design of the system, improved service delivery through localised
administrative support and a holistic approach to reaching out
to the needs of the most disadvantaged members of our communities.
3. We believe passionately that benefits services
must reach out to all within our communities who need them and
that innovative responses are required to tackle long-standing
inequalities within our communities. Reform of our benefits system
should also be accompanied by a strategic approach that will create
public value through encouraging active citizenship.
4. Firstly, we believe that it is essential that
users are involved in the development of the reshaped service
and that resources are diverted to encourage this. Our experience
shows that far from delaying reform, this is an essential prerequisite
that will drive the delivery of successful outcomes.
5. Secondly, we think it is essential that the
digital divide is addressed convincingly and that local authorities
are given a key role in commissioning and providing face to face
and telephone advice support services for people with complex
needs and for those who face the barriers of the digital divide.
Experience from abroad shows that between 20-30% of claimants
are unable to fully access self service and that they need some
form of personal or telephone support. We believe that local authorities
are best placed to commission or deliver such services.
6. Finally, we believe that local authorities
which are being given responsibilities for public health well-being
services should comprehensively address the needs of the most
disadvantaged members of our communities, and address the wider
inequalities and social determinants of health in a holistic fashion.
In the long run we must address the root causes of long standing
inequalities, if we are to have active citizens that recognise
their responsibilities and are fully engaged in society.
UNIVERSAL CREDIT
AND THE
CURRENT BENEFITS
SYSTEM
7. This White Paper sets out the Coalition Government's
plans to radically reshape the UK welfare benefits system by creating
a new universal credit. Universal Credit will radically simplify
the benefits system. It aims to make work pay and combat worklessness
and poverty.
8. Northgate warmly welcomes the Government's
rethinking around the benefits landscape. Reform of the system
is long overdue. The complexity of the current structure of the
benefits system is compounded by the complexity of citizen transactions
with a myriad of agencies. Failures within the delivery system
include problems with the design of the system, poor service standards
and administrative errors.
9. We agree that there is a need to simplify
and streamline both the benefit structure and the delivery process.
Many claimants find it difficult to understand how their incomes
will change as they move into work and how this may create uncertainty
and risk for the individual and their families in terms of their
immediate income.
10. We therefore welcome the Government's recognition
of the need for greater security and clarity for claimants as
well as the need for a system that is more responsive and personalised
that minimises the barriers to work for individuals and reduces
poverty and inequality. There is a need also to improve service
delivery, reduce errors within the system and achieve better take
up levels of benefits.
11. The Government's plans will not only reshape
and rationalise the benefits supply chain, they could also release
valuable resources to ensure that those who are most disadvantaged
and who find it most difficult to engage and interact with the
current benefits systems will be better supported to do so.
12. By addressing the needs of the most disadvantaged,
the Government would support its fairness agenda through promoting
policies and practices that reduce inequalities.
RESHAPING SERVICES
13. The changes that the Government proposes
will affect millions of people. For this reason it is critical
that a staged approach to change is adopted. The detail behind
the transition is vast and the transition to Universal Credit
is likely to be complex and risky.
14. Delivery is absolutely key to the success
or otherwise of the new system. There is a danger that in simplifying
the system, it will be standardised and fail to address the complex
needs of many of the people who depend on it. Failure to do this
would result in systemic failure of the reformed system.
15. This risk can be reduced through engaging
the user in the shape and design of service, and in ensuring that
services are responsive and personalised and meet the needs of
the most vulnerable of claimants.
ENGAGING THE
USER
16. As the Government moves to make Universal
Credit fully operational, it is essential that the system that
currently supports the execution of some thirty benefits with
a number of agencies involved, or in the case of Housing Benefit
with delivery partners such as local government, not only maintains
but improves service delivery for claimants, particularly in these
challenging economic times.
17. Our experience of changes that have taken
place in both Australia and Canada shows that in the radical reshaping
of public services through Centrelink in Australia and
through Service Ontario in Canada, it was impossible
to achieve success without taking into account what had gone on
before and rejecting a blank page approach.
18. Both Centrelink and Service Ontario
analysed the full complexity of the bureaucracies they were
seeking to reshape so that they were able to rationalise these
and redesign citizen-centred services through a range of tools
including process mapping and usability testing. Just as importantly
they worked to ensure that the user of the service was put at
the heart of the redesign of delivery services.
19. Involving service users at every stage in
redesigning services will be critical to achieving the Government's
vision. It is our experience, and that of the Australian and Canadian
examples shown above, that a commitment to usability testing and
involving citizens in reshaping service design, far from serving
as a brake on the pace of development, actually speeds up the
drive towards achieving successful outcomes and sustainable services.
THE DIGITAL
DIVIDE
20. The Government has said that the administration
of Universal Credit will be the responsibility of a single department,
the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) rather than the mass
of organisations currently involved. The proposal is that as Universal
Credit will be automated, most people will claim online.
21. What better localised benefits than to be
able to access them in your own home, at your own computer and
online. This is good news for all those who have access. Our concern,
however, lies with those individuals who do not currently have
access to benefits, or who have complex needs and for whom online
support needs to be backed up by personalised telephone or face
to face advice.
22. The 2010 Internet Access Survey of Households
and Individuals produced by the Office of National Statistics
demonstrates that 27% of households do not have internet access,
and over nine million individuals have never used the internet.
The same study demonstrates that 71% of adults in the North East
have never used the internet compared with 87% of adults in London.
Thirty nine per cent of people who said that they had an illness
or disability have never used the internet, compared with 14%
who said they had none. Ninety eight per cent of individuals with
incomes over £41,000 had access to the internet, compared
with 69% of those with an income under £11,000.
23. The experience of both Centerlink
and Service Canada is that, between 20 to 30% of the population
who have both a need and a benefit entitlement, are not in a position
to move onto entirely self-service models of operation and will
present agencies with complex and often multi-agency requirements.
24. We believe that it is essential, in planning
and resource terms, that the need for such services should be
factored into the Government's delivery plan to ensure that significant
resource and capability is diverted into both face to face and
telephone support.
25. So while a strategy to move to online access
makes great sense for the future, the impact of the digital divide
needs to be more closely considered in the short to medium term,
at the very least, to ensure that there are measures that accommodate
the needs of the most disadvantaged in our communities, particularly
the elderly, the disadvantaged and those on low incomes. In the
longer term, the evidence from Australia and Canada suggests that
there will continue to be a need beyond online services.
26. This will require multi-faceted systems which
combine face to face advice and telephone support with online
technology.
27. The Coalition Government's White Paper recognises
that there will continue to be a minority of people who cannot
use online channels. It says that it will offer alternative access
routes, predominantly by phone but also face to face for those
who really need it.
PERSONALISED AND
LOCALISED SUPPORT
28. We support government measures to shift power
downwards and outwards into communities. We believe that localised
administration allows for more innovation and flexibility which
can improve service outcomes for those with complex needs and
those who currently have no online access.
29. While we think that there is an argument
that local authorities could deliver Universal Credit as agents
of the DWP, we are aware that the Government has decided against
this option. To some extent we believe that this runs counter
to a localised approach.
30. However, the Government's proposes to localise
parts of the employment and welfare system. For example, it is
currently considering options for passing responsibility for certain
elements of the Social Fund to local authorities. It also intends
to reform the current system of Community Care Grants and Crisis
Loans and enable local authorities to deliver a grant facility
locally.
31. The Government says that localising these
discretionary elements of the scheme, which are most viable for
local delivery, would make them better tailored to local circumstances
and more effectively targeted at genuine need. The Government
is also proposing to give local authorities a role in localising
Council Tax.
32. At the same time, Jobcentre Plus will be
given more freedom to work in partnership at a local level and
to respond to local needs. Providers of the Work Programme will
be expected to work in local partnerships to meet the needs of
individuals and their communities.
33. We believe that localised administration
allows for more innovation and flexibility which can improve service
outcomes for those with complex needs and those who currently
have no online access.
34. While we do not support localised Universal
Credit rates, as this would lead to inequities, postcode lotteries
and add to the complexity of the system, we do believe that there
is a role for localism within the administration of the welfare
system and that this should be commissioned through the gateway
of local authorities.
35. The Government says that it is considering
whether there may still be a role for local authorities in dealing
with non-mainstream Housing Benefit cases (for example, people
living in supported or temporary accommodation). It is also considering
whether local authorities may also have a role to play in delivering
face-to-face contact for those who cannot use other channels to
claim and manage their Universal Credit
36. We believe that local authorities should
be given a key role to play in providing residual benefits, face
to face advice, one-to-one support and telephone support for claimants
whose needs are complex or who face the problem of the digital
divide.
37. This could be provided directly by local
authority employees who have the knowledge and experience in delivering
housing benefits and broader advice or by commissioning voluntary
and not for profit organisations that support local people in
their community. Broader benefits advice could be provided by
the local authorities using rules-based software and specialist
and non-specialist support.
38. We understand that this would provide a requirement
for information to be shared, and for technology to be compatible
and accessible. We believe that the benefits of improved and personalised
service delivery would outweigh the costs of any infrastructure,
and the added complexity of providing face to face advice.
PROMOTING WELL
BEING AND
PUBLIC HEALTH
39. We further believe that local authorities
could deliver a dynamic and holistic and personalised well being
service for their most disadvantaged claimants, which includes
employment, money advice, health, leisure and education, consistent
to the wider role that they will have in addressing public health
working in partnership with the not-for-profit and private sectors.
40. This should be developed in conjunction with
Jobcentre Plus and other relevant organisations including for
example GPs who will have a pivotal role in commissioning health
services in local communities. The links between being healthy
and being in employment are well evidenced.
41. Under the Coalition Government's proposals,
upper tier local authorities will be placed at the heart of public
health. Directors of Public Health will lead the work, working
across the NHS with other public, not for profit and private organisations.
A health premium will reward authorities who deliver against the
public health outcomes.
42. The Marmot Review highlights the importance
of addressing holistically issues relating to the social determinants
of health and empowering individuals within their communities.
43. With local authorities having residual powers
and resources to provide benefits support, they could use this
as a platform to provide or commission individual well being programmes
for their most disadvantaged citizens. This could address poverty
and seek to create better public value and a better quality of
life for citizens, driving up life chances and making a real difference
to those who face most inequalities in life.
44. This would help to support better outcomes
for people and deliver the Government's objective to improve health
and well being. Authorities who adopted such an approach would,
of course, benefit from the health premium proposed by the Coalition
Government so long as they delivered health improvements. Central
Government would benefit from a more localised approach to the
needs of the most disadvantaged and communities would benefit
from more support for active citizenship.
45. In the long run, we must address the root
causes of deep-rooted inequalities and build holistic services
that take account of the particular needs of the country's most
disadvantaged individuals. We all want a sustainable society composed
of active citizens that recognise their responsibilities and are
fully engaged in society. Central government has the opportunity
to support this vision through using its welfare reform.
46. We believe, therefore, that the Committee
should encourage Central Government to use local authorities as
the spearhead for improving and sustaining welfare reform, addressing
the digital divide and promoting individual and community well
being as an integral part of that reform.
ABOUT NORTHGATE
PUBLIC SERVICES
47. Northgate Public Services is an innovative
provider of transformation and improvement services to the public
sector. It is committed to high quality public services that place
individuals and their communities at their heart. Its knowledge
and understanding of people's needs are core to its business,
as too, is its depth and breadth across public services.
48. Northgate's task is to enhance public value
through the intelligent use of people and technology; to understand
why and what change is necessary; to provide new thinking leading
to improved performance; and to link company rewards with positive
outcomes for the communities for whom it works.
49. Northgate supports transformation through
sustainable performance partnerships. It partners over 95% of
UK local authorities, every UK police force and over half of all
fire brigades and ambulance trusts.
December 2010
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