Appendix 2
Letter to the Committee Chair from Lord Freud,
Minister for Welfare Reform, 29 May 2014
I am writing in response to your report, Fraud
and error in the benefits system, published on 15 May 2014,
specifically with regard to the recommendations made in connection
with the Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS).
I would like to thank you for your time in undertaking
this review and provide a response to the recommendations which
I have taken time to consider carefully. A formal response to
all aspects of the report will be provided to the Committee from
across DWP in July 2014, but I wanted to reply in advance in respect
of SFIS due to the sensitivities around the implementation timescales.
Your key recommendation suggests delaying the SFIS
Implementation to align with UC rollout.
The SFIS project has undertaken a substantial amount
of stakeholder engagement over the last year or so and as part
of that has also considered whether we should align the two projects.
Having considered your recommendations, I believe
we should continue as planned for the following reasons
· The
benefits of implementing the Single Fraud Investigation Service
Project from
2014-15 are clear and in fact there are increased benefits to
a "single investigation" whilst Housing Benefit exists.
Implementation of SFIS will lead to a single set of processes
and procedures within a nationally flexible team, leading to more
efficient and effective investigations, and more consistent treatment
of benefit fraud. Any delay will reduce those benefits.
· The Project
already has plans to pause implementation following the rollout
of the early adopters to learn lessons before embarking on Phase
2 (remaining LA areas) from October 2014 to March 2016. This will
ensure that delivery plans during this period are robust and enable
us to make sure that staff moving from Local Authorities into
DWP do so in the smoothest possible way.
· Many of our
Local Authority stakeholders had expressed concern that if the
implementation was delayed there would be further staff reductions
within fraud and this is a valuable trained resource which we
would not want to lose.
· Any delay in
implementation would lead to an extended period of concern and
uncertainty for the LA staff affected.
The report also recommended that the project engage
with Trade Unions and Local Government. This activity has already
been implemented. The Project facilitates a National Joint Forum
between LA Trade Unions (Unison, Unite and GMB), Departmental
Trade Unions and Local Government representatives. All parties
were consulted on the Statutory Instrument that allows the legal
transfer of staff from LAs to DWP, and the Forum is working on
an agreement that will ensure the protection of staff terms and
conditions as they transfer to DWP.
Taking into account the significant progress made
on the points raised since the Committee met in March 2014, I
am confident that the concerns raised have already been addressed.
Therefore, I have advised my officials to progress with implementation
activity for Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the SFIS project in line with
the current schedule.
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