LA Efficiency – Improving value for money in delivery of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit
- DWP Support for LAs
- Strategic changes – HB Information Flows Programme
- Programme to help LAs reduce the cost of HB/CTB administration
- Value for money checklist
- Performance Development Team – improving performance, increasing efficiency
- FAQs
- Links to other organisations
DWP Support for LAs
This section of the website aims to help local authorities (LAs) reduce the cost of delivering Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit (CTB) services – and let them know what the DWP is doing to support them in that role.
We wrote to all Chief Executives in June 2007 about likely changes to the HB/CTB administration grant we pay to LAs. Our Circular S4/2007 also detailed individual allocations set on a reduced baseline for the administration grant by 5 per cent (in real terms) per year for the whole of the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) 2007 period. This was in line with the Department’s own spending review settlement.
DWP’s work programme to deliver both strategic changes and direct support to LAs, aims to facilitate improvements in HB/CTB administration and help LAs decide what action to take to reduce costs and deliver their HB/CTB services efficiently and effectively.
Our developing work programme covers two main areas of work, as outlined below.
Strategic changes – The HB Information Flows Programme
The overall objective of this project is to: collectively realise the vision of secure, robust and cost-effective infrastructure and processes for the collection, verification and timely transfer of accurate HB/CTB-related data between LAs, DWP and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
This comprises a variety of projects to improve the flow of HB/CTB-related information between DWP, HMRC and LAs to improve customer service and reduce workloads in LAs, including:
- Providing LAs with access to tax credits information through the Customer Information System.
- The electronic transfer of HB/CTB claims data from Jobcentre Plus (JCP) to LAs.
- Working with Communities and Local Government (CLG), to bring about the right infrastructure to enable rapid and secure transfer of data, making use of Government Connect.
You can find out more in the IT Information Flows for LAs Project section of this website.
Programme to help LAs reduce the cost of HB/CTB administration
Over the coming months, this section of the website will be updated to include further information as the programme of work develops.
This programme of work offers support to LAs on the efficiency of their HB/CTB services and focuses on those areas where we believe we can add most value. The programme includes:
- Providing free consultancy support to LAs and groups of LAs through the Department’s Performance Development Team (PDT) and
- Facilitating peer support through PDT.
- Disseminating success stories where LAs have delivered improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of their HB/CTB services.
- Providing products to support LAs in meeting the efficiency challenge.
If you’re from an LA and have implemented any local initiatives that have delivered improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of your Benefits service over the last 3 years we would like to hear from you with a view to sharing your successes and lessons learned with other local authorities through this website. We would also welcome future input from LAs looking to implement initiatives over the CSR07 period.
For further details please contact Darren Baker.
Telephone: 0207 962 8825
Email: Darren.baker1@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
There is already advice available to LAs relevant to the efficiency and effectiveness of their HB/CTB services, through the revised Performance and Good Practice Guide. This is regularly updated with additional products to further support efficient working using the latest evidence. We use HB Direct to let you know when we have placed any additional guidance on the website.
Value for money checklist
The checklist (1.06MB) 
highlights some of the areas you may wish to consider when looking to improve value for money in delivering your HB/CTB services.
Performance Development Team – improving performance, increasing efficiency
The PDT comprises 15 performance specialists and works with individual and groups of LAs to help them become more efficient and improve performance.
PDT help is free, but LAs have to invest the time and resources needed to achieve improvements. LAs are responsible for delivering improvement plans. In return for our investment, the PDT simply asks that authorities keep DWP informed of progress so that it can be sure improvements in the delivery of public services are realised.
The PDT is available to assist LAs in areas such as:
- Working with councils to eliminate delay and duplication from their processes and increase their effectiveness and efficiency.
- Helping councils explore the feasibility of sharing HB/CTB services to generate economies and efficiencies.
- Assisting councils that want to improve their management of HB/CTB overpayments so that loss is minimised through more efficient and effective prevention and recovery action.
- Developing partnerships with groups or individual councils to help them plan, implement and manage specific projects, for example:
- home working
- management of overpayments
- direct payments
- E-business
For further information or to request help, contact Cheryl Weaver
Telephone: 020 7712 2280 or 07771 844175
Email: cheryl.weaver@dwp.gsi.gov.uk
Alternatively, you can write to:
Cheryl Weaver
Performance Development Team
Department for Work and Pensions
5th Floor, The Adelphi
1–11 John Adam Street
London WC2N 6HT
FAQs
Q: Will the 5 per cent reduction affect the subsidy paid on benefit expenditure.
A: No. The 5 per cent reduction that we refer to in the letter to Chief Executives relates to administration subsidy (or targeted grant) paid by DWP to LAs as a contribution towards the cost of administering HB and CTB.
Q: Please could you advise if there is any funding available for the implementation of LA-led projects that we could apply for.
A: We no longer have a fund available for LAs to make a bid for specific service improvements. However, we did fund several national products, as well as individual LA projects, through the Performance Standards Fund. You may wish to look for further information and contacts in assisting you with your own project in the HB/CTB Bulletin G6/2007 - Appendix A or on the Performance Standards Fund web page.
Q: Is it a 5 per cent reduction in total over the whole CSR07 period or is it a year on year reduction?
A: It is a year on year, cumulative, reduction.
Q: What does this actually mean in monetary terms for my LA?
A: By now you will have received Circular S4/2007 which details individual allocations.
Links to other organisations
We are looking to ensure that what we do reflects the wider local government efficiency agenda across England, Scotland and Wales - and the more generic guidance and advice that supports this. There are a number of different organisations that:
- Help set wider policies on efficiency and provide advice, such as CLG.
- Can provide practical help, such as the Improvement and Development Agency and the Regional Centres of Excellence (soon to be merged with the Improvement Partnerships to become the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships).
- Ensure that public money is spent economically, efficiently and effectively, for instance the Audit Commission.
Links to these organisations’ websites and many others can be found on our Useful links page.