2 December 2004 - Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) report: City of York Council
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Alan Johnson has today published an inspection report by the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) on the administration of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and counter-fraud activity by the City of York Council.
In 2003/04, City of York Council administered some £29 million in housing benefits, about 11 per cent of its gross revenue expenditure.
BFI inspected the council against the Performance Standards, the council was not at standard for any of the seven functional areas – strategic management, customer services, processing of claims, working with landlords, internal security, counter-fraud, and overpayments and BFI found the council to be providing a poor Benefits service.
Following the first BFI inspection in 1999, City of York Council undertook a Best Value review of its Revenues and Benefits services.
This resulted in a revised organisational structure. In September 2003 it implemented a new Benefits IT system. City of York Council said their difficulties with the implementation were the main cause of a backlog of work building up and this adversely affected its performance.
In particular, its performance for processing new claims was very poor, taking an average of 81 days.
BFI reports that the quality of verification of evidence to support claims was of a good standard.
However, inadequate management checking meant there was insufficient assurance that the benefits system was secure or that benefit was being paid correctly. The report raised concerns about failures to comply with key legal requirements of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit legislation.
The report notes serious failings in the recovery of overpayments. City of York Council was recovering overpayments even though customers had not been advised of the overpayment decisions.
The council’s efforts to counter fraud were more positive and it had achieved some impressive results as demonstrated by the full range of sanctions being applied and every case submitted for prosecution had been successful.
BFI is an independent unit within the Department for Work and Pensions that reports directly to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the standard of benefit administration and counter-fraud activity.
Chris Pond, Work and Pensions Minister announced the publication of the report in a written ministerial statement.
Notes for editors
- The process for the inspection at City of York Council included an initial fact finding stage, an on-site visit, and production and clearance of the report. The on-site visit took place during June 2004.
- Each BFI inspection report is considered by the Secretary of State who decides whether any further action is appropriate. The Secretary of State has powers to issue directions to a local authority to secure acceptable or minimum standards in performance.
- In its response to the Housing Green Paper of November 2000, the Department for Work and Pensions developed a performance framework for housing benefits. The HB/CTB Performance Standards, published in April 2002, enable local authorities to make a comprehensive self-assessment of whether they deliver benefit effectively and securely. These are the standards that the Department for Work and Pensions expects local authorities to aspire to and achieve in time.
- The Department for Work and Pensions has not set a timescale for when the standards need to be met by local authorities.
- BFI inspects against the seven functional areas of the Performance Standards:
- Strategic management – clearly stated aims and action, resources and monitoring, with effective training and IT
- Customer services – providing an efficient and prompt service that meets the needs of all customers and persons with a legitimate interest in a claim
- Processing of claims – speedy and accurate claims processing with effective verification
- Working with landlords – to give private landlords the confidence to let to customers and to support delivery of social housing
- Internal security – preventing internal fraud
- Counter-fraud – deterring, preventing, detecting and pursuing fraud
- Overpayments – preventing, identifying and recovering overpayments.
- The HB/CTB Performance Standards can be downloaded from: www.dwp.gov.uk/housingbenefit/publications/2003.asp
- Media copies of the BFI inspection report can be obtained from the Department for Work and Pensions Press Office on 020 7238 0866.
- All BFI inspection reports can be found on the BFI website – www.bfi.gov.uk.
Press office: 020 7238 0866
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Website: www.dwp.gov.uk