bfi plymouth01-2002

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http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/bfi-plymouth01-2002 1/179

Rep ort by the

Benefit Fraud Inspec tora te

Plymouth City Counc il

December 2001

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Highlighted parts of this rep ort are omitted from the pub lished version a s they ma y

assist fraudsters, contain confidential information or unnecessarily identifyindividuals.

PA BFI 555/ 02

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Co pies of BFI reports a re a va ilab le from :

The DWP Library

Roo m 114

The Ad elphi

1 – 11 John Adam Street

London

WC2N 6HT

Tel: 020 7962 8176

Fax: 020 7962 8491

You c an a lso e -ma il req uests to

[email protected]

BFI reports are also available from the internet under

Rep orts and Pub lica tions a t http://www.bfi.gov.uk

© Crown c op yright, Dec embe r 2001

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.bfi.gov.uk/

http://www.bfi.gov.uk/

mailto:[email protected]

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Contents

Contents

Conclusions 7

Rec ommendations 15

Findings 27

Introduction 27 Getting it right 33

Cla im fo rm........................................................................................................37Verifica tion wo rk..............................................................................................38

Dea ling with homeless pe op le .....................................................................52Rent Officer refe rra ls.......................................................................................54

Payments on account ....................................................................................58

Speed of p roc essing .......................................................................................61

Liaison with other agenc ies...........................................................................67

Keeping it right 69

Renewal c laims ...............................................................................................69

Changes of c ircumsta nc es...........................................................................70Not ices of determina tion ...............................................................................73

Risk assessing c laims........................................................................................73

Benefit periods.................................................................................................74Targe te d checks.............................................................................................75

Reviews and compla ints................................................................................76Dealing with landlords....................................................................................80

Liaison with the Housing Dep artme nt ..........................................................81

Inte rna l security and controls........................................................................82

Sta ff ve tt ing ......................................................................................................84

Post opening ....................................................................................................85

Payment and accounting methods............................................................86

Training and guidanc e...................................................................................88Liaison with BA on changes of circumstances...........................................89

Liaison w ith ES on c hanges of c ircumsta nc es............................................90

Putting it right 91

Overpayments.................................................................................................91

Fraud ...............................................................................................................106Sanc tions........................................................................................................125

Making sure the strategy works 137

Co rpo rate polic ies and strategy ................................................................137

Planning ..........................................................................................................138

Best Va lue .......................................................................................................139

Perfo rma nc e mon itoring a nd a ssurance ..................................................141

Orga nisation ..................................................................................................142Inte rna l Aud it .................................................................................................143

External Audit .................................................................................................146

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Contents

Me mbers’ invo lvem ent ................................................................................148

App endix A: Methodology 153

Appendix B: Claim form 159

Append ix C: IT sec urity 167

Append ix D: Post op ening 175

Abbreviations 177

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Conclusions

BFI inspec tion: Plymouth City Co unc il pag e 7

1.1

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1.4

Conclusions

Introduction Loc a l authorities (LAs) pay over £13.7 billion to 4.5 million peo p le on

Housing Benefit (HB) a nd Co unc il Tax Benefit (CTB). La test estimates,

pub lished in the Nationa l Housing Bene fit Ac curacy Review 1997/ 98 ,

suggest tha t £840 million is lost each yea r throug h fraud and error.

The g ove rnme nt is com mitted to e nsuring the right mo ney g oe s to

the right p erson. A ne w c ontrac t fo r welfare: SAFEGUARDING SOC IAL

SECURITY set out the go vernment’ s stra teg y for ac hieving this. It c a lledfor sustained and detailed effort across 4 fronts:

ge tting it right – be nefit p aym ents should b e c orrec t from da y one

kee ping it right – ensuring payments a re a d justed as c ircumsta nc es

change

putting it right – de tec ting w hen pa yments go wrong and taking

promp t ac tion to c orrec t them with app rop riate pe nalties to p revent

a rec urrenc e, and

ma king sure the strateg y wo rks – by monitoring progress, evaluating

the streng th of d efenc es and ad justing them in the light ofexperience.

The Benefit Fraud Inspec tora te (BFI) is an integra l pa rt o f this

stra teg y. Throug h our rep orts on LAs and the age nc ies of the

Departme nt fo r Work and Pensions (the Dep artme nt), forme rly known a s

the Departme nt of Soc ia l Sec urity, we a im to :

identify area s where improvements can be m ade to b enefit

administra tion to ra ise ove ra ll standa rds

ma ke rec om menda tions to a ddress we aknesses, and

identify and sp rea d go od p rac tices am ong ad ministrato rs.

In our inspec tion, we loo ked a t the administra tion o f HB and CTB

and the proc esses and proc ed ures Plymouth City Counc il (Plymouth)

had in plac e to p revent, dete c t and investiga te fraud in the benefit

system.

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Conclusions

pa ge 8 BFI inspec tion: Plymouth City Co unc il

1.5

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Ma in c onc lusions and rec om menda tions Plymouth wa s go ing through a ma jor period of c hang e a t the time

of our inspec tion. The benefits servic e:

had been restruc tured during 1999/ 2000

had introd uce d do cument ima ge processing (DIP) in Novemb er2000, 4 months befo re o ur on-site inspec tion

implemented the Verification Framework (VF) during our on-site

inspection.

Plymouth showe d a com mitment to mode rnising and imp roving its

service b y introduc ing these c hanges. How eve r, at the t ime of our on-

site inspec tion it wa s too ea rly to judg e whether these c ha nges wo uld

deliver the improve ments req uired .

The introd uc tion of DIP led to an initial dec line in p rod uc tivity and

an increa se in b acklog s, caused by IT prob lem s and sta ff ad justing tothe new system . The rise in the backlog coinc ided with the

imp lem enta tion o f VF.

We were p leased tha t while w e w ere on site, Plymouth d rew up a

ba c klog c lea ranc e strate gy to d ea l with a short-term backlog prob lem.

Plymouth ha d p oo r standards of verifica tion prior to the introd uc tion

of VF. This me ans its c urrent c aseloa d is likely to have a d isprop ortiona te

numb er of fraud ulent and errone ous claims. Plymouth has taken the first

step to addressing this by imp leme nting VF.

The on-site inspec tion c ame a t a d iffic ult t ime for Plymouth, as itcoincided with problems follow ing the introd uc tion of DIP and the

imp lem enta tion of VF. In a dd ition, the trad e un ions we re taking industria l

ac tion at the t ime o f our on-site inspec tion, inc lud ing som e one-day

strikes. How eve r, Plymouth a pproa ched the inspec tion in a p ositive w ay

and v iew ed it as an op portunity to review its op erations to improve .

We were enc ourag ed that Plymouth had taken a ma nag er off line

9 months befo re the inspec tion to review previous BFI rep orts and the

Good Prac tic e G uide to ide ntify areas of be nefit a nd fraud investiga tion

which nee ded to b e a ddressed and upd a ted . This resulted in p olic y and

proc ed ura l c hang es, which can be d eveloped further, to imp rove thesec urity and efficienc y of the system .

Getting it right

Plymouth is taking step s to sec ure the ga tew ay to bene fit by

introd uc ing VF. This wa s being imp leme nte d whilst we w ere on-site. Our

samp ling of the sma ll numb er of cases which Plymo uth wa s about to

assess using VF guidelines showed that Plymouth was verifying these

cases to a muc h highe r standa rd of verific ation tha n b efore VF

implementation.

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Conclusions


1.13

1.14

The ma jority o f the c ases we samp led we re assessed befo re VF

wa s imp lem ente d . The o verall sta ndard of verifica tion of c la ims wa s

poo r, pa rticularly on renew al c la ims. Plymouth ha d tem po rarily low ered

its norma l standards of verifica tion on renew a ls during the period

samp led to c lear outstand ing w ork befo re the introd uc tion of DIP. New

c la ims we re ve rified to a higher sta ndard , but still failed to m ee t the

minimum req uirem ents of VF. Plymo uth w as failing to c om ply with the

req uirem ents of sec tion 1(1A) and 1(1B) of the Soc ial Sec urity

Ad ministration Ac t 1992 (SSAA 1992) in most o f the renew al cla ims

sampled.

Befo re VF, Plymouth ha d sep a ra te c la im forms for ea c h tenure

type and a shortened renewa l form. All the fo rms had seve re

we aknesses, which impa ired sound verifica tion. Plymouth introd uc ed a

new c laim fo rm shortly be fore o ur inspec tion. This is a ma jor

improvem ent on the p rev ious forms in terms of design, user friend liness

and data c ap tured , but has some we aknesses XXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Plymouth a gree d to amend the

c la im fo rm in line w ith our rec om mendations, whic h should help

Plymo uth imp rove its sta nda rds of ve rifica tion in future.

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The b acklog that ha d d eveloped follow ing the introd uc tion o f DIP

resulted in leng thy d elays in p roc essing c la ims and an increa se in c a llers

to rec ep tion. As a result, Plymouth’ s performa nc e for p roc essing c la ims

and see ing customers wa s dec lining a nd failed to m ee t its ta rge ts.

Plymouth has som e in-bu ilt ineffic ienc ies in its p roc ed ures for

ma king refe rra ls to the Rent Office r (RO) w hich c ont ribute to delays and

the nec essity to ma ke la rge numbers of p ayments on a cc ount (POAs).Plymouth fa ils to meet the leg a l req uirem ent und er HB Reg ulation 12A(3)

and (4) to m ake RO refe rra ls in releva nt c ases within 3 days, or as soo n

as prac tic ab le thereafter.

Plymouth ha s introd uced a system of m ana ge ment chec ks which

is a we lcom e step in imp roving the a c c urac y and sec urity of the

bene fits system . How eve r, we found flaws in the selec tion and c onte nt

of the c hecks wh ich limit the ir effe c tivene ss. This need s to be a dd ressed

to e nsure Plymouth gets the full bene fit o f its ma na ge ment c hec ks.

Plymo uth has Service Level Ag ree me nts (SLAs) with b oth the loc a l

Benefits Ag enc y (BA) a nd Emp loyme nt Service (ES) offices and they

me et reg ularly. How ever, Plymo uth’ s mo nitoring of the SLAs is restric ted

to c hec king the d ate of rec eipt o f NHB1s.

Imp lem ent ing our rec om menda tions will imp rove sec urity,

ac c uracy and de livery of bene fits by:

imp roving the da ta g a thered from the c la im form

red ucing the b ac klog

ensuring Plymouth a nd BA a nd ES wo rk more e ffec tively tog ethe r to

sec ure the g a tew ay to b ene fits.

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Conclusions


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Kee p ing it right

Plymouth a ims to keep pa yments right throug hout the pe riod of

the c laim by:

inviting c la ima nts to rec laim a t the app rop riate time

pub lic ising c laimants’ d uties to no tify cha nges

using com pute r-ge nera ted rep orts to identify cha nge s

visiting c ases whe re renewa ls have not bee n returned

send ing no tices of d etermination tha t c om ply with leg al

requirements.

How ever, it c ould d o m ore to keep payme nts right b y:

inc luding p ublic ity on rep orting chang es on its c heq ues

ta rget ing its visiting ac tivity m ore c losely to risk

ta iloring bene fit p eriod s to ind ividua l circumstanc es, in p articular bya ligning b enef it pe riods to Working Families’ Tax Cred it (WFTC).

Plymouth ta kes prom pt ac tion to stop or suspend bene fit whe re a

chang e ha s oc curred . Althoug h this is com menda b le in preventing o r

red uc ing ove rpayments, Plymouth need s to ensure it:

app lies the reg ulat ions reg ard ing suspensions prop erly

takes ap propriate follow -up ac tion p rom ptly to ensure c la ima nts a re

pa id the c orrec t be nefit.

Plymouth does not identify requests for reviews correctly and fails

to dea l with the se w ithin the sta tutory timesca les. It a lso misses thetimesc a les it sets for respond ing to com pla ints and doe s not mo nitor

these. As a result, it is missing an opportunity to improve its service to

customers.

We found Plymouth ha d granted inap p rop riate acc ess levels to IT

users and nee ds to review and upda te the se to ensure the sec urity and

integ rity o f the benefits system.

Plymouth dem onstrates a strong com mitment to training a nd

deve lop ing its sta ff throug h the w ork of its service d eve lop me nt tea m.

The te am has produced c lea r wo rking proc ed ures and an informa tive

newslette r for all sta ff.

Plymouth has regular meetings with private landlords. However it

need s to d o mo re to tac kle land lord fraud , inc luding a pplying the ‘fit

and prope r person’ test, developing a sched ule o f pa yments and using

its pow ers to d ed uc t ove rpayments from land lords in ap prop ria te

c ircumsta nc es. Similarly, a lthoug h it mee ts reg ularly w ith the Housing

Depa rtment (HD), working a rrang em ents could b e improved by p utting

the relationship on a more forma l basis, throug h the de velopm ent o f a n

SLA.

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Conclusions

BFI inspec tion: Plymouth City Co unc il pa ge 11

1.27

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Imp lem enting our rec om mend ations will imp rove the sa fegua rds

for keep ing payme nts right during the lifetime of a c laim b y:

rem ind ing c la ima nts and land lords of the ir duties to report cha nges

quickly and acc ura tely to Plymouth

tailoring benefit periods more appropriately to individual

c ircumstances, thereb y red uc ing ove rpa yments

improv ing IT sec urity a nd c ontrols.

Putt ing it right

Plymouth’ s ma nag em ent a nd c ontrol of ove rpa yments is po or.

Plymouth fa ils to use a ll ava ilable method s of rec ove ry for ove rpayment.

We found a gene ral failure to ac c ount for the volume, value a nd a ge of

deb ts in the bene fit system .

Plymouth's assessment staff are responsible for recovering Rent

Allow ance (RA) overpa yments by:

ma king d ed uc tions from o ngo ing b enefit where the claimant

continues to claim

invoicing de bts where b enefit has c ea sed .

At the time of our on-site inspec tion, an income office r and

temp orary mem be r of sta ff were unde rtaking an exerc ise to rec over

overpa yments that had be en invoic ed in respe c t of som e 90 ca ses.

Although this spec ific exerc ise is being und ertaken, there is no

ove rpayment tea m o r office r spec ific a lly responsib le fo r rec ove ry of

ove rpayments from invoices. Plymouth is fa iling to p rote c t the pub lic

purse e ffec tive ly. This raises c onc erns over the loss of revenue .

Plymo uth, a lso a t the time o f our site visit, submitte d a rep ort to

co mmittee to e xpa nd its rec overy op tions and introd uce a de dica ted

overpa yment te am. Subseq uent to our visit w e were told the rep ort ha d

been app roved.

In respec t o f Rent Reb a te (RR) cases, all overpayme nts, inc luding

those where there is ong oing b ene fit, are transferred to a sub a c count

on the housing rent system. It is the responsibility of the individua l esta te

ma na gers to rec over the overpayme nt. This is no t a p riority as the

em pha sis for esta te ma na gers is to red uc e rent a rrea rs in the firstinstance.

Bene fit sta ff told us tha t no p erforma nc e ta rgets have b een set

and that no m ana ge ment c hec ks are performed on overpayments.

Without the se c hec ks, Plymouth c annot b e c onfident tha t the work in

this a rea is effe c tive.

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Conclusions


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Plymouth ha s a system to ensure tha t o verpa yments a re ident ified

prom ptly by stopp ing bene fit payments as soo n as information is

rec eived. Whilst this red uces the a mount of o verpa yment c rea ted and

limits the a mo unt identified as LA error, we we re c onc erned tha t this wa s

ac hieved without providing a correc t and timely notifica tion to the

c laima nt. This req uirem ent is in reg ulat ion 96A(4) of the Housing Benefit

(Genera l) Reg ulat ion 1987 (HB Reg ulat ions).

At the time o f our on-site inspec tion, Plymouth ha d set up an

exerc ise to instiga te rec ove ry ac tion in respec t of a spec ific numb er of

ove rpayment c ases. The o b jec tive of the exerc ise w as to inc rea se its

effec tivene ss in the rec ove ry of o verpa id HB.

Plymouth ha s a c lea r com mitment to imp rove pe rforma nce in

fra ud investiga tion, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



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We identified som e a spec ts of Plymo uth’ s wo rk on which we we re

ab le to c omm ent fa vourably. These included :

moveme nt tow ards prosec utions

c lose w orking with Benefit Fraud Inve stiga tion Servic e (BFIS)

review of p roc ed ures nec essa ry to p rovide sta ff with instruc tions and

guida nce on how to ta ke forward aspe c ts of fraud work.

How ever, desp ite the introduc tion of va rious polic ies and

guida nce a nd a n extensive training p rog ram me a imed a t imp roving the

qua lity of w ork, the b ulk of investiga tions und ertaken w ere sha llow and

did no t produce successful outc ome s. We w ere co ncerned that to o

much time wa s spent focused on Weekly Benefit Savings (WBS) by wa y

of residenc y che c ks and not enoug h a ttention wa s pa id to investiga ting

fraud. Plymouth rec og nised these w ea knesses and told us tha t the

introd uc tion of various polic ies and g uida nc e a nd a n extensive training

prog ramm e d uring late 2000 and e arly 2001 wa s a imed a t imp roving the

qua lity of fraud wo rk.

1.39 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX in most typ es of f raud and

visiting work. This mainly surrounds:• XXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Conclusions


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We also c om me nt adversely on the fa ilure to fully co nsolida te the

tra ining p rovide d to a ll investiga tion sta ff. Plymo uth to ld us tha t it had

tried to a ddress this by alloc a ting fraud cases on a b ility and tea ming

new er sta ff with more experienc ed investiga tors. In add ition we found

that:

limited m ana ge ment controls a re no t identifying a nd c orrec tingweaknesses and deficiencies

ta rgets a imed solely at a c hieving WBS do little to p rovide a

ba lanc ed mea surement o f performa nce .

Although the performa nc e ta rgets set fo r the investiga tion sta ff are

entirely ba sed on ac hieving WBS ta rgets, we ra ised c onc erns about the

qua lity of investiga tion ta ken to support WBS c laims in over 40% of the

cases we samp led . External Aud it (EA) a lso q uestioned the va lid ity of

WBS c laims when exam ining the 1999/2000 sub sidy c laim, resulting in a

red uc tion o f 10% in c laims to WBS for tha t yea r.

We a lso noted that the lac k of an effective c ase ma nag ement

system seve rely limits the amo unt o f da ta ava ilab le a nd subseq uent ly

restric ts any useful ana lysis of performa nc e and identific a tion o f future

risks to benefits. Plymouth to ld us tha t it has now purchased an

established fraud case management system.

1.43 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Plymouth recognised

tha t it must ra ise the standa rd of its fraud wo rk if it is to be a b le to m ee t

leg a l req uirem ents, imp ose sanc tions, and provide assuranc es tha t a ny

subsidy claim c an withstand sc rutiny and c ha lleng e.1.44

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1.47

Implementing our recommendations will:

imp rove the rec overy rate of overpa yments

enc ourage b ette r ta rge ting, planning a nd c ontrol of fraud

investiga tions and visits

provide grea ter assuranc e on the q ua lity of fraud investiga tion work

be ing undertaken.

Ma king sure the strate gy wo rks

Plymouth a pproved a c orporate a nti-fraud strate gy in Novemb er2000. This is und erpinned by som e op erationa l guide lines includ ing:

• guida nce on p rosec ution, administra tive p ena lties and c autions

• a sta ff de c la ra tion of interest form.

How ever, Plymouth ne ed s to deve lop further gu idelines to fully

support the stra teg y, inc lud ing a c od e o f co nduc t for visiting sta ff.

The d eferment of VF meant tha t VF wa s imp lem ented a t a d ifficult

time whe n the servic e wa s enc ountering m ajor ba c klog s but Plymouth

nee ds to review and build on its current p lanning p roc esses.

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Conclusions


1.48

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Plymouth ha s not yet d eve lop ed its DIP system to p rod uc e

mea ningful ma nag ement informa tion a nd de velop an effective

pe rforma nce mo nitoring a nd m anag em ent reg ime . Plymouth told us

tha t this wa s due to p rob lem s with system func tiona lity. It now nee ds to

ta c kle this as a p riority to ensure the service ma kes the nec essary

imp roveme nts, ma ximising DIP to its full potential.

DIP and VF have introd uced new wa ys of w orking fo r sta ff and we

support Plymouth’ s p lans to review the imp ac t of the se on the

orga nisa tion to ensure the restruc ture is helping it m ake the mo st

effec tive use o f sta ff.

We w ere disapp ointed tha t Plymouth ha d failed to implement a

series of Interna l Aud it (IA) and EA recom me ndations tha t wo uld ha ve

helped it sec ure the system e arlier.

We c onsider that Plymo uth ha s set itself a c ha lleng ing p rog ramm e

of c hang e. It will need to improve its ma nag eme nt informa tion a nd

cont rol signific antly to deliver and ma inta in improvements.

Implementing our recommendations will:

• imp rove ma nag em ent information ava ilab le from DIP

• imp rove pe rforma nce and effic ienc y

• provide grea ter assuranc e on the sec urity and integ rity of the

system.

On b eha lf of the inspe c tion te am , I thank the Chief Exec utive,

senior officers and sta ff of Plymouth fo r their support and co-op eration

during this inspec tion.

Susan Lingwood

BFI Programm e Ma nager

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Rec omm enda tions


Rec ommendations

Getting it right – recommendations

We rec omm end that: Paragraph

• Plymouth ensures that it regularly gathers sufficient management

information on:

− the typ e o f callers (HB or CT)

− the length of time taken on rec ep tion

− waiting times for rec ep tion and private interviews

− the rea son for the call to the office and by phone.

2.56

• Plymouth:

− revises its c laim fo rm to ensure it is consistent with BFI’s Good Practice Guide and the mode l claim form

− XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2.65

• Plymouth ensures that c ases where the c laimant has not rep lied toreq uests for further informa tion are c losed down and the c laimant

notified ap propriately.

2.86

• Plymouth ensures its standards of verification are improved to m eet a t

least the minimum requirements of VF.

2.130

• Plymouth:

− introd uces guida nce and proc edures for HPU to ensureverifica tion is effic ient and thorough, ensuring accurate and

timely verifica tion of home less c laimants− prov ides imm ed iate VF training to HPU staff

− shares information in respect of potentially violent persons andunsafe addresses to safeguard po tentia l risks to m em be rs of staff.

2.139

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Rec omm enda tions




• Plymouth:

− ensures it has proced ures in place to send referra ls to the ROimmed iately on rec eipt of the c laim

− tra ins those staff responsible for mak ing the ap prop riate ROreferrals

− ensures previous records of RO referra ls are chec ked to p reventunnecessary referrals

− ensures a ll returned RO referrals are ac tioned p romp tly.

2.151

• Plymouth de velop s and pub lishes proce dures for staff that include the

requirement to refer appropriate HA cases to the RO.

2.155

• Plymouth:

− signs an SLA with the RS. This should contain agreed fo rmal targetsand provide a mec hanism for monitoring pe rforma nce ag ainstthese targets

− provides fraud awareness training a nd introduc es proc edures forthe RO to follow whe n ma king a referral.

2.158

• Plymouth implem ents a control to ensure a final determination is ma de

promp tly when the RO d ec ision is rec eived in POA c ases.

2.162

• Plymouth reviews its system of ma nag ement c hec ks to e nsure tha tthey:

− inc lude cases selec ted from the HBIS system

− cover all areas including a ccurac y of inputs and pa yments

− are reco rded, ana lysed a nd used to feedba ck errors to staff anddeve lop training.

2.170

• Plymouth provides training for manag ers respo nsible for manag em ent

checks to ensure that the checks are comp leted ac curately and

consistently.

• sam ples of checks are re-p erformed to assure their qua lity.

• Plymouth:

− analyses the rea sons for de lays in c laims processing

− identifies bloc kages and ways to ensure it red uces the end -to-end p rocessing time and ac hieves its 14-day ta rget

− reviews the working prac tices of the c laims verifica tion team a nduse o f manag em ent informa tion ava ilable from DIP to ensure theeffic iency of proc esses and improve speed of processing.

2.184

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Rec omm enda tions




• to clea r the bac klog a nd p revent future bac klogs building up,

Plymouth:

− nominates an o ffice r with responsibility for ma nag ing the ba cklog

− ring fences the b ac klog

− deals with new inco ming work on a da ily b asis to p revent futurebac klogs developing

− c losely mo nitors the pe rformance of its plan ag ainst key targe tda tes and milestones

− ensures c laims are qua lity checked to ma ke sure that ac curac y isnot c omp romised by spee d of proce ssing

− reviews the staffing leve ls and p roduc tivity of all sec tions to ensurethey a re a dequa tely resourced to meet the needs of VF and DIP.

2.196

• Plymouth builds upon its existing p rog ram me of exchang e visits to

ensure a ll staff have the op po rtunity to visit co lleagues in BA.

2.200

• Plymouth:

− ma kes its staff awa re o f the detailed content o f the SLA a nd theirrespo nsibilities to achieve the ta rge ts

− ag rees a forma l monitoring p rocess for the SLA with BA tha tincludes some testing of achievement against all areas in the SLA

targets throug h the ye ar.

2.204

• Plymouth a nd ES at the first meeting discuss and a gree methods of

formally testing the SLA ag ainst its stated targe ts.

2.209

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Rec omm enda tions


Keeping it right – recommendations


• Plymouth ensures that a ny c hang es in policy or proc edures are

effec tively co mm unic ated to staff and checks are put in plac e toensure that new proc edures are followe d.

2.218

• Plymouth adopts the rec omm enda tion ma de by IA and nego tiates a

chang e of design of its cheques to include a statement ab out reporting

changes of circumstance s.

2.222

• Plymouth:

− reviews its proc ed ures for suspending c laims to ensure c laimantsare notified c orrec tly

− identifies an effec tive wa y o f mana ging the throughp ut ofchanges of c ircumstanc es using DIP to ensure that further ac tionand reassessments are com pleted promptly.

2.227

• Plymouth a ligns all awards of bene fit to the p eriod of award of WFTC,

and on e xpiry of HB takes into ac count any c hang es to WFTC.

2.231

• Plymouth ensures that staff are no longe r applying the toleranc e rule

by identifying incoming post that would result in a sma ll reduc tion in HB

and trac king it to ensure that the appropriate c hange is comp leted.

2.237

• Plymouth considers including reference to its com pla int proce dures in

the notices of determination or inc ludes its leaflet on c om pla ints with all

determinations.

2.241

• Plymouth continues to m onitor closely the c ases in Group A to ensure

that they receive a visit before the case is c losed .

2.246

• Plymouth sets up p rocedures to ensure benefit periods are tailored to

individual circumstanc es, suc h as WFTC pe riod s, where appropriate.

2.252

• Plymouth applies a m ore stringent test to the c lassification of cases that

require a c tion b y g iving c learer guidance to the staff who a reundertaking the indexing of incoming reviews and ap pea ls post.

2.261

• Plymouth ensures that it has system s in place tha t will imp rove on its

current method s and pe rformance in hand ling c ases under the new

ap pea ls regime .

2.264

• Plymouth:

− formally ana lyses a ll HB/ CTB com plaints that it receives and usesthis information to improve the service that it p rovides to itscustomers

− mo nitors and regularly reviews the e ffec tiveness of HB/ CTBcomp laint handling procedures on the service d evelopm ent teamto ensure all co rporate targe ts are met.

2.273

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Rec omm enda tions




• Plymouth uses its existing information to apply the 'fit and proper

pe rson' test to land lords where a pp ropriate.

2.284

• the effec tiveness of the relationship b etwe en Bene fits and Housing

co uld be improved by:

− introd uc ing a forma l SLA with stated pe rforma nce a ims andreg ular m onitoring

− nominating a senior office r to ensure b oth departments work mo reeffectively together.

2.290

• Plymouth ame nds its IT sec urity policy to c ove r:

− proc edures for rep orting security b reac hes

− upd ating user ac cess levels

− monitoring standards to ensure c om plianc e with the strateg y.

2.295

• to reduce the risk of internal fraud and error Plymouth:

− carries out a risk a ssessme nt of its data ba se of users to e nsureac cess levels are a pp rop riate to users’ duties, deleting a ndam ending ac cess where nec essary

− upd ates its user da tabase on a reg ular basis

− devises procedures to ensure user permissions are reviewed when

staff leave or transfer

− rewrites the user form to ensure each form only a llows access forone user.

2.300

• Plymouth amend s its staff dec larations to me et AC rec om menda tions. 2.304

• Plymouth introduces procedures to ensure post opening is consistent

with BFI’s Good Prac tice Guide .

2.310

• Plymouth provide s ap propriate fac ilities to sec urely pa y HB to those

without bank ac counts.

2.313

• Plymouth improves its reco rd keeping of landlords and introd uces

schedule pa yments for landlo rds with more than one tenant.

2.315

• Plymouth ad op ts a forma l appraisal system that will allow ma nag ers to

identify the training need s of their staff, monitor and eva luate

ac hievement of training ob jec tives.

2.328

• Plymouth monitors the ac hievem ent of the service d eve lopm ent team

ag ainst stated aims and ob jec tives for 2000/ 01.

2.329

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Rec omm enda tions




• as a m inimum , RAT chec ks are c ompleted w hen a ny a ssessment is

done on an IS/ JSA c ase and that where an indica tor is not c orrec tly set

BA is notified to m ake the nec essary am endment.

2.334

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Rec omm enda tions


Putting it right – rec ommenda tions


• Plymouth designates an officer to be fully respo nsible for debt rec overy

and debt mana ge ment to ensure full priority is given to the rigo rouscollection of outstanding overpayments.

2.351

• Plymouth:

− monitors the ac curac y o f classification to p rovide managementinformation on the reason for overpayments and providesap prop riate training to staff

− monitors and takes ap prop riate a c tion on reports identifyingreassessments by creating appropriate credits or debits to ensureoverpayments are c lassified c orrec tly.

2.360

• Plymouth:

− immediately implements section 75(5) and (6) to enable recoveryto be ma de from land lords from HB rece ived in respec t of otherclaimants

− pursues ove rpa yments effec tively and effic iently b y using allrec overy methods availab le.

2.378

• Plymouth:

− ma kes deduc tions from ongoing benefit for all RR cases where thec laimant is in rec eip t of HB and stops transferring overpaym ents to

the sub a ccount of the rent ac count in these c ases

− sets app rop riate targets in respec t of RR overpa yment rec overy.

2.395

• Plymouth:

− learns lessons from Operation Rec laim and ensures it sets upeffective p roc edures to rec ove r of all HB overpa yment debtseffec tively b y Decemb er 2001

− regularly monitors cases on the d eb t system aga inst HB c laims toensure o pp ortunities are no t missed to rec over from ongo ingbenefit

− uses all methods of rec ove ry to m axim ise the opp ortunity torec over outstanding d ebt.

2.408

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Rec omm enda tions




• Plymouth introduces:

− manageme nt chec ks of at least 10% of the weekly overpaymentcaseload to provide a ssuranc e of the ac curac y of ca lculation and

c lassifica tion and ensure staff work c onsistently and com ply with thewritten proce dural guidanc e

− a d ed icated team responsible for the recove ry of overpaymentsto ensure consistenc y, effec tiveness and ownership rec overingoverpayments

− mea ningful and ac hievable recovery performance targets toallow ac curate assessment of its pe rformance

− monitoring and ana lysis to ensure tha t the most ap propriate a ndeffective recove ry me thod is used .

2.416

• Plymouth:

− provides staff involved in the c laiming, ma nageme nt check ingand validation of WBS with at lea st the releva nt pa rts of theSubsidy Order and guida nc e to ensure with this is followedcorrectly

− drafts and implements a code o f conduc t which a dd resses thestandards expec ted of investigation a nd visiting staff in theirdea lings with the p ublic and other bodies.

2.429

• Plymouth reviews its pe rforma nce ind ica tors so tha t it ca n p rovide

more balanced targets and measures on, at the very lea st:

− file holdings

− outputs of work

− qua lity and e ffec tiveness of performa nce

− use o f ava ilab le sanc tions.

2.433

• Plymouth adopts a wide r risk-b ased ap proach to c laims selec ted for

proactive visiting. It should also analyse the results and effectiveness of

pa st visiting ac tivity to ensure future fraud w ork:

− concentrates on those category of c laim a nd postal d istrictsfound to p rovide the highest risks to Plymouth and whensuccessfully investigated will lead to a grea ter deterrent

− provides a balanc ed a pp roac h between fraud investiga tionac tivity and non-residenc y visiting.

2.447

• Plymouth introd uces proced ures that will:

− ensure p romp t ac tion on rec eip t of an HBMS referra l to co nfirmvalidity of matc h

− introd uce p riority of ca ses to be investigated or overloaded

− ensure that HBMS is notified of the results from all cases, whateverthe outcom es.

2.456

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Rec omm enda tions




• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2.460

• Plymouth maximises publicity to ensure tha t memb ers of the p ublic are

encouraged to report suspic ions of fraud and are ma de awa re o f the

telephone number availab le to do so.

2.463

• Plymouth raises master files on a ll proac tive fraud drives which can be

c ross-referenc ed aga inst ind ividua l investiga tion files. These control

files should contain:

− reasons for suspe c ting fraud a c tivity

− da te and deta ils of initial app roach to emp loyee o r land lord

− rec ord of emp loyee or land lord respo nse

− full list of emp loye es or tenants

− numb er of investigations unde rtake n and outc omes on WBS andfraud overpayments.

2.475

• Plymouth undertakes a review of its proc ess for selec ting c ases for visit.

This review should ensure that future ac tivity conc entrates on mak ing

the most effec tive use o f resources by identifying cases that:

− can be investiga ted without undue delay

− are within a high risk c ateg ory.

2.494

• Plymouth ensures that:

− all investigation files contain a c om plete a udit trail by inc ludinginformation showing:

• reason for commencement of investigation

• evidenc e ob tained in support of the a llega tion

• full rec ord of all ac tions take n and reasons

• comp lete c losure repo rt

− staff involved in the investigation o f fraud ha ve full regard to andcomp ly with the CPIA cod e of prac tice.

2.494

• to ensure und isputed evidenc e is ob tained during an investigation,

Plymouth fraud office rs must:

− ask open questions of c laimants and land lords about the reasonsfor not dec laring a change of circumstance s

− prove fraudulent intent, based on the b alanc e o f probab ility, by ac laimant or land lord.

2.501

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Rec omm enda tions




• all staff involved in interviewing suspec ted fraud ulent c laimants whilst

unde r caution m ust have full reg ard to the requirements of PACE cod e

of p rac tice and RIPA.

2.509

• Plymouth ensures that any de lays in taking forward investigation work

are kept to a minimum. If delays do oc cur, reasons must be fully

documented.

2.509

• Plymouth reviews its ma nag em ent c hec ks to ensure they provide :

− qua lity assuranc e on all areas and aspec ts of fraud work

− future g uidanc e a nd feedbac k to staff on the e ffec tiveness ofinvestigative work unde rtake n.

2.539

• the outcome o f an investiga tion and feedb ac k from m anag eme nt

chec ks is provided in writing. This allows for:

− identification of pa tterns

− feed ing of outcom es into training p lans

− assisting on the ongoing monitoring o f work.

2.539

• Plymouth reviews its process for the a llocation of fraud rela ted work to

those staff who have be en trained to undertake fraud work. Plymouth

must ensure tha t a ll staff are:

− given a b alanc e of fraud and non fraud work

− provided with the opportunity to consolidate training receivedand ga in experience in a wide range of fraud investiga tionactivity.

2.547

• Plymouth:

− and BFIS ap po int nominated liaison o ffice rs in ac cordance withthe SLA

− ensures that a ll approp riate staff know how to access the SLA and

are aware o f its core requirements

− introduces ma nagement checks to ensure the ag reed targets arebeing achieved.

2.553

• Plymouth urgently imp lements the SLA1 p roced ures to ensure that BFIS

is notified at the ea rliest opportunity of those investiga tions raised

where there is a BA interest.

2.555

• Plymouth conduc ts an urgent ove rhaul of proc ed ures for the rece ipt,

completion a nd return of form QB64 and QB65 to ensure c omplianc e

with the 10-da y turnaround targe t ag reed in the 2000/ 01 SLA w ith BFIS.

2.564

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Rec omm enda tions


Making sure the strategy works – recommendations


• Plymouth introd uces a c ode o f conduc t for visiting staff. 2.576

• Plymouth:

− ma ximises use o f its DIP system to p rovide meaningful informationon workflow, c learance rates and the breakdown of any bac klogs

− sets individual pe rformanc e ta rge ts on the speed , ac curac y a ndqua lity of work

− monitors ac hievem ents and com municates these regularly tostaff.

2.592

• Plymouth Revenues reviews its working prac tices and organisation by

Dec em be r 2001 to take ac count of DIP and VF and to ensure it isworking effectively.

2.597

• Plymouth:

− reconsiders the num ber of IA da ys tha t it a llocates to HB and CTBwork and estab lishes an a pp rop riate a nnual minimum, includingaud its of c ounter fraud

− sets up proc edures to ensure tha t IA rec om menda tions areproperly considered a nd imp lemented, and progress is reportedto the Chief Exec utive and Mem be rs.

2.607

• bo th DA and Plymouth agree and introduce effec tive monitoringproc ed ures that ensure that rec om menda tions ma de a re prog ressed ,

and any d elays to implem enta tion are rep orted to the Chief Exec utive

and Memb ers.

2.617

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Findings


2.1

•

•

•

•

•

•

2.2

•

•

•

•

•

2.3

2.4

2.5

Findings

Introduction Information required for this inspec tion, a nd p resented in th is rep ort,

wa s ga thered from a rang e of source s, inc lud ing :

Plymouth

the Depa rtment

ES

loca l BA a t Durley House a nd ES a t Devo np ort

the Rent Service (RS)

EA.

Althoug h key informa tion wa s c ollec ted ea rlier, muc h o f the

de tailed da ta wa s ga thered during the on-site p hase o f the inspec tion

from 5 March 2001 to

30 Ma rc h 2001, during which time we inte rview ed sta ff and samp led the

following cases:

67 new c la ims assessed betw een Novem ber 2000 to January 200167 rene wa l cla ims assessed betw ee n Nove mb er 2000 to Janua ry

2001

15 new and rene wa l cases which Plymouth were about to a ssess

using VF guidanc e during Ma rch 2001

68 ove rpa yment c ases

68 fraud c ases.

All samp les were rand om ly selec ted , except for 7 of the 68 fraud

cases, which Plymouth selec ted and asked us to e xamine to g ive

ad vic e a nd g uida nce on its performa nce follow ing fraud training for

visiting officers (VOs).

Plymouth is loc a ted in south west Eng land . The autho rity b ec ame

unita ry in 1998 and it has a pop ulat ion of 250,000.

Plymo uth is ranked as the 81st most d ep rived autho rity in Eng land

(source Departme nt o f Emp loyment, Transport and the Reg ions Indices

of Deprivation 2000 ). This figure d isguises severe p oc kets of depriva tion

within its a rea . Four wa rds in Plymo uth a re amo ng st the wo rst 10% in

England.

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Findings


Benefit expend iture a nd caseload 2.6

2.7

2.8

2.9

•

•

•

•

2.10

•

•

2.11

Fig. 2.1: HB and CTB expenditure

In 2000/ 01 Plymouth pa id out £61.8 million in

HB and CTB. This rep resented 15% of its gross

revenue expend iture o f £406.1 million . Plymouth is

the 52nd highest benefits spending LA in Great

Brita in. The brea kdown of b ene fit expend iture

over the last 3 years is detailed in Figure 2.1.

31.3 31.330.2

20.321.6 21.4

9.9 10.4 10.2

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1998/99 1999/2000 2000/01

£

mil

lio

RA This shows tha t HB and CTB expe nd iture ha s

dec rea sed by 2.3% ove r the last yea r, a fa ll of

£1.5 million. The largest d ec rea se ha s bee n in RA

expe nd iture, w hic h ha s fallen by 3.5%, a fa ll of

£1.1 million.

RR

CTB

The d ec rea se in expend iture is linked to a

red uc tion in Plymouth’ s HB and CTB caseloa d

which ha s fa llen sha rp ly over the last year, as

illustrated in Figure 2.2.Sourc e: Plymouth

Note: 2000/01 figures not audited Plymouth attributes this fall in caseload to:

an inc rea se in loc a l em ploym ent. For

examp le 3 telephone c aller centres have

op ened over the last year, c rea ting new jobsFig. 2.2: HB and CTB caselo ad

increa sed ta ke-up of WFTC w hich ha s ra ised

inco me s, resulting in som e c laima nts losing

ent itlement to HB and CTB

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

1998/99 1999/2000 2000/01

a fa ll in c la ims follow ing the introd uc tion of

more stringent evidence requirements

introduced during 1999/2000 in prep ara tion

for the introd uc tion of VFRA

RR

CTB only a rise in backlog s.

Plymo uth introd uc ed a DIP system in

Bene fits in Novemb er 2000 and expe rienc ed a

fall in p rod uc tivity and a rise in ba c klog , ca used

by:

increased co mp uter downtime

Sourc e: Plymouth sta ff lea rning to use the new DIP system.

Plymouth’ s caseloa d fell by 1,062 be twe en

Novem ber 2000 and Ma rch 2001. Plymouth e stimated 10,679 cases

we re unp rocessed in the b ac klog in March 2001. We d iscuss this in more

deta il in Getting it righ t.

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Findings


2.12

2.13

•

•

•

2.14

2.15

•

•

2.16

•

•

2.17

Organisa tion of the benefits servic e Plymo uth’ s benefit service is part o f the Revenues Division o f the

counc il’ s Financ e Department, responsible fo r Co unc il Tax (CT) as we ll

as HB and CTB administration . The service is c entralised , loc a ted in

Plymouth’s Civic Centre.

The servic e ha s und ergone c onsiderab le o rganisa tiona l and

proc ed ura l cha nge o ver the last 3 yea rs. These inc lude:

an o rganisa tiona l rev iew in 1998/99 resulting in a restructuring in

1999/2000

the introduc tion o f DIP in Nove mb er 2000

the imp lementa tion of VF in Ma rc h 2001.

At the t ime of o ur on-site wo rk, Plymouth w as imp lem enting

sub sta ntia l bud get cuts of £20 million. The benefits service wa s not

targete d for budge t c uts, but trad e unions were taking industrial a ct ionat the time o f our inspec tion, inc lud ing som e one -da y strikes.

The Reve nues Division undertoo k a ma jor review of its service s to

imp rove the service a nd p rep are it for future c hanges, inc lud ing Best

Value (BV) and VF. The review a imed to imp rove the service to:

pe rform c omp etitively, effic iently and effec tively

provide qua lity customer care services tha t a re a cc essib le a nd

responsive.

Befo re the review, the service w as orga nised into func tiona l tea ms

dea ling with b ene fits and reve nues. Follow ing the review, the servic e re-structured during 1999/ 2000 to form the fo llow ing 2 units:

Custome r Services – dea ling with a ll frontline enquiries, inc luding

pub lic c ontac t throug h visits, telep hone a nd p ersona l ca llers and

the c ash office team

Ac c ount Proc essing – dea ling with ba ck offic e processing of

c ustome rs’ CT, Na tiona l Non-Dome stic Rates (NNDR) ac counts and

bene fit c la ims. The incom es tea m is a lso loc a ted here.

In addition, a servic e d evelopment t ea m p rovides supp ort to both

units with training, p roc ed ural g uidanc e, p ublic ity a nd c o-ordination ofa comp laints line . Figure 2.3 shows the o rganisa tiona l structure.

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Findings


Fig. 2.3: Revenues Division organisation structure

Admin

Assts

x 3

Visiting

Officers12.5

Senior CS Officers

x 2

CS Team Leader

Fraud and Visits

CS Team Leader (VF)

CS staff

x 34

Senior CS Officers

x 2

CS Team Leader

Counter + Phones

Customer Services Manager

Admin

Assistant

x 1

Training Officers

x 3

Service Development Co-0rdinator

Admin

Staffx 12

Senior Officers

x 2

Support Services

Team Leader

Processing

Staffx 28

Senior Officers

x 5

Accounts Processing

Team Leader

RR/CTB +

Verification Team

Accounts Processing

Team Leader Fraud

Action Plan

Admin

Staffx 12

Senior Officer

x 1

Accounts Processing

Team Leader

Admin

Processing

staffx 26

Senior Officer

x 4

Accounts Processing

Team Leader

RA

Account Processing Manager

Asst Head of Finance

Source : Plymouth

2.18

2.19

•

•

•

2.20

2.21

•

•

2.22

2.23

Custome r Service s sta ff dea l with both b enefits and CT wo rk.

Ac c ounts Proc essing sta ff a re ma inly organised into func tiona l

tea ms dea ling with the follow ing aspec ts of HB and CTB administra tion:

claims verification

RR/ CTB assessment

RA assessment.

Sep ara te tea ms wo rk on a ll aspec ts of CT and NNDR administration

from b illing to c ollec tion.

The following teams dea l with b oth HB/ CTB and CT:

sc anning and inde xing

support servic es (IT sup port, sub sidy, deb t c ollec tion).

The restructure wa s a ma jor cha nge fo r ma ny sta ff, in tha t they

we re required to w ork on ne w a nd , in ma ny cases wide r a rea s of work.

Of the existing sta ff, 40% we re interview ed for posts in the new structure

which is an indica tion o f the e xtent to which sta ff had to lea rn new

areas of w ork. Interviews took plac e be tween O c tob er 1999 and Ap ril

2000. The servic e d eve lop ment tea m p rovide d a wide -rang ing t ra ining

prog ramm e fo r sta ff working in new area s.

Afte r the restruc ture, the Revenues Division introd uc ed a DIP

system, sup p lied by Co mino. The DIP system w ent live in CT from

Oc tob er 2000 and wa s rolled out to Bene fits from Novemb er 2000.

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Findings


2.24

2.25

2.26

2.27

Plymouth w as imp lem enting VF a t the time o f our on-site

inspec tion. It imp lemented VF from 26 Ma rch 2001, the last w eek of our

on-site inspec tion.

Implementation of VF was originally scheduled for early 2000, but

wa s defe rred bec ause o f IT c onstra ints, cha nges to the sc hem e a nd

sta ffing prob lem s. Plymouth c onsidered it nee ded to imp lem ent DIP andgive sta ff time to be com e p rofic ient a nd confide nt on this system be fore

imp leme nting VF fully.

We tested Plymouth’ s imp lem enta tion of VF on c la ims tha t we re

due to be p a id from 26 March 2001, and assessed the a uthority’ s

p lanning for these m ajor cha ng es during our inspec tion. This is c overed

in Getting it right and Ma king sure the strateg y wo rks.

Orga nisa tion of counter fraud sta ff The visiting team, p a rt o f the custome r services unit, carries out

Plymouth’s counter fraud operations. Figure 2.4 shows the organisationalstructure of the visiting team.

Fig. 2.4: Plym outh visiting team

3 customer service assistants

6 visiting officers

Senior customer service officer

VF visiting officer

5.5 visiting officers

Senior customer service officer

Customer service team leader

Customer service manager

Source : Plymouth

2.28

•

•

•

•

•

VOs perform a wide range o f gene ra l visiting func tions for the

d ivision. Fraud visits and investiga tions a re c ond uc ted a long with o ther

visiting requirements, such as:

welfare need s

property inspec tions for CT purposes

new c laim verific ation

visits to p remises c lassified fo r NNDR

ba iliff du ties. Plymouth d ec ided to outsource ba iliff wo rk from Ap ril

2001.

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Findings


2.29

2.30

2.31

2.32

2.33

Plymouth ha s rec eived fund ing from c entral government fo r 1.5

visiting p osts as part o f VF c om plianc e. These sta ff have bee n rec ruited ,

but ha ve still to b e t ra ined on VF duties. At the time o f our on-site wo rk,

Plymouth ha d sec ond ed to its visiting tea m a memb er of the VF

impleme nta tion tea m, who is to initially p ilo t a ll VF visiting duties. VF

tra ining w ill be rolled out to other sta ff onc e the results of the p ilot have

be en e valuated . The review will form p art of a wider review of c ustom er

servic es due in June 2001.

We found tha t, althoug h the structure sta tes a ll sta ff should c arry

out b ene fits fraud w ork and sta ff had und ergone a n intensive training

prog ramm e from Janua ry to Feb rua ry 2001 to fac ilita te this, in p rac tice

most b enefit fraud work was ca rried out b y staff w ho ha d previous

expe rienc e in this a rea . Plymouth to ld us tha t it alloc a ted fraud cases on

ab ility w ith new er sta ff wo rking with more e xperienc ed investiga tors. We

com ment on th is in Putting it right .

Due to the relative infanc y of the fraud sec tion, the inexperienc eof fraud sta ff and prob lem s with the c urrent system supporting the new

inc entive schem e, Plymouth ha s op ted to rem ain w ith the existing WBS

scheme for 2001/02.

Plymouth ha s only limited da ta on the numb er of investiga tions

undertaken or the ir outc om es so is unab le to a pp ly any in-depth

assessme nt o f risk to HB or CTB. There ha s bee n no a tte mp t m ade to

estimate the stoc k of fraud within the Plymo uth a rea .

In p repa rat ion for BFI's visit, Plymouth ha d

rev iewe d prev ious BFI rep orts and Goo d Prac tice

Guide to identify areas of b enefit work need ing to

be upd a ted . We c ove r this in more d eta il in

Putting it right .

In p reparation for BFI's visit,

Plymouth had reviewed previous

BFI reports and Good Prac tic e

Guide to identify areas of benefit

work needing to be updated.

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Findings


2.34

•

•

•

2.35

2.36

2.37

•

•

•

2.38

2.39

2.40

2.41

•

•

Getting it right Getting it righ t mea ns be nefit p aym ents should be c orrec t from the

sta rt. This me ans tha t:

there m ust b e a sec ure g a tew ay to the b enefit system

c laimants should no t ha ve to dea l with unnec essa ry red tape

the o rganisa tion provides a m od ern, integrated , high qua lity service.

Benefit servic e a c c essib ility and awareness Sec tion 123(3)(a) o f the Soc ial Sec urity Co ntributions and Benefits

Ac t 1992 (SSCBA 1992) sta tes tha t every authority g ranting HB:

…sha ll ta ke suc h step s as appea r to them approp ria te fo r the

purpose o f sec uring t ha t p ersons who ma y be entitled to housing

be nefit from the a uthority bec ome aw are that they may be

ent itled to it..Req uirem ents in respec t o f CTB are in sec tion 123(4)(a) of the same

Act.

LAs c an p romo te the leg itima te ta ke-up o f benefit b y, for examp le:

advertising t he HB and CTB sc hem e th roug h the loc a l me d ia and

throug hout c ounc il offices

wo rking with o the r organisa tions, suc h as BA, we lfare groups and

landlords

inc lud ing informa tion whe n c orrespond ing with a ll LA c ustom ers.

We found tha t the bene fits servic e m ee ts reg ula rly with we lfa re

groups and land lords to p rom ote the ta ke-up of b enefit. Plymouth

atte nd s me et ings of the Plymo uth Welfa re Rights Forum e very 2 mo nths.

This is cha ired by the Welfa re Rights Sup port Unit (WRSU) b ased in the

Citizens Ad vice Bureau (CAB).

This forum ha s a wide range of pa rticipants includ ing C AB, BA, ES,

Housing Assoc iat ions (HAs), as well as vo lunta ry groups add ressing

spec ific groups suc h as rough sleep ers and lone p arents. In a ll the re a re

over 20 participating members.

The bene fits servic e has not orga nised any rec ent take-up

camp a igns itself. How ever, it ha s worked in pa rtne rship w ith the WRSU

and othe r age nc ies in

take-up work, including a successful over-60s campaign in 1999/2000

which sec ured £650,000 ad d itiona l benefit payments for pe nsione rs.

It is imp ortant tha t, having enc ourag ed take-up, the LA provide s a

modern accessib le and responsive servic e. Plymouth told us tha t:

70% of c a llers c onta c t the servic e b y ca lling into its pub lic rec ep tion

30% of c a llers c ontac t the service b y telephone.

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Findings


2.42 Figure 2.5 gives deta ils of ca ller and phone tra ffic ove r the last

year.

Fig. 2.5: Weekly customer servic e c onta c ts Ap ril 2000 – Feb ruary 2001

Averag e Lowest Highe st

Callers at rec eption (to 29 Octob er

2000 only)

1,005 608 1,321

Interviews 318 99* 388

Telephone c allers (to 29 Oc tober

2000 only)

441 328 580

Source : Plymouth

Note: * Christmas week

2.43

2.44

•

•

2.45

The p ublic rec ep tion p oint dea ls with bo th be nefit a nd C T

enquiries, with enquiries on benefits comprising the overwhelming

ma jority, an e stimated 75% of c a llers. The p ub lic rec ep tion and bene fits

proc essing o ffic es are loc a ted a t the C ivic Centre, which is next to the

ma in shopp ing c entre in the c ity. This a ffords ea sy ac cess for Plymouth's

custom ers. In a dd ition, 10 Neighbourhood Housing Offices loc a ted

throug hout the a rea provide ge neral ad vice on b enefits.

During 2000/01, Plymouth set the following targets for dealing with

persona l ca llers a t the Civic Centre:

98% of c ustome rs to be see n within 10 minute s of joining rec ep tion

queue78% of c ustom ers wa iting for an interview in a p riva te c ub ic le to b e

see n w ithin 30 minutes.

Figure 2.6 show s how Plymouth found it ha d performed aga inst its

stated targets for 2000/01.

Fig. 2.6: Custome r service pe rformance indicators 2000/01

Month(2000/01)

% customers seen within 10

minutes of joining rec ep tion

queue(Targe t 98)

% of custome rsinterviewed within 30

minutes(Targe t 78)

April Not me asured 81

Ma y 91 76

June 74 70

July 72 66

August 66 47

September Not me asured 48

October Not me asured 50

November 78 46

December Not me asured 66

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Findings


Month

(2000/01)% customers seen within 10

minutes of joining rec ep tion

queue

(Targe t 98)

% of custome rs

interviewed within 30

minutes(Targe t 78)

January 20 41

February Not me asured 33

March Not me asured 36

Source : Plymouth

2.46

2.47

2.48

2.49

•

•

2.50

2.51

This show s a poo r and dete riorating performa nc e aga inst its ow n

ta rgets ove r the last yea r. Plymouth only ac hieve d its ta rget fo r one of

these m ea sures in Ap ril 2000. Since the n it has fa iled ea c h mo nth to

ac hieve either target. Performanc e ha s deteriorated to a low level by

2001.

Our own o bservations during the o n-site inspec tion confirmed tha tthe p ublic had leng thy waiting times a t the rec ep tion c ounter. We w ere

told tha t the num ber of ca llers had inc rea sed bec ause o f the rise in

bene fits backlog and the d ispatc h of a nnua l CT b ills. We m onitored

wa iting times and found c ustom ers had to w ait on a verage 35 minutes

to be seen b y rec ep tion.

From Sep tem ber 2000, Plymo uth dec ided to reduc e m onitoring the

numb er of ca llers see n within 10 minutes to one day every othe r mo nth,

as it co nsidered the mo nitoring resource intensive. As a result, any

ma nage ment informat ion derived from this measure is insuffic ient to

allow comprehensive monitoring of actual performance. Plymouth alsostop pe d c ounting the numb er of pe rsona l and telepho ne c a llers from

Sep tem ber 2000. To imp rove its und ersta nd ing and informa tion of

pe rsona l ca llers Plymouth plans to imp leme nt a ‘Q ueue Ma nag eme nt

System’ by June 2001.

Plymouth ha s rec og nised its fa ilure to m ee t its ta rgets and in

response ha s lowered its ta rgets for the fo llowing yea r. The prop osed

ta rgets for 2001/02 are:

75% of c ustome rs to be see n w ithin 10 minutes of joining the

rec ep tion q ueue

65% of c ustom ers wa iting for an interview in a p riva te c ub ic le to b e

seen within 30 minutes.

Whilst we a cknow ledge th is ma kes its ta rgets mo re rea listic a nd

hop efully, ac hievab le, it is d isappointing tha t Plymouth ha s respond ed

to failure by lowe ring ta rge ts, ra ther than imp roving its service.

Plymouth has a complement of 34 front line staff (25 full-time

eq uivalent) emp loyed on custome r service d uties. This dem onstrates its

com mitment to c ustom er servic e. All sta ff dut ies a re rota ted throug h a ll

aspec ts of c ustom er service to ensure they a re a b le to dea l with the full

range of enq uiries.

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Findings


2.52

2.53

2.54

2.55

2.56

•

•

•

•

Plymouth ha s not set a performa nc e mea sure fo r dea ling w ith

telep hone c a llers. All c a lls from c la ima nts a re routed through to the

customer services sec tion to a llow ac counts p roc essors to dete rmine

c laims without interrup tion. Sta ff to ld us tha t c a llers often b ypass this

route to spea k direc t to p rocessing sta ff. This is mo re likely to ha ppen

when there a re proc essing ba cklog s and when the p hone lines a re

engaged.

During 2000, Plymouth dec ided to introd uc e c a ll cent re

tec hnolog y to imp rove its c ustom er servic e a nd o b ta in reliab le

ma nage ment informa tion. The system w ent live fo r CT in Dec em ber

2000. Plymouth to ld us tha t it intend ed to introd uc e it to the b ene fits

service by the end of April 2001 to a llow sta ff to fa milia rise themselves

with the new te chno log y and lea rn any lessons.

We c onc lude tha t the custom er servic e te am is we ll sta ffed, b ut

do es have to d ea l with large vo lumes of c a ller and pho ne tra ffic , as

shown in Figure 2.5. Unsurprisingly, the vo lume of c a llers to the office andby pho ne is d irec tly linked to the a mount of wo rk outstand ing.

We were c onc erned that Plymouth is failing to collec t impo rtant

ma nage ment informa tion on the rea sons for ca lls and response t imes.

We consider that w ithout this informa tion Plymo uth c annot m ake

informed de c isions abo ut how it c an provide the c ustom er servic e that

it a sp ires to and see k alternatives whe re the c urrent p rac tices are no t

working.

Early identification of this as an issue, through the collection and

ana lysis of d ata , co uld have given Plymouth ea rly wa rning of prob lems

with delays, and the o pp ortunity to rectify them be fore they

de teriorated to form a ba c klog.

We rec ommend that Plymouth ensures that it regularly gathers

sufficient manag em ent informa tion on:

the typ e o f ca llers (HB or CT)

the length of time taken o n rec ep tion

waiting times for reception a nd p rivate interviews

the reason for the c all to the office and by phone.

These m easures should b e introduced imme dia tely, before the

que ue m ana ge ment system if necessary, and used to a ssess the

effec tiveness of the service as well as help improve customer

services.

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Findings


Claim form2.57

2.58

2.59

2.60

2.61

2.62

•

•

•

2.63

Reg ulation 72(1) of the HB Reg ulations sta tes tha t:

Every claim sha ll be in writing a nd ma de o n a p rop erly

c omp leted c laim form…

There is an ide ntic a l prov ision fo r CTB in reg ulation 62(1) of the

Co unc il Tax Benefit (Ge neral) Regulations 1992 (CTB Regulations).

A g oo d c la im fo rm p lays a vita l pa rt in ensuring administra tive

efficienc y, sec uring g a tew ays into the b ene fit system and providing a

better qua lity service to c la ima nts.

Plymouth introd uced a new c laim form from 29 Janua ry 2001. This

wa s a ma jor imp rove ment o n its p revious c la im forms. How eve r,

bec ause the fo rm w as so rec ent, very few cases had bee n a ssessed

using the new form. All of the c ases we samp led random ly were

assessed on the previous c la im fo rms and this cont ributed to poo rverifica tion standa rds in most o f the c ases we samp led. In co ntrast the

15 cases tha t Plymo uth a sked us to exam ine to test its c om plianc e w ith

VF used the new form. We found a muc h highe r standa rd of c om pletion

and evidenc e p rovided in these c ases com pa red to the p revious c la im

forms.

We c om pa red Plymouth’ s new c la im fo rm a ga inst the at tribute s of

a goo d c laim fo rm, as spec ified in BFI'sGoo d Prac tice Guide , VF and

the mo del c laim form tha t was issued to a ll LAs during our on-site

inspection.

We found the new form a ma jor

imp rove me nt on the fo rms it rep lac ed . In

particular it:

is we ll set out a nd sign-posted

g ives c lear, comp rehe nsive d eta ils of the

evidenc e required

not ifies the c la ima nt of the requirem ent to

rep ort cha nge s.

We found the new form a

ma jor improvement on the

forms it rep lac ed .

We ident ified seve ra l area s in the new c la im fo rm tha t requirerevision. Full deta ils a re a t Append ix B. These includ e:

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

•

•

the q uestion relating to t he c om mon trave l a rea should b e update d

as the current phrasing does not meet the leg a l req uirem ents

ea c h upd a te o f the form should be read ily ide ntifiab le.

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Findings


2.64

2.65

•

Plymouth told us that the new form ha d be en p rinted on the w rong

thickness of p aper, which c aused d ifficulties for sc anning a nd inc urred

ad ditiona l postage costs. It told us that it p lanned to ma ke an ea rly

rep rint of the form and wo uld incorporate the c hang es we identified .

Plymouth were a iming to com plete a full rep rint, with all releva nt

amendme nts, in Sep tem ber 2001.

We supp ort the introd uc tion o f the new form a nd we sugg est tha t

with the a mend ments, the c la im fo rm w ill p lay a n important pa rt in the

suc cessful imp leme nta tion o f VF for Plymo uth.

We recomm end tha t Plymouth:

revises its c laim fo rm to ensure it is consistent with BFI’s Good

Prac tice Guide and the mo del c laim form

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2.66

•

•

•

•

•

•

2.67

2.68

2.69

Befo re it introd uc ed the new c la im fo rm Plymouth was using 6d ifferent forms dep end ing o n the type o f claim. These include d

sep ara te forms for RR, RA a nd CTB and shortened renew al forms for

c la ima nts rec eiving Inc om e Support (IS) o r co ntribution-ba sed

Job see ker’ s Allow anc e (JSA(cont )). We found these forms we re poo rly

de signe d and c ontribute d to its po or performa nc e in the verific ation of

new and rep ea t c la ims samp led. The weaknesses of the 6 forms

included:

verifica tion wa s not req uested

the shortened renewa l form wa s ta ilored to know n c ircumsta nc es,

reducing the likelihood of claimants reporting other circumstances

there was no space o r req uirem ent fo r the Na tiona l Insuranc e

numb er (NINO)

the re w as no sign-posting

there w as not enough spa c e for earned income to be filled in

the wrong form co uld b e used .

The BFI's Goo d Prac tic e G uide rec om me nds tha t an LA shou ld use

one c om bined HB and CTB c laim form. We supp ort the w ork do ne b y

Plymouth to withdraw these forms from use.

Verification workReg ulation 73(1) of the HB Reg ulations req uires tha t:

…a p erson w ho ma kes a c laim sha ll furnish suc h c ertifica tes,

doc uments, informa tion a nd evid enc e in c onnec tion with the

c laim…as ma y be rea sona bly req uired by the app rop riate

authority in order to d ete rmine tha t person’ s ent itlement …

There is an identica l provision in regulat ion 63(1) of the CTB

Regulations.

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Findings


2.70

2.71

2.72

•

•

•

•

2.73

2.74

The Dep artment ha s a lso develop ed VF. This sets out the m inimum

sta nd ard of ve rifica tion tha t LAs should a pp ly when p roc essing HB/ CTB

c la ims and has been de signe d to he lp p revent fraud and error entering

the system a t the c la im sta ge .

We conc lude tha t the o verall standa rds of verifica tion in Plymouth

we re p oo r. We found errors in both o ur new and rene wa l c la im samp les,but the stand ard o n renew a l cla ims wa s worse tha n tha t on new c laims.

We co nsider that the re a re a numb er of significant fac tors tha t

have affec ted the stand a rds a ttained by Plymouth. These include:

po orly d esigne d c laim fo rms

inad eq uate recording of a ction taken

temporary easements introduced to speed claim processing

inadeq uate ma nagement c hecking.

Plymouth rea lised tha t it had to imp rove its standa rd of ve rifica tionto b e fully VF c om pliant from 26 Ma rc h 2001. To Plymo uth’ s c red it,

befo re we visited it ha d ta ken a c tion to address a ll these issues.

Whilst on site, we too k the opportunity to test a further 15 new and

rene wa l c la ims tha t Plymouth c onsidered to b e fully VF c om pliant.

Plymo uth wa s keen fo r us to advise o n these cases befo re it assessed

them , to chec k its standard of verific a tion. Although verific a tion wa s of

a m uc h higher sta nda rd than the o ther samp led c ases we still found

some areas in need of improvement, including:

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

•

2.75

•

•

• •

2.76

XXXXXXXXXXX

In the follow ing p aragrap hs we loo k in de ta il a t how Plymouth

verifies c la ims and the e xtent to w hich lega l req uirem ents and minimum

verific a tion standa rds are m et. We considered :

VF imp lem enta tion

the g eneral arrang em ents for ga thering a nd c hec king informa tion

and evidenc e nec essary to p roc ess c la ims

how pa rticular elem ents we re verified befo re VF wa s imp lem ente d

verifica tion o f cases und er VF.

Verific a tion framew ork Plymouth to ok the dec ision in 1999 to imp leme nt VF. The o riginal

imp lementa tion d a te o f Janua ry 2000 was postp one d a s IT support wa s

conc entra ted on Year 2000 work. A revised date of Ma y 2000 wa s

chosen to avoid yea r-end a c tivity, but this wa s not a c hieved bec ause

of absenc e through sic kness of the VF imp lem enta tion projec t ma nager.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


2.77

2.78

2.79

•

•

•

2.80

2.81

2.82

The p rojec t wa s re-app ra ised in July 2000. Following advice from

other VF c om pliant LAs tha t a DIP system w as nec essa ry to c ontrol and

ma nag e the extra pa pe rwork, a revised imp lementa tion d ate be tween

Janua ry and Ma rc h 2001 wa s dec ided . This flexib le period wa s c hosen

to a llow DIP to bed in. The DIP system w ent live in Novemb er 2000 and

Plymouth imp lem ente d VF during our last w eek of the on-site inspec tion,

from 26 Ma rch 2001.

The DIP system conta ins softwa re tha t req uires Plymouth to rec ord

the evidenc e tha t has be en p rovided to verify the d ifferent a spe c ts of

the c la im. This p rovide s a go od c hec klist for the sta ff and evide nc e fo r

ma nag ers when c om pleting ma nag em ent c hec ks. In our sam ples from

be fore the introd uct ion o f VF, we found little e videnc e o f rec ording

verification a c tion, excep t in som e ne w c la ims when a stand a rd

checklist was used in verifying the NINO and identity.

Collec ting and rec ord ing informa tion a nd evidence

The VF spec ifies how information a nd evide nc e should be

rec orded . In p articular it sta tes tha t:

whe re p ossib le orig ina l docume nts should be seen

sta ff responsible fo r sc rutinising a nd ta king deta ils from suc h

doc uments should ha ve rece ived app rop riate training

all evide nce co llec ted and che cks ma de must be clearly and

ac c urately rec orde d.

An LA tha t fa iled to follow these b asic req uirem ents will have noaud it trail ava ilab le to show tha t a ll nec essary steps in the verific a tion

proc ess have be en c arried out.

We found from observations and discussions

with sta ff tha t Plymo uth sc rutinised orig inal

doc uments tho roughly. The sta ff responsible for

c hecking a nd c op ying d oc uments have rec eived

deta iled tra ining from the Immigration Servic e on

identifying fraudulent d oc ume nts. They refer to

c hec klists and have conta c ted the Imm igration

Service for ad vic e on suspec t do c uments. Plymouth had p urchasedultraviolet (UV) sc anners and illuminat ing ma gnifying g lasses, and sta ff

use them to chec k original doc uments.

All the d oc ume nts we exam ined in our samp ling w ere

photo co pied, signed and stamp ed orig ina ls seen , other than o ne c ase

in which p hotoc op ies we re sent in by the HD.

Plymouth sc rutinised origina l

doc uments thoroughly.

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Findings


2.83

Ga thering evidenc e To he lp us com me nt on Plymouth’ s performa nc e in respec t of

p roc essing c la ims, we samp led 67 new and 67 rene wa l claims. A

brea kdo wn of the sta tus of the se c laims is shown in Figure 2.7.

Fig. 2.7: Breakd own o f sam pled c laims

Type of c laim Awa iting

evidence/no

t de termined

Entitled Not entitled Tota l

New RA 6 21 1 28

New RR 4 14 0 18

New CTB only 13 7 1 21

Renewal RA 0 23 0 23

Renewal RR 0 26 0 26

Renewa l CTB only 0 18 0 18

Total 23 109 2 134

Source: BFI analysis

2.84

2.85

2.86

The entire renewa l samp le ha d be en d etermined and b enefit

renew ed . We ha ve c onc erns abo ut the lac k of sc rutiny and verification

app lied to the se c la ims as deta iled la ter in the repo rt.

Verific a tion on new c la ims wa s gene ra lly of a highe r standa rd .

Plymouth ha d not dete rmined 23 (34%) of the new c laims. These we re

cases where the c laimant had not respo nded to reque sts for evidenc e.

All these c ases we re log ged on the Housing Benefit Info rma tion System

(HBIS), but ma ny ap pea red to b e inac tive a s there w as no c urrent

ac tion. The a ge of these c ases rang ed from being 2 months to 7 mo nths

old a t the time of our on-site inspec tion.

These c ases should b e fo rma lly c losed as the y are ta king up

unne c essa ry space on the HBIS and DIP systems and ma y p ose a risk of

internal fraud wh ile they are still op en. Plymo uth’ s lette rs sta te tha t theLA w ill assume c laima nts no longer wish to pursue the ir c laim if they d o

not rep ly to req uests within 4 weeks. This a llows the LA to trea t the c laim

as c losed . How eve r, Plymouth had not c losed these c ases on the HBIS

system.

We rec om mend that Plymouth ensures that c ases where the

claimant has not replied to requests for further information are

c losed down and the c laimant notified ap propriately.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


2.87

2.88

2.89

The p eriod of o ur samp ling of c ases pa rtly coinc ided with the use

of tem pora ry easeme nts in the standa rd o f evide nce g a thering b y

Plymouth. The e asem ents we re introd uc ed from 4 Oc tob er to 4

Dec em ber 2000 to a ssist it in clea ring bac klog s of wo rk in p rep ara tion for

the introd uc tion o f the DIP system.

Written instructions on ea sem ents were issued to sta ff includ ing thefollowing:

…relaxed som e o f the p roo fs/ evide nc e w e no rma lly req uire…in

some circumstances working without files.

Figure 2.8 shows some examples from the extensive list of the

ea seme nts that we re introd uced from Oc tob er 2000.

Fig. 2.8: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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X

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2.90 Figure 2.8 illustrate s tha t the ea sem ents we re m ainly foc used on

rene wa l c la ims. This wo uld explain the poo r standards of verifica tion

seen in our rene wa l samp le.

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Findings


2.91 We a re c onc erned tha t in bo th new and renew a l c laims sta ff were

not fo llow ing the instruc tions tha t we re a va ilab le to return to the more

stringent, norma l p roc ed ures from 4 Dec em ber. For exam ple, of the 14

cases from our rene wa l samp le returned to Plymouth where we

considered the re wa s an e rror, 9 ca ses (64%) were a ssessed a fte r 4

December.

2.92 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX





XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2.93 Figure 2.9 shows an overall summary of the verification obtained

on new and renew al cases in our samp le tha t we re entitled to b enefit.

Som e o f the c laims in our new samp le still had outstand ing ac tion or

were a wa iting evide nc e from the c la ima nt or BA. Our samp ling a na lysistakes acc ount of this and only inc ludes c la ims tha t ha ve b ee n a ssessed

and pa id.

Fig . 2.9:

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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X

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XX X XX

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XX XX XXX

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Findings


2.94

•

Figure 2.9 shows that Plymouth:

verified IS and inco me -ba sed Jobsee ker's Allow anc e (JSA(IB))

entitlem ent a nd rent liab ility in a ll new c laims

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXX

Verifying NINOs and identity 2.95

2.96

•

•

2.97

2.98

2.99

2.100

These are sep ara te, b ut overlapp ing , req uirem ents. Although there

is no spec ific req uirem ent to verify identity, it is d ifficult to see how a n LA

can be sat isfied ab out entitlem ent without a rea sona ble deg ree o f

assuranc e a bout the c la ima nt’ s ident ity. How eve r, there is an express

sta tuto ry req uirem ent to ve rify the NINO and tha t it ap p lies to tha t

person.

Since 6 Septemb er 1999, sec tion 1(1A) and 1(1B) of the SSAA 1992has app lied to c la ims for HB and CTB. It requires a c la ima nt a nd any

pa rtner inc lude d in a c la im to p rovide:

a sta tem ent of the ir NINO and informa tion or evidenc e esta b lishing

that the numbe r has be en a lloc ated to them, or

informa tion or evide nce ena bling the NINO alloc a ted to them to b e

ascertained.

If a p erson d oe s not ha ve a NINO, they should a pp ly for one and

provide a ll the ne cessa ry informa tion o r evide nc e to e nab le suc h a

number to be a lloc ated to them.

Hoste l dw ellers, as defined in HB Reg ulat ions, are e xcluded from

this req uirem ent b y virtue of HB reg ulat ion 2B(a).

The VF guidanc e (p aragrap h 8.9) sta tes tha t:

When estab lishing the ident ity of a c la ima nt, or their partner,

efforts must be c onc entra ted on the w hole picture the individua l

has presented ra ther than just one p iec e o f evidenc e, or one

aspe c t o f the process.

We found Plymouth c onfirme d NINOs in eve ry new c laim samp led

using a variety o f d ifferent me thods, but m a inly relying on informationfrom the Rem ote Ac c ess Termina l (RAT) or BA. In the renew al samp le,

the ea seme nts outlined ab ove w ere follow ed which mea nt that

Plymouth a cc ep ted previous rec ords as evidenc e o f NINO and failed to

ob tain informa tion o r evidenc e estab lishing that tha t numb er app lied to

them. This me ans it failed in its duty to comp ly with sec tion 1(1A) and

1(1B) o f the SSAA 1992. It is no t suffic ient to just c onfirm a NINO. It is

imp ortant tha t LAs c onfirm the c la ima nt’ s identity to ensure the y are the

same person tha t the NINO rela tes to .

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Findings


2.109 Figure 2.11 shows our findings.

Fig. 2.11: Verification of rent liability – RA c laims

Cases where evidence as

pe r VF held on file

Typ e of case Numbe r of cases

requiring ve rification

Number %

RA new c laims 24 24 100

RA renewal cla ims 23 8 35

Total 49 32 65


2.110 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


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2.111 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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2.112 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX




XXXX

Verifying IS and JSA(IB) ent itlement 2.113

2.114

2.115

HB Reg ulat ions (Schedule 3, pa ragraph 10; Schedule 4,

pa ragrap h 4; Sched ule 5, pa ragrap h 5) provide tha t when the c la ima nt

rec eives IS or JSA(IB) the LA should d isreg a rd a c laima nt’ s inco me ,

ea rning s and c ap ita l. There are simila r p rovisions in the C TB Regulations.

However, it is essentia l in a ll IS/ JSA(IB) linked c ases tha t the LAconfirms the c laima nt’ s IS/ JSA(IB) entitleme nt.

In our samp le o f new and renew al c la ims, 33 new a nd 48 renew a l

cases we re linked to entitlem ent to IS or JSA(IB). We fo und tha t Plymouth

had verified the c la ima nt’ s IS/ JSA(IB) ent itlement in every new case with

the RAT or BA. But ve rifica tion o f en titlem ent in renew al cla ims wa s very

poo r bec ause sta ff follow ed the instruc tions in the ea sem ent list w hich

stated:

Ac ce pt w hat ha s be en stated and do not request proof.

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Findings


2.116 Figure 2.12 shows the results from our samp ling .

Fig. 2.12: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Verifying inc ome

2.117 In c ases where a n HB/ CTB c laim is no t linked to IS or JSA(IB)entitlem ent, it is necessary for the LA to verify inco me .

2.118 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


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Fig 2.13: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Findings




XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fig 2.14: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Fig 2.15:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Findings


2.125 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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2.126 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Fig . 2.18:

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Non-dependants 2.127 HB and CTB a re g enerally red uced for ea c h non-dep end ant

usua lly living w ith the c laima nt. Reg ulation 63 of the HB Reg ulat ions sets

out whether a de duc tion need s to b e ma de . The a mount of any

de duc tion d ep ends on the c ircumstanc es of the no n-de pe nda nt and , if

they are in remunerative work, their gross income.

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Findings


2.128 The VF req uires LAs to o b ta in evide nc e o f a no n-depend ant’ s

inc om e w herever po ssib le. We found tha t Plymouth verified non-

dep end ant's inc om e in all new c la ims by wage slips or confirma tion of IS

by the RAT. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fig. 2.19: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Verific a tion using VF 2.129 We exam ined a further 15 cases (5 new a nd 10 rene wa l ca ses)

tha t Plymouth ide ntified had been throug h its VF proc esses. Of the

cases, 8 were c onside red rea dy for dete rmination and 7 were a wa iting

chec king by a m anager. Figure 2.20 show s the ve rific a tion o b ta ined in

these c ases.

Fig. 2.20: New and renewal c laims – verifying entitlement on c laimsdetermined

Aspec t of verifica tion Cases

requiring

verification

(number)

Original

verification

obtained

(number)

Cases with

original

verification

obtained (%)

NINO for claim ant – new c laims 5 5 100

NINO for c laima nt – renewal

claims

10 10 100

Identity – new c laims 5 5 100

Identity – renewal claims 10 10 100

NINO for partner – new c laims 0 0 Not

applicable

NINO for pa rtner – renewal

claims

1 1 100

Identity for partner – new c laims 0 0 Not

applicable

Identity for pa rtner – renewal

claims

1 1 100

Residency – new c laims 5 5 100

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Findings


Aspec t of verifica tion Cases

requiring

verification

(number)

Original

verification

obtained

(number)

Cases with

original

verification

obtained (%)

Residency – renewal c laims 10 10 100

IS/ JSA(IB) – new c laim s 4 3 75

IS/ JSA(IB) – renewa l c laim s 7 5 71

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X XXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X XX

Income – new c laims 1 1 100

Income – renewa l claims 3 2 67

Liab ility to pay rent – new c laims 5 5 100

Liab ility to pay rent – renewalclaims

10 10 100

Source: BFI sample

2.130 Although the standards of verifica tion w ere sign ific antly better

than the c ases samp led be fore VF in tha t evidenc e wa s supp lied and

chec ked in most cases, we a dvised Plymo uth tha t verifica tion sta ndards

should b e improve d in the fo llow ing a rea s:

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

•

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2.131


We rec om me nd tha t Plymouth ensures its stand ards of verification

are imp roved to meet a t least the minimum requirem ents of VF.

Dea ling with homeless peop leUnd er the Housing Ac t 1996 Part VII, the re is a responsibility for LAs

to provide a cc ommo da tion for ce rtain types of peo ple who bec ome

hom eless. In the last 3 yea rs, Plymouth has rec eived a grow ing numb er

of a pp lic a tions but the a cc ep tanc e rate has rem a ined consistent . This isshown in Figure 2.21.

Fig. 2.21: Hom eless applic ations 1998/99 – 2000/01

Homeless

applications

Accepted

applications

Acceptance

rate (%)

1998/ 99 1,660 911 55

1999/ 2000 1,892 1,019 54

2000/ 01 2,017 1,104 55

Source: BFI inspec tion

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Findings


•

•

•

2.140

2.141

2.142

•

•

•

•

2.143

2.144


introd uces guida nce and proc ed ures for HPU to ensure

verifica tion is effic ient and thorough, ensuring a ccurate and

timely verifica tion of home less c laimants

provide s immed iate VF tra ining to HPU staff

shares information in respect of potentially violent persons and

unsafe addresses to safeguard potential risks to members of

staff.

Rent Offic er referra lsReg ulation 12A of, and Sc hed ule 1A to , the HB Reg ula tions

req uire LAs to refe r ce rta in RA c la ims to the RO for a dete rminat ion to

be ma de on the level of rent eligible for HB. The Reg ulations a lso provide

for ap plica tion to be ma de for pre-tenanc y dete rmination.

The RO fu lfils an imp orta nt role in set ting the ma ximum HBpa yab le in m any c ases, thereb y c ontrolling expend iture on high rents

for properties that a re und er oc c upied .

We found tha t Plymouth m akes refe rra ls to the RO fo r new and

rene wa l c la ims. The m a in a rea s of c oncern are tha t Plymouth d oe s not:

ma ke RO refe rra ls a t the ea rliest o pportunity

ta ke ac tion promp tly whe n RO d ec isions a re returned

refe r all approp ria te HA c ases to the RO

mo nito r its ow n or the RO’ s performa nc e.

The RO is based in Plymouth a nd a lso dea ls with 3 other LAs.

Although the RO d oe s no t systema tica lly mo nitor refe rrals from the 4 LAs,

it estima tes tha t 50% of refe rra ls a re from Plymo uth. Both Plymouth a nd

the RO sta ted they c onside red they ha d a go od wo rking relationship,

a lthough our find ings ind ica te there is a need to improve wo rking

practices.

Figure 2.22 g ives deta ils of c ases where an RO refe rra l wa s

req uired in our samp ling o f new and rene wa l c la ims.

Fig. 2.22: Req uesting RO determina tions – in samp led RA c ases

Cases whe re RO

determination was obtained

Type of case Numbe r of cases

requiring RO

determinationNumber %

New claims 16 12 75

Renewal c laims 7 7 100

Total 23 19 83


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Findings


Fig. 2.24: Number of days taken for ea ch stage o f an RO referral

Stage Quickest Slowest Average

Claim rece ived to sending RO referral 0 124 37

RO to m ake a determination 3 25 13

RO to return determination 1 17 3

RO determination ac tioned by

Plymouth

2 56 26

Overall time 21 142 78


2.150

2.151

•

•

•

•

•

•

2.152

2.153

We co nsider tha t the main cont ributo ry fac tor to de lays in ma king

RO referrals is that the claims verification team does not make referrals

to the RO. Refe rra ls a re no t made until all the other evidenc e is

ga thered and the case is passed to the assessment te ams.

The 2 areas of d elay that c ause c onc ern and a re c ontrollab le b y

Plymo uth a re in:

ma king the initial req uest for an RO d ete rminat ion fo llowing receipt

of a c la im at a de signa ted offic e (on ave rag e 37 da ys)

taking ac tion o nce the d etermination ha s be en received (on

average 26 days).


ensures it has proced ures in place to send referra ls to the RO

immed iately on rec eipt of the c laim

tra ins those staff responsible for making the a pp ropriate RO

referrals

ensures previous rec ords of RO referrals are chec ked to

prevent unnecessary referrals

ensures a ll returned RO referrals are ac tioned p romp tly.

Referra ls for HA p roperties

Senior ma nag em ent to ld us tha t it d oes not ha ve a blanket polic y

tha t reco mm end s tha t sta ff should not ma ke refe rra ls to the RO fo r HA

prop erties. How ever, sta ff told us tha t they do no t ma ke refe rra ls in HA

cases.

Plymouth p rod uc ed som e d a ta from HBIS showing RO refe rra ls for

HA c ases. Figure 2.25 shows the number of HA c ases shown on the

rep ort, ignoring dup lica te ent ries.

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Findings


Fig . 2.25: RO referrals for HA c ases 1999 – 2001

Yea r HA cases referred

1999 87

2000 49

2001 (3 months only) 4

Total 140

Source : Plymouth

2.154 To assess the outcom e of these c ases, we exam ined 16 of the

referra ls listed from 2000 a nd 2001. The results a re shown in Figure 2.26.

Fig. 2.26: Outcom es of RO referrals for HA c ases

Comm ent Number %

Referral withdrawn by

Plymouth

8 50

Not an HA property 3 19

RO – restricted rent 3 19

RO – no restriction 1 6

RO – no rep ly 1 6

Total 16 100


2.155

2.156

Only 5 of the cases we re HA prop erties which we re referred to the

RO. Four (25%) of the c ases resulted in an RO dec ision a nd 3 of these 4

cases resulted in the RO restric ting the rent, a lbe it by sma ll amo unts. This

dem onstra tes the imp ortanc e o f not exc luding HA c ases from the RO

refe rra l proc ess, pa rticularly a s around 33% of Plymouth's RA c laima nts

are housed in HA properties.

We rec omm end that Plymouth develops and pub lishesproc ed ures for staff that inc lude the requirement to refer

appropriate HA cases to the RO.

Lia ison w ith the Rent Service To assist the proc ess of refe rring c laims to the RO, it is good

prac tice to w ork to e stab lished prac tices, norma lly estab lished by an

SLA. At the time of o ur on-site inspec tion, Plymouth d id no t ha ve an SLA

with the RS, althoug h it ha s ha d prelimina ry d isc ussions with the RS to

consider this.

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Findings


2.164 In the other c ase the c laima nt subm itted a tenanc y agreeme nt,

but Plymouth only c op ied the front page and the refore was unab le to

dete rmine the c la im. It then a sked the c la ima nt to re-submit it.

Fig. 2.27: POAs on new RA c laim s sam pled

Cases where POA m ad eNumbe r of cases where POA

appropriateNumber %

15 10 67


Ac c urac y of d a ta inputting for assessments 2.165

2.166

•

•

•

2.167

2.168

We found 3 of the sam pled new a nd renewa l cases had input

errors tha t resulted in inco rrec t p ayments. Two had inc orrec t sta rt d a tes

and the third had an incorrec t wa ge ca lculation.In add ition, a further 8 (7%) cases of the 111 ca ses determined in

our samp les had a n inc orrec t da te entered on HBIS for the da te a ll

information wa s rec eived by the a utho rity. Although this will not a ffec t

the a c curacy o f any p ayments, it will affec t the a cc urac y of

ma nage me nt sta tistics and rep orted performa nc e indica tors (PIs) on

c lea ranc e times. The errors d id not fall into any d isc ernib le pa tte rn:

som etimes the da te e ntered wa s ea rlier, other time s la ter than the

c orrec t date

a ll types of tenure w ere affec tedsom etimes the d ate wa s inac curate by a few d ays, but som e w ere

we eks d ifferent.

Chec king assessment qua lity The Aud it Comm ission (AC ), in its pub lic a tion Countering Bene fit

Fraud – A Mana ge ment Handb ook, rec om mend s that LAs quality c hec k

at least 10% of c laims. Checks should c over a ll ac tivities, inc luding new

c laims, rene wa l c la ims and c hanges of c irc umsta nc es. Chec ks c an be

used to g aug e p erformanc e standa rd , ide ntify training ne ed s and help

gua rd ag a inst interna l fraud. The typ e o f chec ks we rec om mend arelisted in BFI’s Goo d Prac tice Guide .

Befo re August 2000, Plymouth ha d no p lanned system of

ma nag eme nt c hec ks with no reco rds kept. It then introd uce d a revised

system whe re the servic e deve lop ment tea m selec ted 2 c la ims assessed

by sta ff from ea c h senior offic er on a da ily b asis. Betw een Aug ust 2000

and the end o f Nove mb er 2000 Plymo uth c hec ked 1,260 c ases.

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Findings


2.169

2.170

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

2.171

The result o f eve ry case c hec ked by the senior officer wa s

rec orded on a c om prehensive c hec k form and this wa s passed to the

service d eve lop me nt tea m to rec onc ile w ith those issued . Plymouth d id

not carry out any forma l ana lysis of the results of the chec ks, althoug h it

said the servic e d evelopment te am chec ked for any training ne ed s or

ma jor issues. Plymouth d id not produc e any a c curac y performanc e

ind ica tor based on these c hec ks. We consider tha t this to be a missed

op portunity for Plymouth to identify trend s in errors and take ac tion to

improve.

The system desc ribed above wa s only intended as a tem porary

arrangem ent until the DIP system wa s imp lem ented . Sinc e 11 Decem ber

2000, ca ses for ma nag eme nt c hec k have b een selecte d by the DIP

system. The type o f case a vailab le for che ck and the p ercenta ge rate

of selection have b een refined and had not b een finalised , but a t the

time o f our on-site inspec tion it c overed 10% of a ll applica tions and end

of e ntitlem ent ac tions. We still have som e c onc erns ove r the

effectiveness of Plymouth’s management checking as:

c hanges of c irc umstanc es are no t inc luded , so only a restric ted

range of d ec isions a re c hec ked

the re is a sec urity imp lic a tion a s selec tion is from c ases p roc essed

through the DIP syste m, but no t HBIS. This means there is a risk of

internal fraud be cause sta ff co uld c onstruct a gho st c laim which

would not be d etec ted b y mana gem ent che cks selec ted from the

DIP syste m.

ac curacy rate s are not c alculated

the re is no c entral rec ord ing o f errors or ana lysis of results

results of chec ks are not sub jec t to review.

We recom mend tha t Plymouth reviews its system o f mana gement

chec ks to ensure that they:

inc lude cases selec ted from the HBIS system

cover all areas including a ccurac y of inputs and pa yments

are reco rded, ana lysed a nd used to feedba ck errors to staff

and d evelop training.

We d id more d eta iled samp ling on tho se w ithin the samp le tha t

had be en c hec ked by ma nag ement to exam ine the effects of this.

None o f the renewa l claims selec ted had be en c hec ked but 3 of the

new c la ims had .

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Findings


2.172

•

We ma de c om me nts on a ll 3 c ases. The d eta ils a re:

Case 1: the ma nag em ent chec k c orrec tly pic ked up a n error in the

wage ca lcula tion, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXX

– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• Case 2: the ma nag ement c hec k did not raise a ny com ments, but:

– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX• Case 3: the ma nag ement c hec k did not raise a ny com ments, but:

– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

– XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2.173

2.174

2.175

This ra ises doub t over the e ffec tivene ss of the c hecks und ertaken,

show s po or verifica tion a nd reinforces the ne ed to c hec k a sam ple o f

cases chec ked to c onfirm their qua lity.

We recommend tha t Plymouth provides training for manage rs

responsible for manag ement checks to ensure that the c hec ks

are comp leted ac curately and c onsistently.

We rec omm end that sam ples of chec ks are re-pe rformed to

assure their quality.

Speed of proc essingReg ulat ion 76(3) of the HB Reg ulat ions sta tes tha t c laims must b e

de termined within 14 days of the relevant informa tion having b een

rec eived o r as soo n as is rea sonab ly p rac ticab le therea fte r. There is an

identica l provision in regulat ion 66(3) o f the CTB Reg ulat ions.

We found tha t Plymouth is not current ly achieving its sta ted ta rge t

of c learing 85% of c laims in 14 days. Furthermore the c urrent

pe rforma nc e w as de c lining at the time of o ur on-site inspe c tion a nd fell

short o f the lega l req uirem ent to o. Figure 2.28 shows Plymo uth’ s rep orted

performa nc e o ver the last 3 years.

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Findings


Fig. 2.28: Plymouth's repo rted pe rforma nce 1997 – 2000

Claim type 1997/98 1998/ 99 1999/2000

RR 64 89 88

RA 58 79 63

CTB only 49 71 74

Source : Plymouth

2.176 Plymouth’ s rep orted performa nc e in p roc essing c la ims ove r the

last yea r has dec lined further, as illustrate d by Figure 2.29.

Fig. 2.29: New c laim s 14-da y performance Ma rch 2000 – Feb ruary 2001

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Mar-

00

RA

RR

CTB

Apr-

00

May-

00

Jun-

00

Jul-00

Aug-

00

Sep-

00

Oct-

00

Nov-

00

Dec-

00

Jan-

01

Feb-

01


2.177 Our new claims sampling shows Plymouth’s overall performance is

66%. Figure 2.30 g ives the results from our new c laims samp le.

Fig. 2.30: New c laims de termined within 14 days – sam pled cases

Determined within 14 daysType of case Numb er of c laims

determinedNumber %

RR 15 8 53

RA 22 18 82

CTB only 7 3 43

Total 44 29 66


2.178 We c onc lude that Plymouth’ s pe rforma nce in ac hieving the 14-

day ta rge t is poor in RR and CTB c ases, better in RA c ases but still fa ils tomeet its own performance measure of 85% and still less the target within

the reg ulations.

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Findings


2.179

2.180

Plymouth a lso c ollec ts rep orts on the p ercenta ge of renewa l

c la ims pa id on t ime , be fore expiry of the previous bene fit period . All the

renew al c ases samp led were renewe d before the e xpiry of the p revious

be nefit p eriod and there w ere no b rea ks in entitlem ent o r payme nts.

Renew al c laims were renewe d on a verag e 3 wee ks be fore the c laim

wa s due to expire. How eve r, this wa s achieved by Plymouth renew ing

most o f these c la ims with p oo r standards of ve rific a tion.

To p rov ide a further ind ica tion o f Plymo uth’ s p roc essing

pe rforma nce we looked a t the end -to-end p erformanc e on p roc essing

times in the cases samp led and c omp ared them to Plymouth’ s ta rge ts

and sta ted performa nc e. This is shown in Figure 2.31.

Fig. 2.31: Average time taken to p rocess new c laims – working d ays

Claim type Plymo uth’s target Plymo uth’s

performance

2000/01

BFI sample

RA 25 38 31

RR 25 42 35

CTB 25 60 44

Source : Plymouth and BFI samp ling

2.181

2.182

This shows Plymouth is fa iling to me et its ow n ta rgets and tha t it

ta kes signific antly longer to p roc ess CTB c laims comp ared to RA a nd RR

claims.

We e xamined the new c laims sam ple further to b rea k down the

leng th o f time e ac h stage of the c laims p roc ess too k. Figure 2.32 show s

the a verag e numb er of da ys taken for ea c h stag e o f the c laims

proc ess.

Fig. 2.32: New c laims processing – ave rage da ys taken for eac h stage in

the process in sampled cases

Work step Average days

Days between rec eipt of c laim to first ac tion by

Plymouth

13

Days be tween first ac tion to da te all informa tion

rec eived by Plymouth

25

Days from rec eipt of a ll informa tion to a ssessment 19

Days betwee n assessment to first payment 5

Total days (from c laim rec eived to first payment) 57*


Note: * the sum o f the d ifferent stages will not ad d up to the to tal, as not a llcases samp led reac hed the p ayment stag e

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Findings


Fig. 2.33: Bac klog post at 30 March 2001

Work area Cases

Scanning and index ing (estima te using 6,300

outstand ing piec es of post)

2,100

Pre-assessment 3,383

Claims verifica tion 629

RA assessors 3,129

RR and CTB assessors 840

Staff proc essing trays 598

Total 10,679

Source : Plymouth

2.188

2.189

•

•

•

2.190

2.191

In a dd ition there w ere an estimated 1,152 claims in p end ing trays,aw aiting e vide nce be fore they c ould be processed .

At the time o f our on-site inspe c tion, the b acklog wa s ma de up of

3 ma in bo ttlenec ks:

po st rec eived which ha d not b een scanned into the DIP system

do cum ents sc anned whic h had not be en indexed

c ases which ha d not b een chec ked b y the p re-assessment or claims

verific ation te am .

We found there was a de lay of one w eek before doc uments

were scanned onto DIP. This wa s c om pound ed by a further we ek's

de lay be fore the y were indexed. In effec t this meant that cases were

usua lly over 14 da ys old befo re they were a va ilab le on the DIP system

and could b e w orked on b y sta ff in the p re-assessme nt or claims

verifica tion te ams. Plymouth a lso told us tha t 924 of the c ases held in the

pre-assessment tea m were c laim forms that had not be en looked a t. Of

these, 371 were m ore tha n 4 weeks old.

Backlog s in the scanning and inde xing a rea p resent ma jor

problems, as claimants make enquiries over the progress of their claim,

but sta ff ca nnot ac cess the doc ume nts on the DIP system until they are

fully inde xed . Custome r service s sta ff bore the brunt of this d issa tisfac tion

as it inc rea sed the num ber of persona l and telephone c a llers. Although

the ba cklog in sca nning a nd indexing ha d red uce d by the time we

finished our on-site wo rk, it wa s still a c onc ern as this d id no t c om ply w ith

leg a l req uirem ents to dete rmine a c la im w ithin 14 da ys, or as soo n a s

rea sona bly prac tic ab le thereafte r.

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Findings


2.192

•

•

2.193

2.194

2.195

2.196

•

•

•

•

•

•

Plymouth p rod uced an a c tion p lan at the end o f the on-site

pha se o f our inspec tion, on 30 Ma rch 2001, to add ress this backlog . The

plan recog nised :

tha t the imba lanc e o f resources betw een the p re-assessment and

c laims processing tea ms had c ontribute d to the ba cklog

the need for be tter monitoring o f throughp ut to m ana ge thesitua tion mo re e ffec tively.

Plymouth told us it intends to review its working practices and

organisa tiona l structure later in the yea r in the light of VF and DIP. We

think th is is vita l and c onside r this in Ma king sure the stra teg y w orks .

A m a jor pa rt o f the recovery plan involved re-alloc ating sta ff and

duties betw een teams a lbeit on a tem porary ba sis. This inc luded a

prop osa l to c lose the pub lic c ounter in the m ornings for an 8-we ek

period so tha t custom er servic e sta ff co uld help p roc ess the b acklog

during this time.

We c omme nd Plymouth for drawing up a ba c klog c lea ranc e

stra teg y. Although the p lan show s stages with key d a tes, it fa iled to

a lloc a te responsib ility to named office rs. It a lso fa iled to address the

need to keep up-to-da te with new incoming work by, for examp le, ring

fencing the ba c klog .

We were a lso c onc erned that Plymouth ha d d iffic ulty extrac ting

meaningful da ta from the DIP system and w as una b le to p rovide figures

monitoring the developm ent o f ba cklog s and produc tivity. We

com me nt further on this in Ma king sure the stra teg y w orks .

We recomme nd that to clea r the bac klog and p revent future

backlogs building up, Plymouth:

nom inates an officer with responsibility for manag ing the

backlog

ring fences the b ac klog

de als with new incom ing work on a daily ba sis to prevent

future b ac klogs developing

c losely monitors the pe rformance of its plan ag ainst key ta rge t

da tes and milestonesensures c laims are qua lity che cked to make sure that

ac curac y is not comp romised by speed of processing

reviews the staffing leve ls and p roduc tivity of all sec tions to

ensure they are adequately resourced to me et the needs of VF

and DIP.

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Findings


2.197

2.198

2.199

2.200

•

•

2.201

2.202

2.203

2.204

•

•

Lia ison with other agenc ies

Benefits Agenc y Plymouth’ s ab ility to a dministe r HB and CTB c laims effe c tively and

effic iently de pends on goo d wo rking rela tionships with BA. This is

bec ause nationa lly 63% of HB/ CTB c laims a re linked to IS/ JSA(IB)

entitlem ents and othe r bene fits administered by BA a re in pa yment in

ma ny of the rem aining c laims.

Plymouth deals with 2 BA sites in its area at Durley House and

Crownhill.

We were to ld tha t relationships betw ee n Plymouth a nd BA we re

go od , with BA staff c om menting on g oo d da y-to-da y liaison b y the RAT

and telep hone. Plymouth staff co nfirmed that the d ay to da y co ntac t

wa s go od , but that on the few o cc asions they needed to c ontac t BA,

the response o n the te lep hone could b e slow .

The go od relationship ha s a lso been fostered by:

som e exchange visits

foc us group me etings to d iscuss wo rking proc ed ures.

We reco mm end that Plymouth builds upon its existing

prog ram me of exc hang e visits to ensure all staff have the

op portunity to visit co llea gue s in BA.

There is an SLA b etwee n BA a nd Plymo uth and this fo llow s the

na tiona l mod el. There a re reg ula r qua rterly me eting, w ith m inutes, to

d isc uss the SLA. The SLA is forma lly signed off a t the end of ea c h year.

The SLA for 1999/2000 wa s signed off.

We found this surprising a s Plymo uth sta ff rep orted tha t they knew

that t here w as an SLA in plac e, but w ere una wa re o f its content and the

responsib ility the y ha d to sa tisfy the ta rgets conta ined in it. We found

limited evidenc e o f Plymo uth m onitoring the SLA w hich w as restric ted to

chec king the timely rec eipt of NHB1s.

Ad d itiona lly the SLA sta tes tha t fo rms QB64 and QB65 should b e

ad jud ic a ted on w ithin 20 da ys of receipt. Our ana lysis of fraud w ork

identifies tha t th is is no t ha ppen ing in every c ase. This is c overed inPutt ing it right .

We conc lude tha t monitoring o f the SLA is not e ffec tive a nd BA

and Plymouth need to d isc uss and agree formal monitoring

arrangem ents for the future.


ma kes its staff awa re of the d eta iled content o f the SLA a nd

their responsibilities to achieve the targets

agrees a formal monitoring p rocess for the SLA with BA tha t

includes some testing of achievem ent ag ainst all areas in the

SLA targe ts through the year.

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Findings


2.205

2.206

2.207

2.208

2.209

Elec tronic d a ta transfer (EDT) wa s introduc ed on 22 Ma y 2000 and

BA a nd Plymouth to ld us tha t the system wo rked we ll and they were

unaw are of a ny ope ra ting p rob lems.

The rec og nised form fo r requesting informa tion from BA is the

NHB5. Plymouth ha s its own version a va ilab le on the DIP system tha t it

a lso uses for req uesting informa tion from the RAT. This version inc ludes aspa c e to note whether the Yes/ No ind ica tors have b een set so tha t

Plymouth c an a dvise BA o f cases whe re the ind ica tors a re incorrec t. We

consider this is a goo d prac tice as it ena bles BA to c orrec t a ny errors on

indicators.

This form w as introd uc ed by Plymouth a s part o f its wo rk on

reviewing its polic ies and p roc ed ures to take acc ount of lessons lea rnt

from BFI reports and the Good Prac tic e Guide . How ever, we found

evide nc e tha t Plymouth was not returning the fo rm to BA, in a ll

app rop ria te c ases. We c ove r this in Keeping it right.

Employment Servic e ES office s p lay an important part in administering bene fit c la ims

from jobsee kers. Plymouth dea ls with JSA c laims ma de a t 4 ES offices in

Devonp ort, Buc kwell Stree t, Hoe ga te Stree t a nd Plymp ton.

There is an SLA b etwee n ES and Plymouth b ased on the na tiona l

ES mo del. Plymo uth and ES ha ve on ly rec ently signed the SLA. Rev iew

mee tings are planned qua rterly. None had ta ken plac e a t the time o f

our on-site w ork as the SLA w as on ly introd uc ed on 25 Janua ry 2001.

We rec om me nd that Plymouth a nd ES at the first meeting d iscuss

and a gree methods of forma lly testing the SLA against its stated

targets.

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Findings


2.210

2.211

2.212

2.213

2.214

2.215

Keep ing it right Keeping it right means ma king sure tha t payments a re a d justed

as c irc umsta nc es c hange. This builds on the w ork done to kee p the

ga tewa y to b enefit sec ure a nd ma kes sure tha t there are effec tive

safeg uards to keep p ayments right.

Renewal c la imsWe have a lrea dy com mented o n Plymouth’ s pe rforma nce on

c la im verifica tion a nd proc essing . In this sec tion we com me nt on

ma tte rs tha t a re only releva nt to renewa l c la ims.

Renewal claim forms are issued automatically by Plymouth’s HB

com pute r system 8 wee ks before the e nd of the c laimant’s be nefit

period . If a c la ima nt d oe s not return the form, a reminder is sent out 2

we eks befo re the expiry of the bene fit p eriod . If the form is still not

returned , Plymouth send s the case fo r a hom e visit to chec k the

c irc umstanc es of the non-return of the c la im fo rm.

We sup port this app roa ch a s Plymouth c an sa tisfy its responsibility

for the we lfare of the c la ima nt, for examp le if they a re ha ving diffic ulty

with co mp leting the form. It c an also ide ntify if the c urrent c la im is

fraud ulent, for exam ple where the c laima nt has moved and no t notified

Plymouth.

Our samp les show ed tha t there w as no o verrun of b ene fit p ast

the

60-week limit, and c ases were renewe d p rom ptly on a verag e 3 we eksbe fore the e nd o f the previous be nefit period .

This we a ttribute , in p a rt, to the ea sem ents that Plymouth

introd uced in Oc tob er 2000, that allow ed inexperienc ed staff to renew

IS/ JSA(IB) a pp lic a tions with:

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2.216 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXX

2.217 Our c onc ern for rene wa l c laims, in the p eriod tha t we samp led , is

tha t Plymo uth ha s missed an op portunity to identify changes of

c irc umstanc es and possib le long er-term fraud ulent c la ims by relaxing

the need for verifica tion.



XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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Findings


2.224

2.225

•

•

•

2.226

•

•

2.227

•

•

2.228

•

•

•

2.229

2.230

At the time of the on-site inspec tion, 3 sup ervisors sorted throug h

the inco ming p ost a nd identified chang es that would result in the

red uc tion in or cessation o f HB and CTB. The post was rem oved from the

norma l flow of wo rk and the p ayments were immed iate ly stop ped or

suspend ed on these c ases. The p ost wa s then pu t bac k into the no rma l

workflow for ap prop riate ac tion.

We c onsider tha t, with Plymouth’ s c urrent backlog , this

intervention helps to:

red uce o verpa yments

red uc e the amo unt o f LA e rror ove rpayments so minimising subsid y

loss

inc rea se the likelihoo d o f changes being p roc essed quic kly.

Our conc erns with Plymouth ta king th is approa c h are tha t:

in som e c ases reg ulations are no t being c orrec tly app lied

follow ed up ac tions are b eing d elayed , for examp le issuing a form to

rec la im be nefit do es not hap pe n prom ptly.

Plymouth is using HB reg ulat ion 67 correc tly whe n it stops paying

bene fit b ec ause the c la ima nt’ s entitlem ent to IS/ JSA(IB) stop s, and it

invites the c la ima nt to rec la im. How eve r, in c ases whe re the re a re o ther

chang es of c ircumstanc es, such as a wa ge inc rea se, which c ould lead

to b enefit be ing red uced or stop pe d it suspe nds be nefit und er HB

reg ulation 96A. Plymouth d oe s not not ify c la ima nts of the suspension as

req uired under reg ula tion 96A(4).


reviews its proc ed ures for suspend ing c laims to ensure

c laimants are notified c orrec tly

identifies an effec tive w ay of ma naging the throughput of

changes of circum stanc es using DIP to ensure that further

ac tion and reassessments are completed promptly.

The HBIS system prod uc es a rep ort fo r known c ha nges to a

c la ima nt's c irc umstanc es tha t ma y affec t entitlem ent to HB, for

example:

c laimant or partner rea c hing p ension a ge

non-de pe nda nt rea c hing 25 years

dep end ant reac hing 16 years.

We te sted 10 ca ses where the HBIS system ha d identified a

cha nge a nd found tha t in all ca ses the ap propriate c hange had be en

completed.

A significant c ha ng e tha t HBIS will no t identify is WFTC. Sta ff to ld us

tha t c hanges to WFTC a re ide ntified through d ia ry entries ma de b y sta ff.

How eve r, this approa ch relies on sta ff rem em bering to m ake the entryand then co mp leting the a ction on time.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


2.231

2.232

2.233

2.234

2.235

2.236

2.237

In our sample of overpa yments c ases, 30% involved WFTC. This

ind ica tes that the d ia ry system is not wo rking and Plymo uth is not ta king

ac tion whe n it should. A more e ffec tive wa y of ma nag ing these c ases

and ensuring ac tion is taken is to a lign the HB bene fit p eriod to the

leng th o f awa rd of WFTC.

We rec ommend tha t Plymouth aligns all awa rds of benefit to thepe riod of award of WFTC, and on e xpiry of HB takes into ac count

any c hanges to WFTC.

Ad d itiona lly HBIS ad justs increa ses in c laima nts’ retirem ent or

private pension incom e, whe re inc rea ses and date of increase are

know n, and automa tica lly rea ssesses en titlem ent to HB/ CTB. Exam ples of

automatic assessment are state Retirement Pensions and Paymaster

General Pensions.

We found tha t this autom atic a ssessme nt c an result in the

amo unts used in assessme nt being incorrec t. This wa s usua lly b y a few

pe nce and oc curred where a pe rce ntag e increase wa s ap plied to thewho le p ension, where som e p a rts d id not inc rea se, or inc orrec t round ing

was applied.

At the b eg inning o f our on-site wo rk, sta ff told us tha t Plymouth

app lies a toleranc e rule to rep orted inc rea ses in inc om e a nd will not

change a n assessme nt where tha t change is for a low a mo unt. We tried

to get the w ritten instruc tions tha t sta ff used to a pp ly this toleranc e rule,

but the re w ere none. Sta ff also to ld us tha t individua ls app lied the

toleranc e rule in d iffering w ays and the figures they q uote d rang ed from

50 penc e to £5.00.

We a re c onc erned tha t this prac tice, which is not in acc ordance

with the reg ulations, app ea rs to ha ve b een ap plied widely and

inco nsistently, yet not to ha ve b ee n identified by Plymo uth. This points to

the need for more rigo rous ma nage ment c hec ks, as we recom mend ed

in Getting it righ t .

When w e d iscussed this with mana gers in Plymouth w e w ere

plea sed that the y ac c ep ted that the re w as no lega l ba sis for app lying a

toleranc e rule a nd they immed ia tely issued instruc tions to sta ff to stop its

use.

By a pp lying this p rac tice Plymo uth is likely to have und ersta ted

the numb er and am ount o f overpa yments stated in the p ast. We a sked

for deta ils of the numb er of cases involved and the va lue o f

overpa yments igno red but Plymouth w as unab le to provide this

information.

We rec ommend that Plymouth ensures that staff are no longer

ap plying the toleranc e rule b y identifying incom ing po st that

would result in a small reduc tion in HB and trac king it to ensure

that the app rop riate chang e is comp leted.

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Findings


2.238

2.239

•

•

•

2.240

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

2.241

2.242

2.243

Notic es of determina tionWhen LAs dete rmine a c la im the y must notify the c la ima nt and , in

direc t payment c ases only, the land lord o f that d etermination.

Sc hed ules 6 to b oth sets of reg ula tions set out the ma tte rs to be

inc luded in no tifica tion letters.

The sched ules lay down the minimum amo unt of informa tion an

LA m ust p rovide. The LA should:

g ive suffic ient d eta ils to a llow the c la ima nt to c hec k the ba sis of the

determination

tell claimants of their righ t to ask for a w ritten sta tem ent of rea sons

advise c la ima nts tha t they have a sta tuto ry right to ask the LA to

review a determination.

We exam ined a selec tion of HB and CTB not ic es of d ete rminat ion

issued by Plymouth a nd found them to c onta in informa tion o n a variety

of subjects. For example they:

de tail the am ount and p eriod of the awa rd

advise o f the da te w hen the a wa rd will next be review ed

de ta il how p ayments will be ma de

advise c la ima nts to rep ort cha nges of c ircumstances

ad vise c laimants and land lords if a POA has been ma de

advise c la ima nts they may req uest a written sta tem ent o f rea sons

ad vise land lords of the ir duty to repo rt c hang es that ma y affec tc la ima nts’ e ntitlem ent w here payment is issued d irec t to them

ad vise c laimants or landlords of the amount of the overpa yment,

tha t it is rec ove rab le, why it is rec ove rable a nd from who m it should

be recove red . We d isc uss further the no tice o f de termination for

overpayments under Putting it right

inform the c laimant in deta il of the ir appea l rights.

We found tha t Plymouth c om plies with the requirem ents of

Sc hed ule 6, but tha t the notice s of d ete rmination c ould be improved by

referenc e to Plymouth’ s com p la ints p roc ed ures.We recommend tha t Plymouth considers including reference to

its compla int proc ed ures in the notices of de termination or

include s its leaflet on com pla ints with all de terminations.

Risk assessing c la imsIt is imp ortant tha t LAs use risk ma nagem ent me thods to help

minimise the o c currenc e of fraud a nd e rror follow ing the initia l awa rd o f

benefit.

We found tha t Plymo uth imp lem ente d VF on 26 March 2001.Befo re this da te it d id no t a pp ly formal risk assessme nt o f c laims.

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Findings


2.244

2.245

In p rep ara tion fo r VF, Plymouth d id som e a na lysis of its c aseloa d

to assess the vo lume o f cases in ea ch VF visiting c a tegory. It used this

information to help dec ide its VF stra teg y.

The results of Plymo uth’ s ana lysis of its caseloa d is listed in Figure

2.34.

Fig. 2.34: Plymouth’s estima te of c ases in VF visiting group s

VF risk categ ory %

Group A 9

Group B 1

Group C 15

Group D + E 75

Source : Plymouth

2.246

2.247

2.248

We support Plymouth’ s approa c h of a na lysing its c aseloa d to

pred ic t the volume of c ases in ea ch visiting g roup . Plymouth monitored

the intake o f c ases for a w eek be fore go ing live w ith VF and found it

had a higher percentag e o f Group A c ases than a nticipa ted. Although

it is ea rly d ays for VF in Plymo uth, we rec om me nd it c ont inues to monitor

its c aseloa d to ensure it ma na ges to visit these c ases in the first 8 we eks

of the c laim a s rec omm end ed in VF.

We recom mend tha t Plymouth co ntinues to mo nitor c losely the

cases in Group A to e nsure tha t they rec eive a visit before thecase is c losed .

Benefit periodsSta tuto ry req uirem ents in respec t of HB and CTB benefit periods

are set out in HB reg ulat ion 66 and CTB reg ulat ion 57. These require tha t

aw ards a re to be for a fixed pe riod , whic h must not exce ed , when

orig inally determined , 60 wee ks. But they a lso req uire LAs to c onsider a

c la ima nt’s individua l circumstances when de c id ing o n the length o f any

be nefit aw ard sta ting in parag rap h (2) of ea c h of them:

The b ene fit p eriod sha ll be the numb er of weeks as the

app rop riate autho rity shall dete rmine ha ving reg ard in p articula r

to a ny relevant c ircumstanc es which the ap p rop riate autho rity

rea sona b ly expec ts ma y a ffect entitlem ent in the future.

In a dd ition, VF gives guida nce o n the length of b enefit pe riod s

tha t should b e a lloc a ted to c la ima nts in d ifferent risk groups. The leg a l

req uirem ents on bene fit p eriod s must ta ke priority ove r the any

ge neralised risk ca teg orisa tion p roc ed ures follow ed , inc lud ing those

spec ified by VF.

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Findings


2.255

•

•

•

2.256

2.257

•

•

•

2.258

2.259

2.260

2.261

Plymouth to ld us that it wa s planning to alloc a te a VO to

com p lete the initial visits identified by the c om puter softw are from Ap ril

2001. The purpose of ha ving the one VO d oing a ll these visits is to :

assess the accuracy of risk categorisation of cases selected

quantify the leng th of time ta ken to visit

qua ntify the numb er of c ases.

We supp ort this automa ted app roa ch to targeting che cks and

the intent ion to review the e ffec tiveness of the c ase selec tion p roc ess.

Reviews and c ompla ints

Reviews and furthe r reviews Befo re July 2001, any p erson a ffec ted by an LA d ete rmination

who wa s d issa tisfied with it, was entitled to ask for a review of t ha t

dete rminat ion. An o ffic er within the LA c ond uc ted the first review. If theperson a ffec ted rem a ined d issa tisfied , they could request a further

review o f that determination. A Review Boa rd ma de up of a t least 3

loc a l Memb ers ca rried out the sec ond review. In add ition, leg isla tion

req uired LAs to p rocess rev iew req uests within defined time sca les:

HB reg ulation 79(2) sta ted tha t LAs sha ll carry out a n interna l review

within 14 da ys of rec eiving the req uest o r as soo n a s prac tic ab le

thereafter

HB reg ulation 82(1) sta ted tha t LAs sha ll ho ld a Rev iew Board hea ring

within 6 weeks of rec eiving the req uest o r as soo n a s prac tica b le

thereafter

HB reg ulat ion 83(5) sta ted tha t LAs sha ll norma lly inform the

appellant of the dec ision o f the Review Boa rd within 7 days of the

hea ring o r as soo n as prac tica ble the rea fter.

The re were similar p rovisions in respec t o f CTB. The se p rovisions

we re in force a t the time o f our inspec tion. Plymouth identified tha t

these t ype of c ases were imp ortant a nd too k step s to identify the cases

when they were rece ived . We found that the c ases that Plymouth

ident ified we re no t a lwa ys req uests for reviews and tha t there w as

insuffic ient m anag em ent c ontrols to e nsure tha t the app rop riate ac tionwa s taken on time .

We examined 30 ca ses from Plymouth’ s DIP system tha t w ere

ident ified as reviews. Of the 30, we found only 11 that we re review o r

further review c ases. The ina pprop ria te cases rec eived inc luded rout ine

chang es of c ircumstances or comp la ints and d id not c onta in a req uest

for a review or further review.

This ind ic a tes tha t Plymo uth overestimated the numb er of c ases

that req uired review a c tion.

Plymouth w as unab le to provide us with manag em entinforma tion on the numb er of c ases tha t it proc essed throug h the first

and sec ond stage review.

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Findings


2.262

We rec om mend that Plymouth ap plies a more stringent test to the

c lassifica tion of cases that req uire ac tion by g iving c learer

guidance to the staff who a re unde rtaking the indexing of

incom ing reviews and a pp eals post.

We examined the 11 ca ses whe re the review p roc ess wa s

req uired and found the follow ing failings in the ac tion ta ken by

Plymouth.

Fig. 2.35: Reviews ana lysis

Issue Number of cases

Case reassessed , but no forma l response to c laima nt 2

Review rece ived outside time limit, but still ac tioned 2

Claimant needed to make d uplicate app eal as

original lost

1

Explanation g iven, but no further review op tion

notified

1

Case dea lt with outside statutory timescales 4


2.263

• •

•

•

2.264

Sinc e our on-site inspec tion, the appea ls p roc ess has bee n

chang ed but o ur sam pling show s that at the time o f our inspe c tion

review s we re:

not a ccurate ly ide ntified

be ing a cc ep ted when outside time limits

not being ma naged and ac tioned p romp tly

not giving claimants adequate responses.

Plymouth ha d only one Rev iew Boa rd (Janua ry 2001) in the last 12

months preced ing our visit. It c onc erned a req uest for an exceptional

hardship pa yment. We e xam ined this c ase a nd found that there w ere

som e d elays in the p roc ess. We a lso no te tha t Plymouth ha d rec eived a

co mp laint after the hea ring a bo ut the ap pe llant not b eing g iven the

right o f app ea l on a subseq uent d ec ision.

We rec om me nd that Plymouth e nsures that it has system s in

place that will improve o n its current me thods and performanc e

in handling cases under the new ap pea ls reg ime.

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Findings


2.265

2.266

•

•

•

2.267

•

•

•

•

2.268

Complaints The numb er and nature o f comp laints rec eived by an LA a bo ut its

be nefit service c an p rovide informa tion o n the p erceived e ffic ienc y

and effec tiveness of tha t servic e.

At the sta rt o f our on-site inspec tion, Plymouth ha d 3 ma in routes

for customer com pla ints:

by post identified by the supervisor at post ope ning

by pho ne received by the c ustom er services tea m leader or senior

officer

by p ost or phone through the Hea d of Financ e.

Plymouth ha s its ow n c orpo ra te c om pla ints p roc ed ures with the

follow ing ac tion dea d lines:

MPs’ enq uiries – 5 days

Co unc illors’ enquiries – 5 days

telepho ne c om plaints – 2 da ys

a ll other com plaints – 12 days.

We e xamined the rec ord of 39 com p laints rec eived a t p ost

op ening be tween Novem be r 2000 and M arch 2001. We exc lude d 2

cases from our ana lysis whe re the ta rge t da te ha d no t expired , and

assessed Plymouth’s performance against its own targets on the

rema inder. Figure 2.36 shows the results.

Fig. 2.36: Comp laints performance aga inst 12-day target

Catego ry Number %

12-da y ta rget ac hieved 22 59

12-day ta rge t not

achieved

15 41

Total 37 100


2.269 We a lso e xamined the 39 com plaints to see the type o f

com plaints tha t Plymo uth is rec eiving b y lette r. Figure 2.37 shows the

results.

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Findings


Fig. 2.37: Typ es of co mp laints rec eived

Type Numbe r %

Delays in processing claim 24 62

Poor telephone/caller service 4 10

Delay in and incorrec t ap pe al 2 5

Query on overpayment 2 5

Lost or not rec eived doc uments 2 5

Other 5 13

Total 39 100


2.270

2.271

2.272

2.273

•

•

We co nc lud e tha t ea rly ana lysis of these c om pla ints wo uld ha ve

identified that Plymouth was having problems assessing claims on time

and dea ling w ith the subseq uent c la ima nts' enquiries tha t these d elays

were generating.

We a lso asked to exam ine simila r rec ords for telephone

com plaints, but deta iled informa tion be fore 19 Ma rc h 2001 wa s not

ava ilable fo r these type s of c om p la ints. The tea m lea der or senior officer

who received these c a lls counted the numb er rec eived , but d id no t

ana lyse the rea son fo r the ca lls, as it was believe d tha t they we re a ll

co nce rning not b eing a ble to get through o n the telep hone.

Whilst w e w ere on site, Plymouth c ha nge d its me thod of rec eiving

and rec ording c om plaints, introd ucing a c entral collec tion p oint for allcom plaints, inc lud ing those rec eived by e-ma il, in the servic e

deve lop me nt tea m. All HB and C TB c om pla ints a re logg ed , ca teg orised

and forwa rded to the a pp rop riate sec tion for ac tion. Plymouth c hases

responses, and intend s to ana lyse the results.

Whilst we support Plymo uth’ s approa c h to c ont rol co mp la ints, we

note tha t since the introd uction of telepho ne and e -mail com plaints

go ing d irec t to the servic e d evelopment team it rec eived 55 com plaints

in 9 wo rking d ays. Due to the na ture of the te am’ s wo rk and the ir

ind ividua l wo rking hours, the team uses an answerphone to c apture

som e o f these c om plaints. We q uestion whethe r this is p rov iding asatisfac tory service to c la ima nts who a re trying to ma ke a c om pla int

aga inst the service p rovide d by Plymouth.


formally ana lyses all HB/ CTB com plaints that it receives and

uses this information to improve the service tha t it provides to

its customers

mo nitors and regula rly reviews the effec tiveness of HB/ CTB

comp laint handling procedures on the service de velopm ent

team to ensure all corpo rate ta rgets are me t.

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Findings


2.274

2.275

2.276

2.277

•

•

•

•

2.278

2.279

•

•

•

•

2.280

Plymouth a lso g a thers informa tion on the num ber of c om plime nts

tha t it rec eives and pub lishes these figures a long side the c om pla int

figures.

It a lso c om pleted an extensive custome r survey in July 2000 and

has used the informa tion c onta ined in the survey to inform its p lans for

imp roving custom er servic e. Plymouth rep orted it found the exerc iseuseful and tha t it planne d to rep ea t the exercise in 2001. We support this

app roa ch a s it c an a ssist in highligh ting a rea s for imp rove ment to

customer service.

Dea ling with land lordsThe BFI's Good Prac tice Guide lists the risks of no t c om munica ting

effec tively with land lords. We looked a t the w ay in which Plymouth

com munica tes with landlords and ho w it dec ide s whethe r or not to

ma ke direc t pa yments of be nefit to them.

Plymo uth ha s proc ed ures to assist with its rela tionship with

land lords, these inc lude:

spe c ific ad vic e leaflet for landlords and ag ents

a ttend ance at sma ll land lord forum meetings

quarterly mee tings with HAs

a cent ra l list o f p riva te land lords.

Plymouth wa s unab le to p rovide us with the informa tion tha t we

req uested on the am ount o f be nefit pa id d irec t to land lords. It rep orted

tha t it has 9 ma jor land lords, whe re p ayments a re ma de by sched ule,

and ap proxima tely 400 other land lords who rec eive one or more

ind ividua l crossed c heq ues in respec t o f the ir tenants.

Plymouth req uires land lords to sign a dec la ra tion b efo re it w ill

consider making p ayments d irec t to the m. The d ec la ra tion inc ludes the

duties of a land lord rece iving pa yments d irec t to :

inform the be nefit sec tion o f any c hanges in rent c harged

inform o f any chang es of c irc umstanc es imm ed iate ly

return che que s unca shed for tena nts that ha ve vacate d

rep ay any HB ove rpa id .

Req uests for direc t p ayments to land lords are c ont rolled c entrally

and we com me nd Plymouth for this. When a req uest is rec eived , the

existing land lord files a re c hec ked to see whe ther the land lord is known.

If the land lord is p reviously know n to the autho rity, signa tures on p rev ious

req uests a re c hec ked and the current HBIS land lord referenc e numb er is

used . If it is a new land lord the n a new numb er is a lloc a ted . Direc t

pa yments cannot b e m ad e b y HBIS without a land lord referenc e

number.

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Findings


2.281

2.282

2.283

•

•

2.284

2.285

2.286

2.287

2.288

Plymouth to ld us tha t it is ra re fo r a land lord no t to be a llow ed

d irec t payments, or for the fa c ility to b e w ithd rawn. It c onsiders tha t

keep ing pa yments direc t g ives it the op portunity to recover overpa id

bene fit. How eve r, our ana lysis of o verpa yment w ork show s tha t

Plymouth d oe s not currently use this me thod of rec ove ry effec tively.

In preparation for BFI's visit, Plymouth had reviewed previous BFIrep orts and our Goo d Prac tice Guide to identify areas of b ene fit wo rk

need ing to b e up da ted . This review identified the land lord ‘ fit a nd

prop er person ’ test a s suc h a n issue.

The ‘ fit a nd prop er pe rson’ test ha s still to be incorpo ra ted into

Plymouth’ s wo rking p rac tices, even tho ugh othe r a rea s of work have

ide ntified dubious land lords to b e a n a rea of c onc ern, for examp le in

the:

c riteria for high risk new c laims

c loser working initia tive fraud drives with BFIS.We consider that Plymouth ha s the b asis of a go od informa tion

system that would ena ble it to a pp ly the ‘ fit a nd prope r pe rson’ test

effec tively and it should devise proc ed ures to ensure the test is app lied

as soon a s possible.

We rec om me nd tha t Plymouth uses its existing informa tion to

ap ply the 'fit and proper person' test to land lords where

appropriate.

Lia ison with the Housing Dep artmentAs the HD is the largest single land lord tha t the benefit service

dea ls with, it is vita l that there is a go od wo rking relationship betw ee n

bo th d ep artments.

We found that b oth d ep artments have a go od working

relationship, but ne ed to imp rove wo rking prac tices to a dd ress som e

areas of c onc ern.

The 2 c om pute r systems used , HBIS and Orac le, co mm unica te

effec tively and this means tha t HBIS will not a llow a new c la im fo r

be nefit whe re the c la ima nt is no longe r the tenant.

When a tena nt leave s, the tena nc y is terminate d b y Housing from

the d ate the tena nt left, which in turn a utom atica lly trigg ers notific ation

to Bene fits. In a dd ition, housing sta ff sta ted they d o refe r ca ses whe re

fraud wa s suspec ted to bene fits sta ff. Sta ff in b oth dep artme nts sta ted

they found lia ison w as ge nerally good .

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Findings


2.289

•

•

•

•

•

2.290

•

•

2.291

2.292

•

•

•

2.293

•

•

Other examp les of the 2 departments working tog ethe r are:

10 housing offices classified as 'designated offices' for the receipt of

c la im fo rms a llow ing c la ima nts ea se o f ac cess whe n retu rning c la im

forms

reg ular meet ings every 6 – 8 weeks with minutes ta ken

referenc e is ma de in HB p lans of Housing being a 'stra teg ic partner'

pub lic ity to e nc ourag e ta ke-up of HB using rent sta tem ents, rent

c ards and rent review letters, espec ia lly to those with rent a rrea rs

Housing’ s invo lvement in HB overpa yme nt w ork. We c over this in

mo re d eta il in Putting it right.

We have som e c onc erns abo ut Plymouth’ s performanc e in

rec ove ring RR ove rpayments, which w e c ove r in mo re d eta il in Putting it

right . During our inspec tion we noted tha t b ene fits sta ff we re t ra ining

housing sta ff on VF. Ad d itionally the re wa s no forma l lia ison betw ee n

benefits and sta ff in the HPU sec tion, as deta iled ea rlier in Getting it

right .

We suppo rt the work that Benefits and Housing ha ve done

already, and rec omm end that the effec tiveness of the

relationship betwee n Benefits and Housing c ould b e imp roved

by:

introd uc ing a forma l SLA with stated pe rforma nce a ims and

regular m onitoring

nom inating a senior officer to ensure b oth de pa rtments work

more effectively together.

Inte rna l sec urity and c ontrols

IT sec urity Like most LAs, Plymo uth relies he avily on IT syste ms to delive r its

benefit service . BS 7799 inc lude s 10 info rma tion sec urity c ontrols tha t

should b e imp leme nted by a ll organisa tions in respec t o f IT systems. We

have considered Plymouth’s arrangements against these and have

go ne on to look a t its user ac c ess c ontrols and p rivileges. We give m ore

deta ils of this a t Ap pend ix C. A summa ry of our findings is below .

Plymouth has been proactive in trying to limit the possibility of

sec urity breac hes, but w e found it p oo r a t:

user administrat ion

sett ing app rop ria te user ac cess levels

mo nitoring of system integrity.

Plymo uth ha s an IT sec urity p olicy w hich covers:

ma nage ment support for IT sec urity

co mp lianc e w ith d ata protection law s.

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Findings


2.294

•

•

•

2.295

•

•

•

2.296

•

•

How eve r, it doe s not c ove r:

p roc ed ures for rep orting sec urity breac hes

upda ting user ac cess levels

mo nitoring sta ndards to ensure c ont inuing com plianc e with the

strategy.

This need s to b e a ddressed quickly to ensure sta ff are c lear on

sec urity p roc ed ures and the system is mo nitored .

We recomm end that Plymouth am ends its IT sec urity po lic y to

cover:

proc ed ures for rep orting security b reac hes

upd ating user ac cess levels

monitoring standards to ensure c om plianc e with the strateg y.

We exam ined the rec ords of system users and ma tc hed this to the

list o f c urrent sta ff em ployed in Reve nues. We found c onsiderab le

weaknesses in:

user administrat ion

access leve ls g ranted .




XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2.298 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX






2.299 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


2.300 Follow ing a rec om mend a tion from IA, Plymouth introd uced a

stand ard form to reg ister each user. We examined these and found they

provide d a c om prehensive rec ord and were a uthorised by ma nag ers.





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Findings


•

•

•

•

2.301

•

•

•

•

•

2.302

We recommend tha t to reduce the risk of internal fraud and error

Plymouth:

carries out a risk a ssessme nt of its data ba se of users to e nsure

ac cess levels are a pp ropriate to users’ duties, deleting and

am ending ac cess where nec essary

upd ates its user da tabase on a regular ba sis

devises proc ed ures to ensure user pe rmissions are rev iewed

when staff leave o r transfer

rewrites the user form to ensure e ac h form only allows ac cess

for one user.

Sta ff ve tt ingThe AC ha ndb oo k, Co unte ring Housing Benefit Fraud ,

rec om mend s the follow ing rec ruitment chec ks:

verifying referenc es provide d w ith em p loyers

verifying if previous employers were genuine

ensuring tha t the req uired skills p rofile is me t (using c om petenc y tests

if required)

verifying educational and professional qualifications

verifying previous employment and duties performed.

We found Plymouth c onfo rms to this gu idanc e a s deta iled in

Figure 2.38.

Fig. 2.38: Plymouth’s staff ve tting p roced ures

Plymouth’s

response

BFI comment

Verify reference s

provided with

employers

Yes Previous employers are written to

and asked for a reference .

Testimonials are no t ac cep ted .

XXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


XXXX


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Verify ed uca tional

and professional

qualifications

Partly Due to resource prob lems not

every interview / bo ard ha s a

personne l officer, but those tha t

have one d o verify.

Those tha t do not ha ve b een to ldto c hec k and it is laid d own in

Plymouth’ s guida nce tha tverificat ion should ta ke plac e.

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Findings


2.315

2.316

2.317

2.318

2.319

2.320

•

•

•

2.321

•

•

•

•

2.322

Plymouth to ld us tha t it wa s considering introduc ing sched ule

payments for a ll land lord payments to reduce the a dministra tive c osts

and m ake rec ove ry of overpayments from land lords ea sier.

We recommend that Plymouth imp roves its rec ord keep ing of

land lords and introduc es schedule pa yments for land lords with

more than one tenant.

We examined Plymouth’ s p roc ed ures for the rec onc ilia tion of

payments of HB. We fo und tha t the system s tha t it had in p lac e w ere

effective.

The c heq ue p rinting and dispatc h is a c orporate function within

Plymouth a nd there are rec eipt p roc ed ures in p lac e for when the

cheq ues are mo ved within the orga nisa tion. The proc ess is sep a ra te

from the bene fit a ssessment func tion.

The c red ito r sec tion ha s responsibility for the rec onc iliation o f

cheq ues with HBIS and will rec eive c heq ues from printing a nd p rep are

labels for dispatc h. Cred itors will also stop the d ispa tc h o f c heq ues if

req uested by the be nefit tea m.

A rec ord, with the value of c heq ues tha t are sent fo r d ispatc h, is

sent to the acc ounts sec tion. Sep ara tely the a c counts sec tion rec eives

a printout from HBIS of the numb er and va lue o f cheq ues tha t should

have b ee n sent. These 2 records are then rec onc iled . Plymouth

rep orted tha t there ha s only be en one instance where the a mounts

have no t rec onc iled . This wa s a ttributed to a c om puter system fault.

We a lso exam ined and o bserved the p roc ed ures in plac e tha t

cover:

c anc elling cheq ues

returned cheq ues

unpresented c heq ues.

We consider the proc ed ures for the hand ling o f cheq ues in these

c ircumstances to be sec ure b ec ause:

the c red itor sec tion takes imm ed ia te a c tion on cheq ues in response

to requests from the assessment teams or when a cheque is returned

in the po st or from the b ank subsequent action is taken by assessors, including payments

the HBIS system is ame nded on the day of rec eipt

the wo rk is sub jec t to a sup ervisory chec k.

Arrangem ents a lso exist fo r the rec onc iliation of HBIS with the CT

and HD's com puter system s. We fo und tha t the rec onc ilia tion proc ess

between these systems is largely automatic and the responsibility to

ensure tha t rec ords ma tc h a nd irreg ularities a re investiga ted is sep ara te

from the benefit assessing function.

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Findings


Tra ining and guidanc e2.323

2.324

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

2.325

2.326

2.327

We found that Plymouth ha s demo nstrate d a c om mitment to

tra ining a nd g uida nce, but that this c om mitment co uld b e underpinned

by the introd uc tion o f a formal ap pra isa l system tha t ide ntifies tra ining

needs.

At the time of Plymo uth’ s restructuring in 1999/2000 it to ok the

op portunity to set up a service d eve lop ment tea m. The te am c onsists of

5 sta ff and its responsibilities inc lude:

training HB sta ff

developing procedures manuals

helping sett le sta ff into new posts

delivering tra ining to sta ff

interpreting a nd d istributing c irc ula rsexternal liaison

externa l training

produc ing a new sletter for internal c om munic ations

c ustom er c omp laint line.

The impo rtanc e tha t Plymouth a ttaches to this tea m c an be

em pha sised by its position in the o rganisa tiona l structure, rep orting

direc t to the Assistant Hea d of Financ e, and the te am lead er’s

atte nda nce a t Senior Ma nag em ent Tea m meetings.

Following the restructuring ma ny sta ff

unde rtook a rea s of wo rk tha t we re new to them .

The tea m supported the restruc turing by providing

a c om prehensive training programm e to sta ff

unde rtaking new duties. We examined som e of

the produc ts of the team a nd found tha t they

were of a go od stand ard. The informa tive

newsletter that it p rod uces and the w ork done so

fa r on w orking proc ed ures impressed us. The

wo rking proc ed ures are c lea r and p rec ise a nd

cover the areas conc erned we ll.

The informative newsletter that

it produces and the work done

so far on working proc edures

imp ressed us.

Bene fit sta ff interview ed we re supportive o f the tea m a nd

rep orted tha t there had bee n imp rove me nts in the p rovision o f tra ining

and gene ra l informa tion sinc e its inc ep tion.

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Findings


2.328

2.329

2.330

2.331

Plymouth d oe s not have a formal appra isa l system . At the time of

the inspec tion, the service d eve lop me nt team w as p iloting a Tra ining

Need s Ana lysis with the customer service tea m a nd wa s p lanning to

includ e a ll sta ff la ter in the yea r. Plymo uth w as a lso in the process of

rolling out a divisional review and appraisal system consisting of one-to-

one meetings be tween line m ana ge rs and sta ff. We c onside r tha t this

imp ortan t information should b e forma lly ga thered a t lea st yea rly by

ma nage rs, and is best linked to the key a ims and ob jec tives assoc ia ted

with an appraisal system.

We recom mend tha t Plymouth adop ts a forma l appraisal system

that will allow m ana ge rs to ide ntify the training ne eds of their staff,

monitor and eva luate ac hievement of training o bjec tives.

The tea m ha s a busy sc hed ule fo r the com ing yea r and this is we ll

la id out in its tea m o b jec tives, whic h we do cument throug hout this

rep ort. Our only conc ern is that the tea m m ay try to d o too m uch and

not a chieve its key aims. For examp le, the tea m ha s ta ken onresponsibility for the c om plaints line a nd we question w hethe r this is the

right a pp roa ch with the c urrent b acklog of wo rk and volumes involved .

We reco mm end tha t Plymouth monitors the ac hievem ent of the

service d evelopm ent team ag ainst stated a ims and ob jectives for

2000/ 01.

Lia ison with BA on c ha nges ofcircumstances

In HB/ CTB c laims linked to IS or JSA(IB) ent itlement, c ha ng es inentitlem ent to these bene fits c an a ffec t HB/ CTB ent itlement. It is

essential, therefore, that Plymouth is notified of these changes by BA.

We examined 20 cases from our rene wa l samp le by chec king the

RAT to see if BA had set the HB and CTB ind ica to rs. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



2.332

2.333

Set ting the indica tor is important, bec ause if it is no t set BA w ill not

auto ma tically inform Plymouth when a c laimant has a c hang e of

c irc umstance s, for examp le a chang e of a dd ress or when a qua lifying

benefit ha s cea sed . This can result in overpayme nts of HB.

Of the 20 ca ses c hec ked, we found tha t 4 ca ses (20%) did no t

have the a pp rop ria te indic ato r. Two c ases had a RAT chec k comp leted

at the time o f renew al. One of these c ases d id not ha ve the indica tors

set and Plymouth ha d not a ttemp ted to notify BA to rec tify this.

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Findings


2.334

•

•

•

•

2.335

2.336

2.337

2.338

Whilst c om pleting the RAT chec ks on the above c ases we a lso

examined Plymouth’ s proc ed ures for c omp leting the c hec ks and found :

the re w as a req uest fo rm to use o n the DIP system

the form wa s c lea r and inc lude d spa c e for Plymouth to indica te

whe ther ind ica tors have b een set incorrec tly and not ify BA. We

c omm end this form, but w ere co ncerned tha t it wa s not used tonot ify BA a s intended

DIP c ont rolled the return of informa tion from the RAT op erato r

rec ords were kep t o f rea son for ac cess and informa tion ga thered .

We recommend tha t, as a minimum, RAT chec ks are c ompleted

when any assessment is do ne o n an IS/ JSA c ase and that where

an indica tor is not c orrec tly set BA is notified to make the

nec essary am endm ent.

Lia ison w ith ES on c ha nges ofcircumstances

ES has an impo rta nt p a rt to p lay in keep ing jobsee kers’ bene fit

c laims right.

ES informed us tha t job seekers a ttend ing the Job cent res we re

told a bout their responsib ility to inform BA a nd Plymo uth o f any changes

of c ircumsta nc es.

There we re p osters in the Job c entres tha t informed the c la ima nts

of the ir responsibilities as we ll as sta ting w ha t c ou ld be used for

evidenc e of identity.

There is an SLA in p lac e which wa s signed on 25 Janua ry 2001 tha t

inc lude s sta ted ob jec tives for the repo rting of c hang es of

circumstances.

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Findings


2.339

2.340

•

•

•

•

2.341

•

•

•

•

•

2.342

Putting it right Putt ing it right mea ns de tecting when p ayments go wrong a nd

taking p romp t ac tion to c orrec t them with ap propriate pe nalties to

dete r a rec urrenc e. It is vita l that fraud or error is dete c ted as soo n a s

possib le to kee p o verpa yments to a minimum .

OverpaymentsWhen ove rpayments oc cur, LAs should b e a b le to :

identify them p rom ptly

determine whe ther they are rec overab le

pursue recovery by the most spe ed y, cost e ffective a nd effic ient

me thod s ava ilable

classify them correctly.

Fa iling to minimise the risk of ove rpayments and set up adeq ua te

rec overy proce dures where there are o verpa yments will mea n:

having to rec over avoida ble overpayments at a dditiona l cost

financ ial loss, either from fa iling to c lassify overpayme nts c orrec tly for

subsidy purpose or from failing to recover debts in full

be ing o pe n to lega l c halleng es or com plaints to the Loc al

Gove rnment Omb udsma n (LGO)

losing the deterrent effect that rigorous recovery of overpayments

has on tho se w ho a c c identa lly or deliberate ly provide inac c ura teinforma tion, or who fail to d isc lose a c hang e of c ircumstanc es

lea ving the b ene fit system vulnerab le to fraud a nd error.

Overpayment polic ies and p roc ed ures Figure 2.39 shows overpayments Plymo uth ha s identified rose as a

pe rcenta ge of to tal be nefit expend iture o ver the last 3 co mp lete years.

It a lso show s tha t Plymo uth ha s not ac hieve d its sta ted ta rge t o f keep ing

ove rpayments to within 1.8% of b ene fit spend .

Fig. 2.39: Overpayments identified (excluding technical overpayments)

1997/ 98 1998/99 1999/ 2000

Amount (£) 1,526,808 1,695,171 1,740,573

% of benefitspend

2.5 2.7 2.8

Source: Plymo uth SDS

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Findings


2.343

2.344

2.345

2.346

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

2.347

The tota l HB and CTB deb t ra ised during 1999/ 2000 amo unte d to

£1,740.573. This equa tes to 2.8 % of the tota l HB and CTB expe nd iture fo r

that year. There is no com parab le na tiona l average figure a vailable,

but the Nationa l Housing Bene fit Ac curacy Review 1997/ 98 estimated

tha t 10% of HB c la ima nts we re b eing o verpa id due to e rror. Plymouth’ s

tota l ove rpa id HB and CTB deb t fa lls we ll below the figure quoted in the

report.

Plymouth a ims to p reve nt overpa yments from oc curring in the first

p lace. Plymo uth ta kes p rom pt ac tion to stop or suspend cases whe n it is

rec eives informa tion tha t c ould lead to a n overpa yment. How ever, we

have som e c onc erns about its app lica tion of the reg ula tions in terms of

suspend ing c ases and toleranc e rules.

Plymouth ha s an overpa yment recovery polic y inc luding a po lic y

sta tem ent tha t c om mits to:

…the rec ove ry of HB ove rpayments using ded ica ted sta ff…in the

vigorous pursuit o f d eb t, whilst g iving due c onsideration to the deb tors ability to pa y.

The p olic y state ment da ted 24 Novemb er 2000 co mmitted the

Revenues Division to introduc e w ithin the next 6 mo nths va rious

measures to rec ove r ove rpayments by:

c om mitting d ed ica ted tra ined sta ff to the ta sk of overpa yment

recovery

sett ing rea listic a nnua l targets for rec ove ry of d eb t

rec overy of overpa yment from land lords and a ge nts in ac corda nce

with sec tion 75(5) and (6) of SSAA 1992

rec overy from othe r bene fits

reg ular review o f po lic y and rec ove ry metho ds to ensure efficient

and cost effec tiveness

rec overy of fraud ove rpa yments by a ll me thod s ava ilable includ ing:

– prosecution

– bankruptcy

– c harging ord ers

ma intaining a c lea rly d efined write-off polic y.

Whilst we c om mend Plymouth for c lea rly sta ting me thods and

proc esses req uired in suc cessful pursuanc e of o verpa yment, it ha d not

fully imp lem ented the p olic y although a rep ort on the Financ e

Departme nt struc ture w as sent to C om mittee in Ma rch 2001.

Subseq uent to our visit we were to ld the repo rt had been ap p roved .

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Findings


2.348

•

•

•

•

•

2.349

2.350

2.351

2.352

•

•

Plymouth provide s staff w ith a we ll-do c umente d proc ed ure

ma nual and guida nce for overpayments. This had be en up da ted shortly

befo re our on-site inspec tion in Ma rc h 2001. The ma nua l provides

com prehensive guida nce in respe c t of:

overpa yment a nd related subsidy reg ulations

examp les of c auses of o verpayme nt

determining reco verab ility and from whom to rec over

me thod s of rec overy

prac tica l app lic a tion HB and sund ry de btor system s.

Plymouth a dop ts d ifferent recove ry me thods for RA a nd RR c ases.

For RA c ases, assessme nt sta ff ra ise a n overpayme nt a nd eithe r rec over

this through d ed uc tions from ong oing b ene fit if entitlem ent to HB

rem a ins or transfer the o verpa yment from HB com puter system to the

Rad ius sund ry d eb tors system. This issues an a uto ma ted invoice followed

by a reminde r follow ed by fina l notice if pa yment o f the invoice has not

be en rece ived . If pa yment is not m ade , no further rec overy ac tion is

taken a s no staff a re spe c ifica lly alloc a ted to pursue the o verpa yment.

For RR c ases, all overpa yments c rea ted , othe r than fraudulent

ove rpayments, are transferred to a sub a c count of the housing ’s rent

ac count. The d eb tor is then no tified of the overpa yment o utstanding b y

the e sta te m anage r, who is a lso responsib le fo r rec ove ring the d eb t.

Plymouth attempt to recover fraudulent overpayments by invoices sent

to the c laimant.

There a re inherent inc onsistenc ies in the wa y overpa yments a reac tioned and me thod s of rec ove ry betw een RA and RR overpa yments.

Plymouth doe s not have a n a ll-encom passing p olic y in respec t of

ove rpayments. It b ec ame c lear during our d isc ussions with

ma nag eme nt that no one in Plymouth is ac c ounta ble or has ove ra ll

responsibility fo r the rec overy of HB deb t. This is of serious c onc ern and

need s immed iate ma nag eme nt attention.

We rec ommend tha t Plymouth designa tes an o ffice r to be fully

responsible for deb t rec overy and debt ma nagement to ensure

full priority is give n to the rigorous co llec tion of outstanding

overpayments.

Identific a tion and c lassific a tion of overpayments

Befo re rec ove ring an overpa yment it is nec essary for an o ffic er of

the LA to :

de termine the a mount of o verpa id be nefit

estab lish the rea son fo r the o verpa yment.

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Findings


2.353 Plymouth was unab le to tell us the numb er of identified

overpa yments for the last c om plete yea r, but c ould g ive the ir moneta ry

va lue. Figure 2.40 ind ic a tes the va lue o f HB payments rec orded for that

pe riod by c ateg ory.

Fig. 2.40: Value o f HB overpa ym ents rec orded in 1999/ 2000

Category RR

(£)

RA

(£)

BA error 605 457

LA error 65,388 87,084

Fraud 33,351 64,778

Claimant error/other 321,669 545,604

Total 421,013 697,923

Source : Plymouth

2.354 To assess Plymo uth’ s a rrangem ents for d ea ling with

overpa yments, we samp led 68 c ases selecte d a t rando m. Of the 68

cases, 37 were RA a nd 31 RR overpa yments. Figure 2.41 shows our

findings in respec t o f the RA c ases.

Fig. 2.41: RA overpayment classifications

Plymouth’s c lassification Correc t c lassification

Classifica tion (£) Fraud

(£)

LA error

(£)

Other

(£)

Tota l

(£)

Fraud 3,680.66 3,680.66 - - 3,680.66

LA error 624.28 - 534.60 89.68 624.28

Other 4,323.45 - 40.11 4,283.34 4,323.45

Total 8,628.39 3,680.66 574.71 4,373.02 8,628.39


2.355

2.356

•

•

We found tha t Plymouth ha d correc tly classified 29 (78%) of RA

ove rpayments from o ur samp le.

Of the remaining 8 RA overpayments, we found £197.49 (2%) of

the to ta l ove rpayment value to b e inco rrec tly c lassified , with 6 of the

cases for amo unts und er £5.00 for sp lit c lassifica tions. The remaining 2

cases were:

an overpayment o f £85.00 c lassified as LA error tha t should ha ve

bee n c lassified as other error

an overpa yment o f £30.80 c lassified as other error tha t should have

bee n LA error as Plymouth was in rec eipt o f the c hange o f ad dress

deta ils of the c la ima nt.

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Findings


2.357 Figure 2.42 shows our findings in classification of overpayments in

respec t o f the 31 RR c ases samp led.

Fig. 2.42: RR overpa ym ent c lassifica tions

Plymo uth’s c lassification Correc t c lassification

Classifica tion (£) Fraud

(£)

LA error

(£)

Other

(£)

Total

(£)

Fraud 5,673.73 5,637.73 - - 5,673.73

LA error 785.88 - 652.53 133.35 785.88

Other 2,219.09 - 101.66 2,117.43 2,219.09

Total 8,678.70 5,637.73 754.19 2,250.78 8,678.70


2.358

2.359

•

•

•

•

2.360

•

•

•

In respec t of RR overpayments, Plymouth ha d c orrec tly classified

24 (77%) of RR overpayme nts. We fo und none o f the 7 inc orrec t RR

c lassifica tions of o verpa yment ha d bene fit expe nd iture subsidy

implica tions. Whilst the re w as no effe c t on subsidy, inc orrec t

c lassifica tion does a ffec t the accuracy and ana lysis of reasons for

overpa yment and therefore p rovide s inac curate ma nag eme nt

information.

Of the 7 RR overpayme nts which w ere incorrec tly classified , we

found:

3 cases to the va lue £18.90 had bee n inco rrec tly classified as othe rra ther than LA e rror

one ove rpayment for £284.13, rea ssessed and c orrec ted on the

same day, should have b een c lassified as other but c lassific a tion

had be en a utoma tically sp lit b etwe en o ther and LA error. A repo rt is

run to p ic k up these c ases but it is dep end ent on ac tion b y the

senior of ficer. This case had been a ssessed on 11 February but still

had not b een c orrec ted over 5 weeks later

one ove rpayment of £4.20 which shou ld be o ther but wa s c lassified

as LA error

2 ove rpayme nts for of £82.76 classified as LA e rror which should b e

other error.

Our sample showed that there were weaknesses in classification

of ove rpayments. Plymouth’ s failure to incorpo ra te a ny che c king

reg ime on o verpa yments means it c annot b e a ssured of the qua lity and

effec tiveness of w ork in this a rea . By failing to m ake app rop ria te c hec ks

Plymo uth is missing the op portunity to :

ma intain a nd raise stand a rds

identify any w ea knesses and resolve them be fore the y be com e a n

issue

identify spec ific tra ining nee ds for ind ividua l sta ff.

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Findings


•

•

2.361

2.362


monitors the ac curac y of classifica tion to provide

management information on the reason for overpayments and

provide s ap prop riate training to staff

monitors and takes ap prop riate ac tion on reports identifying

reassessments by c rea ting ap propriate c redits or de bits toensure overpayments are c lassified correc tly.

Rec overing overpayments There a re numb er of ways in which a n LA c an a ttemp t to recover

overpa id HB. A we ll-pe rforming LA w ill consider a ll the se op tions when

de termining the metho d of rec overy to use, and will com ply with the

legislative req uirem ents.

We found Plymouth’ s HB deb t ha d inc rea sed by 42% from Ma rch

1998 to Ma rch 2000. This is sho wn in Figure 2.43.

Fig. 2.43: Outstanding HB debt

RA RR Tota l

Tota l HB de bt a t 31 March

1998

1,093,117 475,506 1,568,623

Tota l HB de bt a t 31 March1999

1,298,467 658,599 1,957,066

Total d eb t outstand ing a t 31

March 2000

1,490,087 735,368 2,225,455

Source : Plymouth

2.363 Figure 2.44 ind ica tes how muc h Plymouth ha s rec ove red in

respec t o f RA o verpa yments for the last 3 com plete yea rs.

Fig. 2.44: RA overpaym ent rec overy 1997/98 – 1999/2000

Total amount rec overed (£)

1997/ 98 1998/99 1999/2000

From ongoing HB 440,771 462,507 450,780

By invoice/cash

recovery

288,710 236,573 242,967

Total 729,481 699,080 693,747

Source : Plymouth

2.364 Figures 2.43 and 2.44 indica te tha t HB deb t has increa sed , but

rec overy of the de bt ha s red uce d.

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Findings


2.365 Plymouth ha s not used a ll me thod s of rec ove ry ava ilab le. It ha s

relied on only 2 rec ove ry methods in respec t o f RA overpa yments:

• rec overy from o ngo ing b enefit

• XXXXXX



XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2.367

2.368

2.369

It transfers the ma jority o f RR ove rpayments to a sub acc ount o f

the rent a cc ount a nd ha s a po or rec ord of rec overy in respe c t of these

de bts as deta iled be low .

Our samp le o f 68 RA a nd RR ove rpa yments show s tha t the re wa s

limited use o f all me ans of rec ove ry, other than from ong oing b ene fit for

RA c ases.

Deta ils of the me thods of rec ove ry used in our samp le a re in

Figures 2.45 and 2.46. Figures ta ke into c onsidera tion part rec overy using

more than one mea ns.

Fig. 2.45: Method of recovery of overpayments used in RA c ases sam pled

Rec overy method Number of cases % cases

From ongoing HB 21 68

By invoice/ cash rec overy 7 22

Legal proceedings (includinguse o f sec tion 75(7)) 0 0

No ongoing recovery 3 10


2.370 From our samp le, 93% of RR overpayme nts were t ransferred to a

sub ac count of housing ’s rent a cc ount . Of the se a c counts, 72% show ed

all or pa rt of the de bt ha d be en rec overed .

Fig. 2.46: Method of recovery of overpayments used in RR cases sampled

Rec overy method Number of cases % cases

By invoice/ cash rec overy 1 3

Transferred to sub a ccount o f

rent ac count – deb t being

recovered

20 72

Lega l proc eed ings 1 3

Transferred to sub a ccount o f

rent ac count – no deb t

recovered

6 22


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Findings


Rec overing RA overpayments

Fig. 2.47: Rec overy of overpa ym ent RA samp le

Tota l

amount

Ongoing

benefit

Invoic e Offset Write-o ff Tota l

Complete

3,455.96 1,588.78 494.84 511.40 860.94 3,455.96

Part 1,393.11 538.36 206.52 214.31 0 959.19

None 3,779.32 0 0 0 0 0

Total 8,628.39 2,127.14 701.36 725.71 860.94 4,415.15


2.371

2.372

2.373

Plymouth m akes go od use o f ded uc tions from ong oing b enefit

from c la ima nts in respec t o f RA c a ses. When a live c la im has been

ad justed staff a re a wa re o f the requireme nt to rec over the

overpa yment from c ontinuing be nefit e ntitleme nt. From our sam ple o f

RA cases, £4,210.57 of the total £8,628.39 debt is on live claims. Our

ana lysis show ed tha t £2,127.14 ha s bee n recove red from ong oing

benefit.

From our samp le we found we ekly ded uc tions set ma inly at £5.00.

We asked Plymouth why the d ed uc tions had b ee n set a t this leve l and

were informed tha t it wa s a historica l dec ision. Plymouth to ld us tha t it

wa s awa re o f the requirem ent to set stand ard m aximum rate of

rec ove ry from cont inuing b ene fit a t £7.95 and £10.40 (in respec t o f fraud

ove rpayments) plus up to ha lf of any d isreg arded amo unt. Plymouth

provide d an o verpa yment rep ort that p roved that ove rpa yments

created since Oc tobe r 2000 were b eing d ed ucted at the ap propriate

levels.

In our samp le w e a lso found som e c ases befo re Oc tober 2000

where the a mount being ded uc ted wa s in excess of the rate s la id out in

the new provisions. Plymouth ha d not reviewed these c ases and we

ad vised it to review and adjust the d ed uc tions dow nwa rds a t the

ea rliest op portunity.

2.374 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. We

are c onc erned tha t there a re serious deficienc ies in Plymouth’ s current

rec ove ry of HB ove rpayments due to :

•

•

•

inad eq uate ma nag ement informa tion and c ontrol

inadeq ua te sta ff resourcing

use not b eing ma de of a ll rec overy me thod s ava ilable.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings

pa ge 100 BFI inspe c tion: Plymouth City Co unc il

2.380

2.381

2.382

2.383

2.384

Although Plymouth ded uc ts RA ove rpayments from ong oing

benefit it does no t use th is recovery method for RR c ases. We c onside r

tha t b y not d ed uc ting from ong oing b ene fit in RR c ases, Plymouth is

failing to rec over overpa yments effec tively and trea ting RA c la ima nts

and RR tenants ineq uita b ly.

The responsib ility for rec overy of HB overpayme nt in Plymo uth lieswith the HD. There is a we ekly elec tronic transfer of HB payme nts from

HBIS to the housing ma nage ment system . Changes introd uc ed by

Plymouth in January 2001 me an tha t fraud o verpa yments a re no long er

inc luded in the transfer. Instea d these o verpa yments a re referred to the

Sund ry Deb to rs system fo r invoic ing.

Plymouth ho lds the o verpa yment sep ara tely from the rent

ac count to d istinguish the ove rpayme nt from the rent raised and

payments tha t a re ma de. Tena nts a re a lso p rop erly notified tha t the

payment soug ht is in respec t o f ove rpa id HB.

Onc e the ove rpayment deb t is ra ised on the housing system , an

overpa yment letter and p ayme nt ca rd a re issued to the d eb tor. In

add ition, a 3 monthly rem inder letter is sent to ea c h live a cc ount

ad vising o f the c urrent b alanc e o utstand ing. If no p ayment o r

arrangem ent is ma de it be com es the responsib ility of the ind ividua l

esta te m ana ge r to ta ke further follow -up ac tion.

Figure 2.48 shows RR overpa yments for the last 3 yea rs.

Fig. 2.48: RR overpaym ents (£)

1998/ 99 1999/ 2000 2000/ 01 Total

HB overpayments 354,933 317,180 302,466 974,579

Transfers/ ac count

adjustments*

-38,509 -53,410 -22,479 -114,398

Write-offs -43,938 -70,133 -28,150 -142,221

Payme nts fromdebtors

-88,778 -110,316 -86,262 -285,356

Tota l outstand ing 183,708 83,321 165,575 432,604

Source : Plymouth

Note: * in ag reem ent with the c laima nt, offsetting the d eb t aga inst a c red it

on the rent ac count

2.385 Plymouth is ma king effo rts to rec ove r overpa yments in respec t o f

RR c ases as the figures show . Of the ove rpayment d eb t on the housing

ma nage ment system , 29% has been re-pa id by de b tors and 15% had

be en w ritten o ff. A further 12% had be en rec overed, in ag reement with

the c la ima nt, by o ffsetting the d eb t ag ainst a c red it on the rent

ac count . Of the tota l deb t raised sinc e Ap ril 1998, 44% rem ains

outstanding.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


2.386

2.387

2.388

2.389

2.390

Each esta te m ana ge r rec eives a weekly rep ort show ing over and

underpa yment ac tivity for the p rec ed ing w ee k for their a rea . There is

a lso a we ekly rep ort show ing a summ ary and deta ils of outstand ing

overpa yment d ebt.

Plymouth c onfirme d tha t there we re no spec ific ta rgets set fo r

rec ove ry of RR ove rpayment deb t. We w ere advised by Housing tha t itwa s the ind ividua l esta te ma nager’s responsib ility fo r further recove ry

action.

Plymouth told us that historically RR overpayment recovery had

a lwa ys bee n the responsib ility of the HD, we a re c onc erned tha t

Plymouth is not using a ll method s of rec ove ry a va ilab le and is fa iling to

ma ximise rec ove ry of deb ts. In p a rticular, by no t recove ring RR deb ts

from ong oing bene fit Plymouth is missing an opportunity to imp rove its

rec overy ra te and is trea ting RR d ifferently from RA HB overpayme nts.

From our samp le o f ove rpayment c ases, we found 26 of the 31 RR

overpa yment c ases were transferred to the sub ac count of housing’ s

rent a c count. We found that of the 5 ca ses not transferred , one w as an

ove rpayment of £77.25. The o ther 4 ca ses we re no t true ove rpayments

as they we re subseq uently offset aga inst a rrea rs of bene fit.

Our find ings on the rem a ining 26 RR overpa yments a re shown

in Figure 2.49.

Fig. 2.49: Rec overy o f overpa ym ent RR sam ple

Numb er Tota l

amount

Payment

from

debtors

Offset Write-off Tota l

Complete 13 782.82 81.72 699.58 1.52 782.82

Part 6 6,276.23 191.06 228.23 0 419.29

None 7 1,374.69 0 0 0 0

Total 26* 8,433.74* 272.78 927.81 1.52 1,202.11


Note: * numbe r and value exc lude overpa yments not transferred to sub

ac count of housing’s rent a ccount

2.391

2.392

From our samp le w e found tha t of the RR ove rpayments

transferred just o ver 3% wa s rec ove red as a result o f a c tion b y esta tes

managers.

Plymouth's HD doe s not c onsider rec ove ry of HB ove rpayment a s

its ma in priority. Plymouth informe d us tha t the rec overy proc ess is suc h

tha t the m ain responsibility of the e sta te m anager is the red uc tion of

rent arrears, followed by HB overpayments.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


2.393

•

•

•

2.394

2.395

•

•

2.396

•

•

•

2.397

•

•

•

•

2.398

The Housing Comm ittee rep ort da ted 29 Janua ry 2001 in respec t

of Rev iew o f Arrea rs Rec overy Polic y identifies the order of deb t

collection as:

c urrent tena ncy a rrea rs

HB ove rpayment

former tenant a rrea rs.

This c lea rly inhibits Plymo uth’ s ab ility a nd spee d of rec overing RR

HB overpayments.

All RR ove rpa yments a re t ransferred to the housing ma na ge me nt

system irrespec tive of whe the r the c laima nt is in rec eip t of HB. We fo und

that from the sam ple of 7 c ases where no p ayment had b een rece ived ,

5 ca ses to the va lue o f £339.21 were in rec eipt o f HB and ded uc tions

co uld ha ve bee n mad e from ong oing b enefit.


ma kes deduc tions from ong oing benefit for all RR cases where

the c laimant is in rec eip t of HB and stops transferring

overpayments to the sub a ccount of the rent account in these

cases

sets app ropriate ta rgets in respec t of RR ove rpaym ent

recovery.

Op era tion Rec la im Conc ern with overpa yment rec overy promp ted Plymouth to

undertake 'Op eration Rec la im', an exerc ise sta rted in Novemb er 2000with a rem it to inc rea se the effec tiveness in the rec ove ry of ove rpa id HB

by:

doc umenting working p rac tic es and polic ies

using a ll rec ove ry op tions

using c ourt ac tion to recover outstanding d eb t.

Plymouth alloc ated one inco me offic er and a temp orary inco me

assistant to run the projec t a nd take a c tion to rec over the overpa yment

deb t. The o verpa yments we re selec ted using the fo llow ing c riteria :

debtors in excess of £1,000

HAs

deb ts in current financ ia l yea r

deb ts from land lords rec eiving be nefit p ayment d irec t.

Part of the exercise w as a lso to identify and , where app rop ria te,

write o ff rem aining outsta nd ing ove rpayments from an exercise

unde rtaken in 1995 c alled ‘O pe ration Conva lesc enc e’ .

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


2.399 Rec overy ac tion in respec t of 90 c ases with a va lue of £162,344.11

wa s initiated in Janua ry 2001 and wa s due fo r review a t the e nd of

March 2001.

Figure 2.50 shows the situation as at 23 March 2001.

Fig. 2.50: Operation Rec laim rec overy of overpa yment

Position as at 23 March 2001 Numb er % of cases Debt

(£)

% of total

debt

Amount

recovered(£)

Payme nt on issue o f first lette r 18 32 5,311.26 6 5,311.26

Payment from ongoing

benefit

7 12 9,773.64 10 222.60

Instalment arrangement 4 7 11,676.20 12 527.65

Payment from other benefits 1 2 2,613.76 3 0

Referred to Leg al 27 47 64,112.16 69 355.24

Total 57 100 93,487.02 100 6,416.75

Source : Plymouth

2.400

•

•

•

•

•

2.401

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

The e xerc ise ha s bee n limited to 90 cases and a lthough it has

bee n in op eration fo r a relatively short pe riod of time, Plymouth wrote

off 33 of the c ases and soug ht to rec ove r ove rpayments in 57 cases by:

issuing a 10-da y no tice lette r

de duc ting p ayment from o ther be nefits

a rrang ing rep ayme nt b y instalments

identifying deb tors who are in rec eipt o f ong oing HB and ma king

ded uc tions from benefit

refe rring c ases to Leg a l to reg ister the deb t with the c ounty co urt.

Of the 27 c ases refe rred to Leg a l as a t 23 March 2001, ac tion has

a lrea dy be en instiga ted in respec t of 15 ca ses:

one c ase ha s pa id up in full £355.24 on rec eipt o f a lette r from Leg a l

2 ca ses are on ho ld as a result of p ayment a rrange ment ma de to

the va lue £4,436.45

judg eme nt has be en o b tained and oral examination issued in 4

c ases in respec t o f £13,948.01

judgem ent has been obta ined in 2 cases in respec t o f £1,456.03

one c ase has had a c ourt app lica tion issued for £4,917.20

4 cases have had proceedings issued in respect of £9,489.60

one c ase to the va lue o f £1,190.00 has had ad vice from Leg al tha t

lega l ac tion c annot p roc eed due to a d iscrepa ncy with adetermination notice.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


•

•

•

2.409

2.410

•

•

2.411

•

•

•

•

2.412

2.413

2.414

2.415


lea rns lessons from Operation Rec laim and ensures it sets up

effec tive proce dures to rec over of all HB ove rpa yment debts

effectively by December 2001

regularly monitors cases on the d eb t system ag ainst HB c laims

to ensure opp ortunities are not m issed to recover from ongo ingbenefit

uses all methods of rec overy to maximise the o pp ortunity to

rec over outstanding d ebt.

Overpayments ma nag ement Effec tive rec overy of deb t ca n only be a chieved throug h effic ient

management.

Plymouth’s HB overpayment recovery policy statement dated

24 Novem ber 2000 sta tes tha t the Revenues Division w ill set annua l

targets for the rec overy of de b t a nd ma intain reg ula r monitoring of the

rec overy ra te . The Revenues Division ob jec tives and key ta sks for

2000/ 01 has set ove rpayment ta rge ts as:

ensuring the a mo unt of overpa yment d oe s not rise a bove 1.8% of

be nefit p aid

ac hieving 50% rec ove ry o f overpa yments (excluding CTB).

The set ting of and mo nitoring of ta rgets is essential in:

p roviding sta ff with c lea rly ident ifiab le a ims and o b jec tives

assessing effec tiveness of rec ove ry m etho ds and a rea s of

improvement

identifying the app rop ria teness of ta rge ts set

allowing the LA to b enc hmark and c omp are performa nce .

We found no e vide nce o f monitoring o f targets and Plymouth

confirmed that it had not identified any other targe ts or initiate d any

mo nitoring o f pe rformanc e outside the e xercise Op eration Rec la im.

Fa ilure to set and mo nitor ta rgets is very po or and req uires

imme diate ma nag eme nt a ttention. Without m onitoring, Plymouth

cannot b e a ssured of the effec tiveness of reco vering overpa yments

from c la ima nts or former claima nts.

The ineffectiveness has been exac erba ted by the lac k of a

ded ic a ted tea m to rec ove r ove rpayments. This has resulted in a lac k of

ac counta bility and respo nsib ility in the area of d eb t reco very. At the

time o f our inspec tion, Plymouth w as c onsidering introduc ing an

overpa yment team a nd ha d submitted a report to Com mittee.

Subseq uent to our visit we were to ld the repo rt had been ap p roved .

From our sam p le o f overpayment c ases we found no evide nc e o f

any ma nag eme nt chec ks. Plymouth c onfirmed that it do es notunde rtake any che cks in respe c t of ove rpa yment c alculation,

c lassifica tion a nd rec ove rab ility.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


2.416

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

2.417

2.418

2.419

Mana gem ent c hec ks should be targete d on overpayment w ork

to p rovide mo re a ssuranc e tha t it is effec tive. Struc tured chec ks wo uld

help to identify:

inc onsisten t w ork p rac tic es

non c omp lianc e w ith work proced ures

we aknesses in w orking p roc ed ures

training a nd developmenta l need s of sta ff.

We recom mend tha t Plymouth introd uces:

manageme nt chec ks of at least 10% of the weekly

overpaym ent caseload to provide a ssuranc e of the ac curac y

of c alc ulation and c lassifica tion and ensure staff work

consistently and comp ly with the written p roc edural guidance

a d edic ated team responsible for the rec overy of

ove rpa yments to ensure c onsistenc y, effec tiveness and

ownership recovering overpayments

mea ningful and ac hievable recovery performance targets to

allow ac curate assessment of its pe rformance

monitoring and a nalysis to ensure tha t the most ap propriate

and effec tive recovery method is used .

Fraud

Organisation Fraud investiga tions form p a rt o f the custom er servic es branc h o f

the Revenue s Division. The sec tion was restruc tured in Feb ruary 2000,

follow ing a review of the Reve nues Division in p rep ara tion for

deve lop ing a servic e which would fully mee t the req uirem ents of BV.

Sta ff in the v isiting team c a rry out fraud investiga tions. Sta ff a re

expec ted to cover a rang e o f visiting functions, inc luding w elfa re a nd

CT visits as we ll as fraud wo rk. At the time of our on-site w ork, we we re

ad vised tha t the fraud te am lea der had been o n long -term sic k lea ve

since November 2000.

Plymouth to ld us that fraud investiga tion wo rk would b e e xpe c ted

to ma ke up approximate ly 50% of VO s' ac tivity. In d iscussion w ith sta ff

we esta b lished tha t this wa s not the c ase. Time spent on fraud wo rk by

visiting sta ff va ried c onsiderably, rang ing from 10% for som e to 100% for

others.

During the visit, we rea ched the conc lusion tha t the d iversity of

work within the d ivision a nd a lloc at ion o f duties am ong sta ff mea nt tha t

the visiting section is not achieving its generic objectives.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


2.427 We a lso c hec ked to see w hat statuto ry guides and othe r c od es

are a va ilable to visiting sta ff. The a va ilab le c od es and guides we re:

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

•

2.428

2.429

•

•

2.430

2.431

2.432

•

•

•

•


No c op y o f the Inc om e-relate d Bene fits (Subsidy to Autho rities)

Orde r 1998 is held on the visiting sec tion a nd sta ff, inc luding tho se w ho

we re responsib le fo r va lida ting WBS, co uld no t recollec t see ing a c op y.

Before we left Plymouth, a c op y wa s tracked d ow n to the revenues

support sec tion.

We a lso noted that Plymouth did not have a c od e of c ond uct for

visiting sta ff, but ha s inc luded the d ra fting and introd uc tion of suc h acod e a s one of its 2001/ 02 ob jec tives.


provides staff involved in the c laiming, ma nageme nt checking

and validation of WBS with at lea st the releva nt pa rts of the

Subsidy Order and guida nce to ensure with this is followed

correctly

drafts and implements a code of c onduc t which a dd resses the

standards expec ted of investigation a nd visiting staff in their

dealings with the p ublic a nd other bodies.

Targets

The performa nc e of the visiting sec tion fraud wo rk is judged

a lmost exc lusively on a chievement of WBS. The ta rget p laced upon sta ff

is to avoid a subsidy red uc tion. The 2000/ 01 ac tion p lan d oe s ma ke

reference to a c hieving

4 prosec ution and adm inistrat ive p ena lty c ases by the e nd of

Dece mb er 2000 but these w ere no t ac hieved .

Whilst Plymouth c ould a rgue that the lac k of a de quate ly trained

fraud sta ff limited the rang e a nd scop e fo r fraud wo rk in 2000/ 01, wenote d tha t the o nly performa nc e-ba sed ta rget fo r 2001/ 02 is a lso WBS

based . The investiga tion of fraud wo uld b e m ore effec tive if the visiting

team’ s ta rgets we re less foc used on WBS.

Plymo uth ha s:

provide d extensive fraud tra ining to a ll visiting fraud sta ff

introd uce d an anti-fraud strateg y

ad op ted a sanc tion polic y

introd uced a range o f ope ra tiona l guides.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


2.433

•

•

•

•

2.434

2.435

2.436

2.437

2.438

How eve r, Plymouth has missed the op portunity to me asure

imp rove ments in performa nc e b y inc lud ing non-subsidy targe ts based

on improving the rang e and qua lity of fraud investiga tory work.

We rec ommend tha t Plymouth reviews its pe rforma nce indic ators

so that it ca n provide m ore ba lanced targe ts and mea sures on,

at the very least:

file holdings

outp uts of work

qua lity and e ffec tiveness of performa nce

use o f ava ilab le sanc tions.

Fraud referra ls BFI’s Good Prac tice Guide notes the imp ortant pa rt good qua lity

refe rra ls have to p lay in the d ete c tion of bene fit fraud. Plymouth has

introd uc ed gu idanc e c riteria fo r refe rra ls, whic h is ma inly ta rgete d a tselec tion of new c la ims dee me d a pprop ria te fo r visiting.

The refe rra l proc ess in place c a lls for a ll refe rrals to be sent to the

sen ior custome r service officers. Referra ls can be sent on a sta nd a rd

refe rra l form elec tronica lly by DIP, as a p aper docume nt by post or by

e-mail. A sta nd a rd refe rra l form is used . We e xamined the refe rra l form

and c onsidered it to be suitab le fo r its purpose.

Plymouth to ld us tha t, on rec eipt of the refe rra l, the senior

custom er service o fficers c hec k the qua lity of refe rra l and dec ide

whe ther an investiga tion should be und ertaken. If rejec ted the referra l isreturned to the originator with full reasons for rejection. No record is kept

of these c ases.

Plymouth estima tes tha t it rec eives 15 refe rra ls a we ek of whic h it

ac cep ts 90%. These refe rra ls a re a lloc a ted either d irec tly to ind ividua l

office rs, or by the DIP system to a hold ing tray whe re they a re p assed to

officers in stric t da te order.

In addition, the senior customer service officers examine daily all

new c la ims, non-returned c laims, retu rned post a nd selec t c ases

suitab le for visiting . Selec tion is based on Plymouth’ s definition of high

risk, whic h is:

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

•

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


2.439

2.440

2.441

The selec tion of poten tially high-risk c laims is a positive step by

Plymouth to ta rge t its pe rc eived da nge r a rea s, ba sed on the loc al

knowled ge of the senior officers. How eve r, this wo rk needs to be based

upon a forma l assessme nt o f past risk to the autho rity. Plymo uth has no t

done this but it is expe c ted tha t FMS will enab le the visiting team to

review the v isiting ac tivity in the future to ana lyse results. This fa ilure

could result in cont inuing visiting w here the re has either be en no fraud

or very limited inc idenc e o f fraud ac tivity. The result wo uld be a wa sted

resource better used undertaking a lternat ive fraud wo rk.

From Plymouth’ s visits da ta base we loo ked a t c ases selec ted for

visit d uring Oc tober and Nove mb er 2000. There w ere 764 entries, of

which 536 (70%) had late r bee n d e-selec ted for visit. This indica tes over-

selec ting o f c ases and supports our ea rlier com ments tha t Plymo uth

nee ds to app ly risk assessment to its p roa c tive wo rk to achieve mo re

ma nage d a nd q ua lity driven visiting work.

We a lso und ertook an a na lysis of the fraud informa tion held b yPlymouth o n fraud outc om es from April 2000 to the end of Novem be r

2000. Our find ings on visiting a c tivity and WBS earned a re in Figure 2.51.

Fig. 2.51: Breakdown of WBS claimed

Type of benefit Claimed at 100%

(£)

Claimed at 75%

(£)

RA 24,371 309,745

RR 31,117 99,692

CTB 14,025 23,950

IS/ JSA 6,471 1,252

Total 75,984 434,639


2.442

2.443

It is c lear from the se results tha t Plymo uth ha s relied very heavily

on non-residenc y chec ks to ea rn sub sidy. Of the WBS c laimed, 85% was

c laimed at the 75% rate .

We a lso looked a t the area s of w ork gene ra ting the visiting

ac tivity. These find ings a re rec orded a t Figure 2.52.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


Fig. 2.52: Breakdown o f visiting ac tivity 2000/ 01

Basis for visit Numb er of cases Numb er of visits WBS c laim ed (£)

New claims 686 1,170 165,617

Proac tive work 213 373 116,506

Non returnedrenewals

193 251 74,008

HMOs 71 125 16,213

Data matching 34 72 49,804

Returned post 42 50 47,730

Other 312 525 40,742

Total 1,551 2,566 510,620


2.444

•

•

•

2.445

2.446

2.447

These findings show tha t new c laim visiting prov ided 46% of visiting

ac tivity and prod uc ed 32% of WBS c la ime d. Other (unspec ified ) wo rk

ac counted for 20% of a c tivity, but p rod uced only 8% of WBS c la ime d .

Most productive areas were:

proa c tive wo rk (14% ac tivity p rod uc ing 23% of WBS c laimed )

data ma tc hing (3% ac tivity p rod uc ing 10% of WBS c la imed)

returned post (2% ac tivity produc ing 9% of WBS c laimed).

This limited ana lysis shows tha t even with only a restric ted amo unt o f

da ta it is possib le to identify most a nd lea st p rod uc tive a rea s of w ork

tha t could b e used to d irec t future visiting ac tivity.

Due to limited d ata held, Plymouth w as not a ble to provide a ny

deta iled sta tistica l informa tion on the numb er, source , type, or

outc om es from a ll refe rra ls rec eived . We w ere ab le to ob ta in som e

informa tion on the numb er of visits undertaken in 1999/2000 and how

ma ny of these referred to fraud wo rk.

We found tha t d uring 1999/2000 Plymouth c arried ou t 3,989 visits,of which 499 (13%) led to WBS c laims. Of the to ta l number o f visits, 676

were fraud visits, of w hich 98 (14%) led to WBS c laims.

These f ind ings sho w tha t 401 (80%) WBS c laims in 1999/2000

resulted from non-fraud visits. These findings p rov ide further sup port to

the results ob ta ined from our samp ling of fraud wo rk for 2000/01 which

show tha t the overwhelming ma jority of WBS c laims (67%) were c laimed

at the 75% ra te, a s a result of no n-residenc y typ e ac tivity.

8/14/2019 bfi plymouth01-2002


Findings


•

•

2.448

•

•

2.449

2.450

2.451

2.452

•

•

•

We recommend tha t Plymouth adop ts a w ider risk-b ased

ap proach to c laims selec ted for proac tive visiting. It should a lso

analyse the results and e ffec tiveness of past visiting ac tivity to

ensure future fraud w ork:

conc entrates on those catego ry of claim a nd po stal districts

found to p rovide the highest risks to Plymouth and when

successfully investigated will lead to a grea ter deterrent

provides a balanc ed a pp roach between fraud investiga tion

ac tivity and non-residenc y visiting.

Proactive work Proa c tive a nti-fraud wo rk ca n take m any forms and can help

imp rove the sec urity o f the bene fits system by:

finding fraud that m ight othe rwise have not be en detec ted

deterring po tential fraud sters from a ttemp ting to d efraud the b enefit

system.

Data ma tching Plymouth’ s anti-fraud stra teg y sta tes tha t it will pa rticipa te in b oth

the Departme nta l Housing Bene fit Matc hing Service (HBMS) and the AC

Nat iona l Fraud Initia tive (NFI). It a lso sta tes tha t Plymo uth will und ertake

internal matching exercises.

Plymouth to ld us tha t it is keen to participa te in all da ta ma tc hing

exerc ises as these c an p rovide a rich ve in o f wo rk. In 2000/01 da ta

ma tc hing ac tivity had acc ounted for around 10% (£50,000) of WBSclaimed.

We found tha t desp ite Plymouth’ s enthusiasm for da ta m atc hing

wo rk, it is und erac hieving in the a rea s of HBMS and internal ma tc hing

exerc ises. Our find ings a re explained in the follow ing paragraphs.

Housing Benefit Ma tc hing Servic e

HBMS is a service run b y BA to he lp LAs. HBMS p rovides LAs with

the o pportunity to identify disc rep anc ies betw ee n HB and CTB rec ords

and , for examp le:

WFTC

awa rds of p riva te p ensions

c essa tion of IS/ JSA.

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Findings


Fig. 2.53: Cumulative HBMS referrals and results

Amount

Referrals rec eived from HBMS 445

Referrals cleared and returned 217 (49%)

Referrals outstanding 228

Positive results 31 (14%)

Tota l WBS c laimed £27,139.52

Total overpayments reported £74,657.94

Source: the Depa rtment

2.453

2.454

2.455

2.456

•

•

•

These results indica te tha t Plymo uth has a low o utp ut a nd strike

rate o n HBMS referra ls. The na tiona l average in these 2 a reas is 80% and40% respec tively. During o ur on-site samp ling of fraud wo rk, we

ident ified 10 HBMS investiga tions. Of the 9 tha t ha d been c onc luded , 7

(78%) had led to p ositive outc om es.

These find ings fa r exc ee d those rep orted to HBMS by Plymo uth.

Our samp ling a lso identified tha t in 6 (67%) of the se c ases, the results

sheet had not b een returned . This could a c count fo r the d isc rep ancy

be tween Plymouth’ s rec orded outp ut and the relatively poo r

performa nc e rec orded b y HBMS.

Plymouth ha s a lso d eferred ac tion on 67 (15%) of its HBMS referra ls

due, it told us, to insufficient resources to undertake investigation work.

No c riterion wa s used for the selec tion o f these ove rloa d c ases, so we

are unab le to com ment on whe ther these c ases selecte d w ere

ap prop riate for such a c tion. Plymouth intende d to reconside r ac tion o n

these c ases whe n resource s a llow ed .

We a lso identified a problem w ith d elays be twee n rec eiving the

ma tch a nd taking the first a c tion. From 10 c ases examined the ave rag e

delay in ta king the first a c tion w as 5 weeks. This c ould have imp lica tions

for the c lassifica tion o f any sub seq uent o verpa yment which the

investiga tion identifies. For example, undue d elay in ac ting up oninformation held c ould result in pa rt of a fraud o r c la ima nt error

overpayme nt being c lassified as LA error w ith resulting loss of subsidy.

We recom mend tha t Plymouth introduc es proc ed ures that will:

ensure p romp t ac tion on rec eip t of an HBMS referra l to co nfirm

validity of matc h

introd uce p riority of ca ses to be investigated or overloaded

ensure tha t HBMS is notified of the results from all cases,

whatever the outcomes.

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Findings


2.457

•

•

2.458

Nationa l Fraud Initia tive

The NFI is an a nnua l servic e to ma tc h d a ta held b y LAs. NFI

provide s LAs with the op portunity to ident ify disc rep anc ies betw ee n HB

and CTB rec ords and other rec ords suc h a s:

student aw ards

payroll.

Plymouth p a rticipa tes in NFI a ltho ugh, as the last exerc ise w as

cond uc ted in Ma rc h 1999, our sam pling d id not ide ntify any o f these

refe rra ls. Plymouth ha d la ter told us tha t received the la test b a tc h o f NFI

ma tches on 14 Ma rch 2001 and prepared a n ac tion p lan for their

com pletion. The ta rge t date for c omp letion of the first outc om es wa s

the 31 March 2001, a lthough Plymo uth a dvised tha t initia l ana lysis

reve a led tha t the leve l of po sitive results wo uld b e m inima l.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX2.459 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


• XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



XXXXXX


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fraud hotline

2.461

2.462

Enc ourag ing referra ls from the p ub lic by means of a fraud hot linecan provide a ric h source o f fraud investiga tion a c tivity. In ad d ition,

pub lic ity a ssoc ia ted with it can b ring the seriousness of b ene fit fraud to

the a ttention of ta xpa yers and inc rea se pub lic awa reness of fraud .

Sta tistics rec eived from BFIS South Devo n Sec to r, which c overs the same

area as Plymouth, show tha t in 2000/ 01 21% of refe rra ls ha ve c om e from

BA's na tiona l hotline .

Plymouth d oe s not have a hot line o r pub lic ise its counter fraud

ac tivity. The anti-fraud stra teg y sta tes that it w ill make a va ilab le a

de d ica ted telepho ne line so tha t the p ublic ma y rep ort suspicion of

be nefit fraud .

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Findings


2.463

2.464

2.465

2.466

2.467

2.468

•

•

•

2.469

Plymouth to ld us tha t it has p lans to introd uc e a n inte rac tive

voice response te lephone service . This wo uld e ither allow a me ssage

ab out fraud to b e c onverted to a n e-ma il which is po sted to the visiting

sec tion ma il bo x or ca lls will be direc ted to a de d ica ted telephone

should the c aller want to talk to a fraud officer. Imp leme ntation wa s

planned for 31 August 2001.

We recom mend tha t Plymouth maximises pub lic ity to ensure that

memb ers of the pub lic a re encouraged to rep ort suspic ions of

fraud a nd are made a ware of the telephone numbe r ava ilab le to

do so.

Do Not Red irec t p ost Sec tion 182A of the SSAA 1992 provides LAs with the pow er to

req uire the Post Office no t to red irec t a ny HB or CTB post, but to return it

to the LA. This c om menc ed in Ma rc h 1999.

Do Not Redirect forms part of Plymouth’s fraud strategy. Plymouthtold us that Do Not Red irec t enve lop es for cheq ue p ost w ere

introd uc ed in Ap ril 2000. This wa s extend ed to a ll post from O c tob er

2000.

Sen ior custome r service offic ers examine a ll returned post on a

da ily basis. Suitab le cases a re then selec ted fo r fraud investiga tion.

There is no monitoring of the sc hem e and no sta tistics a re m a inta ined

which would show either the e ffec tiveness of the sc hem e or any

subseq uent ac tion.

What sta tistics a re ava ilab le show tha t 9% of Plymo uth’ s WBS

c la ims has been a s a result o f retu rned post. In our samp le of fraud wo rk,

we identified 2 investiga tions resulting from returned post, one as a result

of ‘ go ne a wa y’ p ost a nd one a s pa rt of the Do Not Red irec t sc heme.

Using inspec tors’ powers Sec tion 110A and 110B of SSAA 1992 provided for LAs to appoint

inspectors. Inspectors had statutorily defined powers:

of entry

to require the produc tion o f do cume nts

to req uire p eo p le to answe r questions.

Plymouth to ld us tha t a ll of its visiting sta ff had bee n a ppointed

inspe c tors. We saw a c op y of the a pp ointment letter which c om plied

with lega l req uirem ents. These had expired on 12 Ma rch 2001 and were

with the Chief Exec utive for rene wa l. How eve r, these pow ers we re

rep laced from 2 April 2001 by new 'autho rised persons' powe rs.

Plymouth had at tha t time had yet to ma ke a ny ap po intments under

the revised leg islation. Sinc e then Plymouth ha s provide d evide nc e o f

the a pp ointment of a n officer under these new po wers.

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Findings


2.478

2.479

2.480

2.481

2.482

From these 7 cases, the re we re signs tha t

the fraud training ha d imp roved the q uality of

som e investiga tions, as 2 had been w ell

progressed and do cumente d. The rema ining 5

still c onta ined evidenc e o f the delays and poo r

prac tice found in ea rlier ca ses.

Fig. 2.55: Rea sons for que stion ing WBS c la ims

at 75%

Criteria for

Subsidy

Order not

met

23%

Non-

residency

not

established

23%Information

already held

23%

Benefit not

affected

31% Overa ll samp ling reve a led inc onsistenc ies

in the quality of investigative work. Residency

visits, whic h ac counted for 67% of WBS c laims,

req uire m inimal fraud ac tivity o r fraud awa rene ss.

Even so we found 13 (43%) c ases where w e

ra ised c onc erns about the qua lity of investiga tion

unde rtaken and used to supp ort the c laiming o f

a WBS. We a lso c om me nted adversely on 6 (40%)

of o ther investiga tions with a pote ntial fraud

involvem ent. Deta ils c an be found in Figures 2.55

and 2.56.

Sourc e: BFI ana lysis Overa ll, from our samp ling of fraud wo rk,

we c onc lude tha t in 32 ca ses a ll nec essa ry

avenues of enquiry had no t be en ma de and

subseq uently the investiga tion had not been

ca rried out correc tly. Deta ils of spec ific failings

are rec orded la ter in this sec tion of the rep ort.

Fig. 2.56: Rea sons for que stion ing WBS c la ims

at 100%

Fa ilure to undertake an investiga tion

thoroug hly and within lega l guide lines will

prevent Plymouth from ac hieving a ny ob jec tivesit ma y have to wa rds the imp roving o f its fraud

pe rforma nce. Lac k of fraud training w ould ha ve

p layed a part in som e o f our find ings and this is

explored in grea ter de ta il la ter in the report.

Staff expertise

To g ive a n LA the b est c hanc e o f

suc c essfully investiga ting a lleg ations of fraud , it

should be c om mitted to p roviding a c cess to

specialist fraud training for its investigators.Tra ining , how ever, on its ow n is no t enoug h. To be

fully e ffec tive, fraud investiga tors must ha ve an

aptitude for fraud wo rk. This inc ludes having op en, but enquiring mind,

knowing when to cha llenge the a uthenticity of evidenc e a nd

de monstra ting the prac tic al ap plica tion o f tra ining.

Intent not

established34%

Information

already held

33%

No fraud

overpay-

ment

33%

Sourc e: BFI ana lysis

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Findings


2.483

•

•

2.484

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

2.485

•

•

2.486

2.487•

•

•

Although a ll Plymouth’ s VOs ha ve no w rec eived training on a

wide range o f fraud investiga tion a c tivities, for the ma jority this ha s still

be consolida ted . Fraud staff nee d to be p rovided with cha lleng ing

fraud work to p ut into p rac tic e ne w skills ac quired , ga in expe rienc e and

build up c onfidenc e. We believe that without this consolidation,

Plymouth w ill not b e in a position to :

bring a bo ut the c hang es it seeks and provide an effec tive

investiga tion servic e for the authority

assess performa nc e o f sta ff and suitab ility for fraud wo rk.

We ha ve immed iate co ncerns ab out the:

lack of planning for investiga tions

lack of evidenc e to supp ort investiga tion

inc onsisten t sta nda rds of sta tem ents

po or rec ord keep ingfa ilure to rec ord a c tions on log shee ts

lac k of investiga tion d irec tion a nd d ep th

delays

fa ilure to ma ke a ll necessa ry lines of e nq uiry.

Planning investiga tions

Sta ff involved in the investiga tion of fraud a re required to have

reg ard to the C PIA c od e o f prac tic e. This c od e p laces ob liga tions upo n

a ll fraud investiga tors on how they:

investiga te c ases

record and retain information about investigations.

CPIA d efines a c rimina l investiga tion a s:

…an investiga tion c ond ucted by p olice o fficers (and othe r

investiga to rs) with a view to it being a scertained whe ther a

person should be charged with an o ffence , or whether a p erson

c harged with an o ffence is guilty of it.

This will inc lude investiga tions:into c rimes that ha ve been c om mitted

whose p urpose is to a scertain whe ther a c rime has been com mitted,

with a view to the possib le institution o f c riminal p roc eed ings

which beg in in the be lief that c rime m ay b e c om mitted, for examp le

when investigators keep premises or individuals under observation for

a period of time, with a view to the possib le institution of c riminal

proceedings.

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Findings


2.488

2.489

2.490

2.491

2.492

•

•

•

•

2.493

CPIA defines an investigator as being:

…any po lic e o fficer (or other person) involved in the c ond uc t o f

a c rimina l investiga tion. All investiga to rs ha ve a responsibility fo r

c arrying out the duties imp osed on the m und er this c od e,

inc lud ing in pa rticular rec ording informa tion, and reta ining

rec ords of informa tion and othe r mate ria l.

The cod e therefore a pp lies to a ll LA fraud investiga tors, whether

or not they p rosec ute cases themselves. Standa rds imp osed by the

co de ap ply even if at the c omme nce ment o f the investiga tion there

ma y not b e a ny intention to p rosec ute, this is bec ause p rosec ution is

a lwa ys a future possib ility. The collec tion of evide nc e and Interview s

Under Caution (IUCs) are pa rt a nd pa rc el of the p rosec ution proc ess.

CPIA is a lega l req uirem ent a nd therefore ma ndatory.

At Plymouth w e fo und evidenc e to show that investiga tors do not

fully c om ply w ith the req uirem ents of CPIA.

From our samp ling we c onc lude d that there is inad eq uate

previewing of c ases and p lanning lines of enquiry. It is com mo n prac tice

for investiga tors’ first a c tion to be a visit w ithout o b ta ining nec essary

supporting documenta tion. This results in investiga tors not ta iloring the ir

enq uiries to the ind ividua l circ umstanc es of the case. Within our samp le

we found:

6 cases whe re e nquiries we re req uired with either em ployer or

landlord

3 where e nquiries with BA w ere a pprop ria te

5 where a c ross-che c k with the HB bene fit file w ould ha ve p rovide d

essential informa tion

5 ca ses whe re timing of visit fa iled to take into a c count the

c la ima nt’ s c ircumsta nc es, for examp le working .

This fa ilure to p lan is illustrated by the case stud ies desc ribed in

Figures 2.57 and 2.58.

Fig. 2.57: Inadequate investigation preparation – case study 1

Summary

• HBMS refe rra l show ing wo rking and c laiming bene fit match

• Ineffec tive visit mad e to c laima nt’ s ad dress

• 2 further ineffec tive visits ma de to c laimant’ s address

• Employer contac ted and details of c laimant’s period of em ployment

and earnings obtained. Claim cancelled.

BFI comment

Confirmation of employment should have been obtained before

attempt ing to v isit and interview c laima nt. With employment evidenc e

the investigating officer would have been in a position to consider IUC.

WBS c laim w as invalid as there w as no e videnc e tha t the c laima nt wa snot resident. WBS c laim was subseq uently withd rawn.


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Findings


Fig. 2.58: Inadequate investigation preparation – case study 2

Summary

• Visit ma de to c laima nt as there had be en no reply to a renewa l c laim

• Informa tion ob ta ined d uring visit tha t c laimant wa s wo rking . Claimsuspended

• Emp loyer conta c ted to c onfirm emp loyment history. Claim c anc elled

and WBS c laimed .

BFI comment

Had a c hec k been ma de with the benefit file b efore visit, the

investigating officer would have found a n ap plicat ion for extended

payments which provided full details of claimant’s employment. Failure

to und ertake a ba sic c hec k resulted in a m isuse of investiga tion

resources and erroneous subsidy claim.


2.494

•

•

•

•

•

•

−

−

−

−

•

Plymouth ha s guida nce o utlining the required prepa ration a nd

ma intena nc e ne c essa ry for investiga tion files. Neverthe less, our

samp ling ident ified tha t Plymo uth fa ils to:

provide a de qua te informa tion to show w hy a file has be en op ened

– 24 cases

keep a rec ord of a ll ac tions unde rtaken – 35 c ases

rec ord full deta ils of visits and informa tion ob ta ined – 15 cases.

We rec ommend tha t Plymouth undertakes a review o f its proc essfor selec ting cases for visit. This review should ensure tha t future

ac tivity concentrates on ma king the most effec tive use of

resources by identifying cases that:

can be investiga ted without undue delay

are within a high risk c ateg ory.

We rec om mend that Plymouth ensures that:

all investiga tion files contain a c om plete a udit trail by

including information showing:

reason for commencement of investigation

evidenc e ob tained in support of the a llega tion

full rec ord of all ac tions take n and rea sons

comp lete c losure repo rt

staff involved in the investigation o f fraud have full reg ard to

and c omp ly with the CPIA cod e of practice.

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Findings


2.495 We a lso have conc erns ove r investiga tors’ inab ility to see the

extent of the fraud tha t had be en c om mitted. We identified 5 c ases

where, in our op inion, the investiga tion ha d be en e nde d p rema turely

without a ll lines of e nquiry having been exp lored . We a lso identified 5

othe r ca ses whe re, in our op inion, a ny interview und ertaken should

have b een under caution.

Fig. 2.59: Investiga tion ended prematurely – ca se study 1

Summary

• Ineffec tive visit to c laimant’ s address following up non-return of

renew al c laim fo rm

• Further visit ma de. Enquiries with neighb our inc onc lusive

• Claima nt treated as non reside nt and red uced rate WBS c laimed .

BFI comment

Claima nt wa s in pa rt-time work so time s of visits ma y have c oinc idedwith working hours. A chec k should have b een m ad e w ith landlord on

continuing residence. Claimant’s rent had been restricted by £130 a

mo nth, if there we re no o r low rent a rrea rs this could ha ve p ointedtowa rds a suspic ion of a n increase in hours of emp loyment.

No co ntac t wa s ever mad e with emp loyer to establish if there had be enany c hange in claima nt’ s ea rnings. There was a strong susp icion o f fraud

on this case, but a c tion was terminate d onc e investigat ing o fficer

believe d there wa s sufficient information on which to estab lish non

residence.


Fig. 2.60: Investiga tion ended prematurely – ca se study 2

Summary

• HBMS ma tc h showing receip t o f Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

(IIDB)

• Claima nt interviewe d and statement ta ken using pre-printed form

• Bene fits asked to rea ssess c laim and calculate ove rpayment. WBS

claimed.

BFI comment

Claima nt was interview ed befo re ve rifying IIDB awa rd . No q uestions

were put to claimant about failure to report this other income. As IIDB

aw ard spa nned at lea st 3 renew al c laims there wa s evidenc e to sugg est

a de libe rate ac t to withhold informa tion, but establishing intent a nd

possible c rimina l ac t was neve r pursued .

Investiga tion wa s c losed as soon as investiga ting o fficer be lieve d therewa s sufficient informa tion on which to c laim a WBS. How eve r, the

investigating o fficer should ha ve verified the IIDB aw ard a nd cond uc tedan IUC.


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Findings


2.496

2.497

•

•

2.498

•

•

2.499

2.500

2.501

Sta tem ent taking

Fa iling to ob ta in a ll relevant informa tion when interview ing c an

seriously ob struct the fraud investiga tor's c hanc es of esta b lishing tha t

the c laimant (or land lord) ac ted know ingly or with intent.

To dete rmine a fraud , the investiga ting o ffic er must e stab lish tha t

an offenc e ha s oc c urred . This means that evidenc e ne ed s to beob tained o n whic h it ca n be d etermined tha t:

a false sta teme nt or false d oc ument has be en p rovided for the

purpose o f ob taining b enefit

there ha s be en a delibe rate fa ilure to com ply with the o bliga tion to

rep ort a c hang e o f circ umstanc es with intent of ob taining o r

retaining benefit.

Ob ta ining informa tion to he lp e stab lish if a fraud has been

com mitted c an be reg ularly met throug h rob ust interview ing of a lleg ed

offe nd ers. The purpose of this interview ing is to :

ob tain ac cura te and reliable informa tion

ask questions to esta blish the truth.

Plymouth to ld us that, d ue to inexperienc e o f sta ff and lack of

ava ilab le tra ining, it introd uc ed pre-printed dec lara tions, used ma inly on

HBMS c ases, whe re the interview ing o ffice r wa s req uired only to

com plete b lank spa ces. For examp le, the type a nd a mount of

undec lared be nefit.

The use of this dec la ra tion was d iscont inued in Nove mb er 2000

onc e sta ff rec eived tra ining. Use o f this type o f pre-printed dec la ra tioncan be problema tic as it is failing to rec ord the c la ima nt’s ow n wo rds

and explanation or take ac count o f circ umstanc es which ma y arise

during the course o f the interview . It a lso m ea ns investiga to rs fa il to

cond uc t IUCs where a pp rop riate .

At Plymouth w e c om mented on 9 c ases where we c onside red

that a ppropria te a c tion, inc luding IUCs, had no t be en ta ken at the

interview stage. These com me nts ma inly surround ed the use of p re-

printed sta tem ent fo rms and fa ilure to e sta b lish tha t the c la ima nt had

ac ted with inten t. How eve r, we a lso observed tha t in 2 ca ses the

state ment form had be en signe d b y som eone othe r than the c laimant.

This is best illustra te d by the c ase stud ies in Figures 2.61, 2.62 and 2.63.

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Findings


Fig. 2.61: Ineffective statement tak ing – case study 1

Summary

• Ineffec tive visit to c laimant ’s add ress in response to returned post

• Land lord c ontac ted who a dvised that c laimant vac ated without

not ice 6 weeks previously

• Claim c anc elled and red uced rate WBS c laimed .

BFI comment

Land lord wa s be ing p aid rent d irec t, but was never interviewe d ab out

his failure to repo rt that the c laima nt had vacate d. Although overpa id

be nefit w as rep aid this involved the a uthority in work that could have

been avoide d if the land lord had ac ted responsibly. This is a lso a case

where the 'fit a nd prope r' pe rson te st should ha ve b een conside red in

relation to the land lord.



Summary

• HBMS referra l showing und ec lared awa rd of WFTC

• Claima nt visited and stateme nt ta ken rec ording aw ard o f WFTC a nd

earnings

• Benefits asked to re-de termine HB aw ard a nd calculate overpa yment.

WBS c laime d.

BFI comment

Sta tem ent ta ken from c laima nt wa s pre-printed and therefore p rep ared

in advance o f interview. It fa iled to a ddress the rea son fo r failure torep ort the chang e or ma ke any attem pt to e stab lish intent to c omm it

fraud. Using a p re-printed sta tem ent c ould b e seen as ‘ put ting wo rds inthe c laimant’s mouth’. An IUC should have bee n c onduc ted.

Amount o f the WFTC rec orded in the sta tem ent was inco rrec t.


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Findings



Summary

• HBMS ma tc h showing receip t o f IIDB

• Visit m ad e and c laima nt’ s wife interviewed

• Benefits asked t o c lose c laim a nd calculate overpa yment. WBS

claimed.

BFI comment

It wa s inap propriate to interview c laimant’ s wife and to ta ke a sta tement

from her.

There had b een at least 5 claima nt dec lara tions for HB since aw ard o f

IIDB, none of w hich d ec lared this income . In view o f this, the interview

should not only have be en w ith c laima nt, but should a lso ha ve b eendo ne unde r caution. Not only wa s there no IUC, but no a ttem pt w as

ma de to ask questions which c ould ha ve established fraud ulent intent.


We reco mm end tha t, to ensure undisputed evide nce is ob tained

during a n investiga tion, Plymouth fraud office rs must:

•

•

2.502

2.503

2.504

2.505

ask ope n questions of c laimants and land lords ab out the

reasons for not declaring a change of c ircumstance s

prove fraudulent intent, based on the b alanc e o f probab ility,

by a c laimant or landlord.

Sanc tionsIn November 2000, Members endorsed Plymouth’s anti-fraud

stra teg y which includes a com mitment to app ly sanc tions and

prosec utions in a c corda nc e with its ‘ gu idelines for co nsidering cases for

prosec ution’ polic y.

At the same time Plymouth introd uc ed its guidelines for the use of

sanctions.

Plymouth ha s yet to see any positive outc om es from this polic y

chang e a lthoug h we a re a wa re of one c ase with Plymouth’ s leg al

de pa rtment a wa iting the a dministration o f a caution. There wa s a

further ca se w ith the police fo r an arrest d ue to the c laimant’s rep ea ted

failure to ma ke himself ava ilab le for an IUC. We a lso ob served othe r

cases which were was being p rog ressed tow ards dete rrent a c tion.

Interviews und er c aution Althoug h Plymouth o nly rec ently adop ted a prosec ution po lic y, it

had bee n c ond uc ting IUCs befo re this. The 3 me mb ers of sta ff who had

rec eived the nec essary training cond uc ted these interview s. This wa s

red uced to 2 staff w hen o ne o f the o fficers left.

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Findings


2.506 Plymouth p rov ided us with a list o f 14 investiga tions wh ich ha d

included a n IUC. We selecte d 4 of these a nd c om mente d o n them a nd

the 3 IUC c ases identified in our ma in work samp le. We ma de no

adverse c om me nts on 3 of the c ases samp led. A selec tion of our

findings from the remaining 4 is in Figure 2.64.

Fig. 2.64: Comments on IUCs

Comm ent Numb er of incidents

IUC conduc ted without having evidence that IS

had been c laimed. Result was that interview had

to be suspended pend ing verification of IS

c laim s. After 5 mo nths this informa tion wa s still

not held

1

IUC conduc ted on working and c laiming without

having evidence o f emp loyment. This was

essential as claimant disputed period ofemployment

1

Possibility of p rosec ution mentioned without an

allegation having been put to interviewee

2

Interviewee not ad vised that he wa s under

investigation for a c rimina l offenc e a t outset of

IUC

1


2.507

2.508

2.509

These find ings show tha t the re a re p rob lems with IUCs which need

to be ove rcom e if Plymo uth is serious about its desire to app ly sanc tions

against proven fraudsters.

It is essential whe n c ond uc ting a n IUC tha t the Polic e a nd

Criminal Evide nce Ac t 1984 (PACE) cod e o f cond uc t a nd the

Reg ulat ion o f Investiga tory Pow ers Ac t 2000 (RIPA) is c om plied with fully.

Fa ilure to fully c om ply will negate effo rts to esta b lish a fraud .

Sta ff co nduc ting fraud investiga tions should a lso b e a wa re tha t

unac c ounta b le de lays can also seriously a ffect the ability to p rosec ute.

Article 6 of the Europ ea n Co nvent ion of Huma n Rights sta tes tha t

‘e veryone is entitled to a fair and pub lic hea ring within a rea sona bletime’ . Unnec essary de lays c ould b e viewe d a s a c ont ravent ion o f this

Act.

We rec ommend that a ll staff involved in interviewing suspec ted

fraud ulent cla imants whilst under caution must have full regard to

the requirements of PACE cod e of p rac tice and RIPA.

We rec ommend tha t Plymouth ensures that any de lays in taking

forward investigation work are kept to a minimum . If delays do

oc cur, reasons must be fully do cumented.

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Findings


Human Rights

2.510

2.511

2.512

2.513

2.514

2.515

•

•

•

•

2.516

2.517

The Huma n Rights Ac t (HRA) 1998 c ame into force from 2 Oc tob er

2000. This g ives individua ls the o pportunity to enfo rce their rights using

do mestic law rathe r than that of the Europ ea n c ourts.

To c om ply with HRA a ll c rimina l investiga tions must respec t the

ind ividua l’ s right to p rivacy. Therefore a ny investiga ting bod y mustdemonstrate that such an intrusion is essential to the investigation of

fraud.

Proc ed ures and guidanc e a re set o ut in the RIPA w hich in ligh t o f

HRA, was expressly pa ssed to regulate the se m atters. RIPA is a leg a l

req uirem ent and therefore a manda tory

req uirem ent fo r LAs.

Plymouth has put in p lac e

proc ed ures for authorisation of

surveillance which meet

requirements of the RIPA.

Plymo uth has put in plac e p roc ed ures for

authorisa tion of surveillanc e w hich m ee t

requirements of the RIPA.

The ne ed to a pp ly for autho risa tion has yet

to a rise as no surveillanc e has bee n und ertaken

since the introd uction of the Ac t.

Ma nag ing fraud investiga tions BFI’s Good Prac tice Guide highlights the imp ortanc e of

investiga tion ma nagem ent . This is nee ded to p rovide assuranc e o n

area s of w ork suc h a s:com plianc e with the law , reg ula tions and internal p olic ies and

strategies

foc using resource s on the red uc tion of fraud

identifying and rec tifying investiga tive and administra tive

weaknesses

provid ing a ssuranc e to ma nag em ent a nd Mem be rs of the integrity

and quality of investigations

• identifying training needs

• ensuring that investigators’ powers are used properly

• imp lem enting and monitoring performanc e indica tors.

To underta ke the w ork nec essary to p rov ide th is assuranc e, fraud

ma nag ers need to be m ad e aw are of the amo unt of time a lloc ated to

und erta king fraud related responsibilities suc h as performing

ma nage ment chec ks, advising sta ff, ident ifying training ne ed s and

interpreting and ana lysing sta tistica l informa tion.

Sen ior custome r service office rs estima te tha t 60% of the ir time is

spent on fraud relate d issues. How eve r, Plymouth has not inc orpo ra tedany spec ific times or weighting p rovision fo r these fraud ma nagem ent

responsib ilities into the job desc rip tion fo r its ma nage ment te am.

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Findings


•

•

•

•

2.522

2.523

• •

•

•

2.524

2.525

•

•

•

•

•

2.526

•

•

•

•

•

•

mo nito ring mod ified WBS sc hem e a nd prep are fo r 2002 introduc tion

unde rtaking a review of p rosec ution w orking prac tic es

und ertaking a full tra ining nee ds ana lysis

review ing the imp ac t of VF.

We w ere disapp ointed to note that there w ere no p lans to setta rgets for imp roving investiga tion qua lity on individua ls or the tea m.

Reta ining WBS ac hieve ment a s the o nly fraud ta rget c an d irec t sta ff to

a WBS led investiga tion ra ther tha n one o f pote ntial criminal ac tivity.

Our find ings lea d us to c onc lude th is is wha t has happene d in Plymo uth.

Analysing risk

To make certain co unter fraud e ffort is c orrec tly foc used and to

ensure we aknesses in b oth bene fit a dministra tion and investiga tion a re

identified , LAs should c ollec t a nd ana lyse informat ion on:

the num ber and type s of frauds investiga ted

refe rra l sources

the cha rac teristics of fraud sters and the ir bene fit c la ims

the 'suc cess' ra tes assoc ia ted with the d ifferent c om b ina tions.

Plymouth had not c ollec ted suffic ient deta iled data to ena ble

any ana lysis or de ta iled inte rrog a tion to b e c arried out o n past fraud

investiga tions and outcom es. This me ans tha t c urrent fraud wo rk has not

be en informed and led by p ast pe rforma nce and ac hievements.

Plymouth a dvised that available d a ta is used to provideinformation on:

WBS and fraud ove rpayments for tea m a nd ind ividua ls

breakdow n of a rea s of w ork produc ing WBS

area s of unde r ac hievem ent

trend analysis

assessment of performa nc e.

Suc h ana lysis is unlikely to p rov ide informa tion on the wider needs

of the sec tion as it doe s not :p rovide information on rejec ted refe rra ls

identify a rea s that would be nefit from future fraud aw areness

sessions

assess areas of greatest risk

ta rget fraud resource s effec tively

demo nstra te the effec tiveness of fraud op erations

provide outcomes of unsuccessful investigations.

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Findings


2.527

2.528

2.529

2.530

2.531

2.532

2.533

2.534

2.535

The p lanne d investment in a go od qua lity

ma nage ment system , which w ill supp ly

informa tion a nd d ata , should prove to b e

invaluab le to the future effective m ana gem ent

of fraud investiga tion.

The p lanned investment in a

good q uality ma nagement

system , which will supply

informa tion and da ta, should

prove to be invaluable to the

future effec tive m anagement of

fraud investigation.

Suc h a system will p rov ide reliab lema nag em ent informa tion on wo rk unde rtaken,

results achieve d and help inform future d ec isions

on fraud ac tivity.

Publicity

Plymo uth told us tha t it is keen to ma ke use

of pub lic ity to ac t as a d ete rrent to w ould-be

fraudsters.

There w as som e p ub lic ity last yea r following the joint fraud

investiga tion und erta ken w ith BFIS. Plymo uth believes tha t thisdem onstra tes the loc a l med ia ’s inte rest in bene fit fraud relate d stories.

More recently Plymo uth has been invited to submit a c ont ribution

to the Devon & C ornwall c onstabulary’s Plymouth Crime Aud it a nd

Comm unity Sa fety Boo klet . This boo klet a ims to ma ke the c om munity

more sa fety aw are by w orking to ge ther to c om ba t c rime . It has an

aud ienc e o f 90,000 households and businesses in the Plymouth a rea .

Plymouth ha s taken a dva ntag e of this invitation a nd subm itted an

advert for inclusion in this publication.

This is an ide a l op portunity for Plymo uth to ra ise the profile of

be nefit fraud in the Plymouth a rea .

Manag ement c hecks We we re a dvised tha t the senior custom er servic e o ffic ers chec k

a ll file c losures and tha t the y a re a lso responsible for the va lida tion o f

WBS c laims by sign ing fo rm WBS1. This is the form whic h rec ords the

value of WBS c laimed and amount of any fraud o verpa yment.

Of the 44 c ases whe re a WBS had been c la imed, all but 4 (9%)

had b ee n va lida ted by a senior c ustom er service o ffic er. Outside o f this

our sam p ling fo und no e vide nc e tha t c hec ks are p erformed to e stab lisheithe r the prog ress or qua lity of the w ork being ta ken forwa rd . There is a

risk tha t this fa ilure to ma na ge investiga tions cou ld result in work be ing

taken forwa rd incorrec tly, avoida b le d elays oc c urring o r cases being

c losed without a ny proper investiga tion.

As we expressed conc ern on around 40% of the visiting a nd

investiga tion a c tivities lead ing to WBS c laims, this c asts some doub t on

the qua lity of the c hec k being undertaken.

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Findings


2.536

2.537

•

•

•

•

2.538

2.539

•

•

•

•

•

2.540

The AC 'sCo unte ring Housing Benefit Fraud management

hand bo ok says that:

…qua lity c on trol of investiga to rs wo rk is nec essa ry to ensure tha t

they have followe d co uncils’ proced ures and have be haved

p rop erly and tha t the evidenc e tha t they a re c ollec ting sat isfies

assessors and BA ad judica tion offic ers.

We support this view . Plymouth a dvised tha t w ith the introduc tion

of the new case m anagem ent system , it is to introd uc e a rolling

prog ramm e of test c hec king fraud files held ove r 3 we eks old. It is for

Plymouth to de termine wha t ma nag ement c hec ks are neede d to

gua rantee a high standa rd of fraud work. But it is a ma tter of go od

prac tice to period ic a lly che c k investiga tive work. Tha t would, for

example:

ena ble m anag em ent to monitor the p rog ress of investiga tions and

identify potential problems

c onfirm tha t a refe rra l justifies the o pening o f a fraud file a nd tha t it

contains details of the grounds for suspicion

ensure tha t a rea s of investiga tion ha ve b een fully explored and

ac tion c orrec tly rec orded

ensure tha t a ll ac tions are undertaken in good time and relevant

doc umenta tion is held on the fraud file.

Plymouth must therefore b e a ssured tha t any prog ramm e o f test

chec king introd uc ed fulfils these req uirem ents.

Further ad vic e on a rea s of ma nage ment c ontrol c an b e found inthe Department's LA Fraud Investiga to rs Ma nua l .

We recomm end that Plymouth reviews its ma nage ment c hecks

to ensure they p rovide :

qua lity assuranc e on all areas and a spec ts of fraud work

future guidanc e a nd feed ba ck to staff on the e ffec tiveness of

investigative work unde rtake n.

We reco mme nd that the outcome of an investiga tion and

feedba ck from m ana gement chec ks is provide d in writing. This

allows for:

identification of pa tterns

feed ing of outcom es into training plans

assisting on the ongo ing m onitoring of work.

Tra ining of investiga tors Plymouth’s generic visiting section was introduced in February

2000 and inc orpo ra ted sta ff from various backgrounds from within the

authority. Only 3 out of 12 of the VOs had previous fraud investiga tion

experienc e. Therefo re fraud training fo r the other sta ff wa s essential ifthey we re to have the nec essary skills to ca rry ou t fraud investiga tion

work to a high standa rd .

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Findings


2.541

2.542

•

•

•

•

2.543

2.544

•

•

•

2.545

•

•

•

2.546

2.547

Fraud awa rene ss tra ining wa s p rovide d by an o utside c onsulta nt

in Ma y 2000 and doc ume nt a wa rene ss tra ining by Imm igrat ion Services

in Oc tob er 2000.

Tra ining nec essary to underta ke investiga tion work wa s not

prov ided until Janua ry and Feb rua ry 2001. This training c onsisted of

modules on:living tog ethe r interview s

IUCs

prosecutions

inte rview ing skills.

Som e sta ff to ld us tha t a fter having bee n w ithout the skills to

pe rform fraud rela ted duties they were overwhelmed by the a mount of

tra ining provided in such a short spac e o f time and would have felt

more comfo rtable if training ha d b een spac ed over a long er time span.

Plymouth to ld us tha t the re we re va lid rea sons for not p roviding

training until recently. Main reasons given were:

d iffic ulty in finding a suita b le t ra ining p rovide r within the ava ilab le

budget

delay in meetings with p rovide r to ensure t ra ining wa s being ta ilored

to a uthority’s req uirem ents

prob lem s in estab lishing tra ining da tes c onve nient to b oth p rovide r

and a uthority.

The reasons for de lays ma y have been we ll-found ed . How ever,there w ere o ther co urses of a ction that c ould have b een a do pted in

the interim, which w ould ha ve g iven staff a basic unde rstanding o f how

to preview a c ase, p rep a re for investiga tion and ob tain supp orting

information. These me asures includ e:

experienced fraud officer working with less experienced member of

visiting team

approa c hing BFIS for job shadow ing op portunities

approaching neighbouring LAs for job shadowing opportunities.

We had concerns about the worries expressed to us by visiting

staff ab out op portunities be ing p rovided to c onsolida te a nd d evelop

training skills. There wa s a widesprea d view tha t fraud wo rk wa s still

being d irec ted to just a few office rs, with the rest being left w ith

rem aining visiting wo rk.

We are p lea sed to find tha t Plymouth is trying to deve lop its

performa nc e o n fraud by providing m ore sta ff with the skills to

und erta ke fraud investiga tions. It is, however, essential tha t the se ne wly

tra ined staff be p rovided with the opportunity to both c onsolida te new

skills and to b uild c onfide nce in wha t ca n be a dema nding area o f

work.

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Findings


2.559

2.560

2.561

2.562

The reg ulation sta tes:

In c alculating the a mount o f a rec overab le o verpa yment, the

approp ria te a uthority – if it d ete rmines tha t a lesser amount wa s

p rop erly pa yab le in respe c t of the w hole pa rt of the

overpa yment p eriod , shall de duc t that am ount;

How ever, this app lies solely to the c a lc ula tion of ove rpaymentsand does not imp ose a req uireme nt to seek information.

To ensure tha t Plymouth c ould c ontinue to meet a 10-day

turnaround on the ma jority of cases, BFIS ha s introd uc ed a loca lly

prod uc ed form which its investiga tors c om plete whe n interview ing

under ca ution. This form rec ords informa tion from the c la ima nt on

inco me . This will he lp p rovide Plymo uth w ith the nec essa ry info rma tion it

need s to m ake determinations within the a gree d t imesca le. This is a

go od examp le o f bo th parties wo rking to ge ther to resolve loc al

problems.

We exam ined the c lea ranc e rate s for the last 36 QB64 entries

rec orded on the d a ta ba se he ld by Plymouth. Our find ings are in Figure

2.66.

Fig. 2.66: Clearance of QB64s

Time taken to ac tion – days Passed for

assessment

Clea red to BFIS

No da tes shown 1 0

1 – 5 24 1

6 – 10 3 5

Over 10 0 2

Over 20 2 8

Over 30 5 3

Over 50 1 5

Over 100 0 1

Number of ca ses 36 25

Average time to c lear 9.7 days 33.8 days


2.563 Eleven c ases are still shown as unc lea red . Of these, 6 a re over 4

months old a nd the rema ining 5 have b een outstand ing fo r over 2

months.

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Findings


2.564

2.565

•

•

2.566

•

•

•

2.567

•

•

•

2.568

•

These findings show tha t the ma jority o f QB64s (67%) a re being

sent fo r assessme nt w ithin 5 days but o nly 2 (22%) achieved the

spec ified 10-da y turnaround . It is d isturbing tha t 25% took over a month

to c lea r and tha t a further 30% are still outstand ing desp ite ha ving bee n

rec eived mo re tha n 2 m onths earlier. This is a poo r service to BFIS and is

likely to p reve nt it from bring ing the full extent o f a fraud ulent c la ima nt’ s

offenc e to the c ourt’s atte ntion.

We rec omm end that Plymouth co nduc ts an urgent overhaul of

proc ed ures for the rece ipt, comp letion and return of form QB64

and QB65 to ensure c om plianc e with the 10-da y turnaround

target agreed in the 2000/ 01 SLA w ith BFIS.

Closer working

BFIS and Plymo uth a re m aking positive steps to p rom ote c loser

working. This inc ludes BFIS p rovid ing tra ining to Plymouth sta ff on:

use o f QB50 noteb oo ksRIPA.

Closer working initiative

This sc hem e w as introd uc ed as an enc ourag em ent to LAs and BA

to w ork mo re c losely togethe r by providing fund ing , from BA Area

Direc to rs, for joint initiat ives. These initiat ives should be designed to :

enc ourage and develop strong er links betw een LAs and BA

help c om ba t fraud or error in the bene fit system

imp rove program me protection.

A suc c essful b id w as ma de for spec ific initiat ives in 2000/01. This

wa s based a round 3 joint exercises on:

known suspe c t em ployers – due to com mence June 2000

part-time wo rkers – due to com me nc e Janua ry/ Feb rua ry 2001

d irec t pa yment landlords – due to c om mence January/Feb ruary

2001.

The ob jec tives of the se e xerc ises is to :

identify inco rrec tness

•

•

•

•

•

2.569


identify fraud ove rpa yments

ap ply sanc tions

ac t as a fraud dete rrent

prom ote c loser working.

These exercises a re still in prog ress and deta ils of results a re no t ye t

available.

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Findings


2.570

2.571

•

•

•

•

•

2.572

2.573

2.574

2.575

Making sure the stra tegy works Ma king sure the strategy wo rks means p lanning a c tion, taking

ac tion a nd m ea suring the imp ac t of tha t a ction to help p lan future

activity.

Corpora te polic ies and stra teg yPlymouth a pp roved a c orporate a nti-fraud strate gy in Novemb er

2000. In it Plymouth d ec la res its com mitment to p reve nt fraud and

abuse of the HB and CTB sc heme s. Plymo uth sta tes its intent ion to

ac hieve this by:

out lining the roles of sta ff and tra ining requirem ents

prevention of fraud

de tec tion o f fraud

ap plic ation of sanc tions

deterrents.

Plymouth’ s need to d raft a nd a gree a c orporate fraud strate gy

wa s identified by the review of BFI rep orts and the Goo d Prac tice

Guide , which in turn had been p rom pted by the BFI visit. EA ha d

rec om mend ed the a do ption of a c orporate fraud strate gy in 1998. We

were disap po inted that the po licy ha d not b een ap proved e arlier.

How ever, we were e ncourage d by Plymouth’ s rec ent w ork on review ing

fraud polic ies. Plymouth m ust no w ensure tha t requirem ents of t he p olic y

are put in plac e. Much of this has now b een d one, but nee ds to b e keptunde r review to ensure tha t required ob jec tives a re b eing me t.

In support of the fraud stra teg y Plymouth ha s a lso d ra fted

gu idanc e fo r sta ff on the c onsideration o f ca ses for prosec ution,

administra tive p ena lties or ca utions. Aga in, althoug h in plac e it has yet

to p rovide any po sitive outc om es. We w ere advised tha t there is one

case b eing c onside red for c aution but none as yet for prosec ution o r

administra tive pe na lty.

In April 2000 Plymouth p rod uced a c od e o f co nduc t for

emp loyees. This cod e state d that the c ounc il would introd uce

proced ures which wo uld allow emp loyees to b ring to the a ttention of

app rop ria te p ersons any de fic ienc y in the leve l of service, or any

susp ic ion o f imp rop riety or breac h of p roc ed ure. Suc h a p roc ed ure is

often refe rred to a s a whistle-b low ing p olic y.

LAs shou ld deve lop whistle-b low ing a rrangem ents to meet the

requireme nts of the Public Interest Disc losure Ac t 1998. These

arrang em ents should set out the LA’ s responsibility to its em ployee s and

introd uc e p roc ed ures tha t ena b le sta ff to ma ke disc losures under the

Ac t. Plymouth imp lemented a whistle-b low ing polic y in June 2000.

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Findings


2.576

2.577

2.578

•

•

•

•

2.579

•

•

•

•

2.580

2.581

2.582

Plymouth d oes not ha ve a cod e o f c ond uct for visiting staff, but

has inc lude d the d ra fting a nd introd uc tion o f such a c od e a s one o f its

2001/02 objectives.

We recomm end that Plymouth introduc es a c ode of co nduc t for

visiting staff.

PlanningPlymouth need s to review and build on its c urrent p lanning

proc esses. This will be pa rticularly important if it is to suc cessfully c lea r

the current ba c klog s, imp lem ent VF and c ontinue to ma nag e c hang e

effectively.

Plymouth has unde rgo ne a n am b itious p rog ram me o f cha nge

over the last 2 yea rs includ ing:

rev iew o f service

restruc turing

introduc tion of DIP

imp lem enta tion o f VF.

Princ iples of a sound projec t ma nag em ent m ethod of p lanning

include:

ad eq uate planning to allow c ontrol and co-ordination of resourc es

and a c tivities

ensuring tha t risks a re fully considered to ena ble a deq uate

c ontingenc y mea sures to b e p ut in plac e

provid ing the op po rtunity for a structured and c ritical a pp ra isal of

p lans and prog ress to e nsure tha t ob jec tives are a chieved

c ontrol by a stee ring group com prising senior managers to ensure

tha t the p rojec t achieve s its ob jec tives within time , c ost and to the

req uired qua lity.

We found Plymouth’ s p lanning p roc esses c ould b e improve d , in

particular the fo rma l mec hanism fo r integ ra ting p lans for DIP and VF

impleme nta tion, a ssessing the risks, mo nitoring prog ress and build ing in

contingenc y plans.VF imp leme nta tion ha s bee n defe rred 3 time s since its initial

p lanned imp lem enta tion da te in 1999. Whilst the rea sons we re

unde rstand ab le a nd can be justified , the effec t is that VF wa s

imp lem ente d 4 months a fter the introd uc tion of DIP whe n the service

wa s enc ountering ma jor ba cklog s.

Experienc e from other authorities who have implem ente d VF

shows tha t in som e LAs, the initia l imp leme nta tion o f VF ha s led to a

build -up o f signific ant a rrea rs of wo rk. It is the refo re inadvisab le to

imp leme nt VF when there is a lrea dy a bac klog of w ork.

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Findings


2.583

2.584

2.585

2.586

•

•

•

•

2.587

2.588

We saw no formal evidence tha t Plymouth had assessed the risks

of imp lem enting VF and DIP within a short space o f time or draw n up

cont ingenc y p lans to add ress these. Plymouth w as in the proc ess of

draw ing up a b ac klog c lea ranc e p lan a t the time o f our on-site

inspe c tion. We c onsider that with be tter planning, including a projec t

ma nag eme nt ap proach, Plymouth co uld ha ve introd uced swifter,

p lanned responses to increa ses in work.

Best Va luePlymo uth ha s a BV Performa nc e Plan and mo nitors BVPIs on a

mo nthly ba sis. These are d isp layed on not ic e b oa rds in the office s and

mentioned in the Revenues newsletter.

Benefits is due to be rev iewe d und er BV in yea r 3. The rev iew is

due to ta ke p lac e in 2002 and b e c omp leted by 2003.

The a utho rity has considered the BV princip les of:

challenge

consult

compare

compete.

These ha ve b ee n reflec ted in the orga nisa tiona l review

cond uc ted in 1998/ 99. To he lp it com pare its performa nc e to othe rs,

Plymouth is a me mb er of a South Coast Benc hma rking Group , whic h

wa s forme d in Ap ril 1999.

Figure 2.67 ou tlines Plymouth’ s p rog ress.

Fig. 2.67: Plym outh’s progress against BVPI

BFI com ments on:BVPI Has PI bee n

developed?Target set LA’s ability to p rovide ac curate d ata

on PI through MIS

Speed of processing

claims

Averag e time forprocessing new claims

Yes 25 days The projec ted figure for 2000/ 01wa s 49 da ys.

This is simila r to our find ings fromcases sam pled . However, we have

concerns ab out the acc urac y of

da tes input o nto HBIS on which this

informa tion is based .

Plymouth’ s pe rformanc e ha s

de c lined since the introd uc tion ofDIP and do es not a chieve its

target.

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Findings




on PI through MIS

Averag e time for

processing notifications

of changes ofcircumstances

Yes 28 days The projec ted figure for 2000/ 01

wa s 28 days, ind ica ting Plymouth

met its target .

% of renewal c laims

processed on time

Yes 70% The projec ted figure for 2000/ 01

wa s 70%, ind ica ting Plymouth m et

its ta rge t.

Our sam pling showe d that all

renewal claims were processed ontime, although verificat ion was

poor.

Accuracy

% of cases for which the

calculation of the

am ount of benefit duewa s correc t on the ba sis

of the informa tionava ilab le a t the time of

determination, for a

sam ple of c ases

checked p ost-

determination

Yes 80% The projec ted figure for 2000/ 01

was 80%.

How eve r our samp ling show edsom e errors had not b een

ide ntified and we also found the

selection of cases was flawed.

Cost

Averag e c ost of

hand ling a HB or CTB

c laim, ta king into

ac count the different

type of c laims rec eived

Yes £110.52 £110.52 in 1999/ 2000.

Projec ted figure for 2000/ 01 was

£55.57.

Customer satisfaction

Measuring customers’

views on key a spec ts ofdelivery, covering

accessibility, sta ff

help fulness and

communication/informa

tion

Yes 98% of c ustomers to

be seen within 10minutes of joining a

queue.

78% of c ustome rs

wa iting for an

interview to be seen

with in 30 minutes.

Plymo uth’ s monitoring o f speed o f

response c ustome r wa iting timesshow s performanc e fa ils to m ee t

the ta rget s.

Target s red uc ed for 2001/ 02 to

75% and 65% respec tively.

Plymouth c arried out a custom er

satisfac tion survey in June/ July2000. This rec orded a 30%

response rate. Results were fairly

positive. 76% of claimants reported

they we re sat isfied with the

service.

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Findings




on PI through MIS

Overpayment recovery

% of recove rable HB

overpa yments rec overedduring the yea r

Yes 50%

Ensure amount ofoverpa id benefit

does not rise a bo ve

1.8% of benefits

paid.

Plymouth d oes not m onitor overall

rec ove ry ra tes.

Plymouth has not ac hieved its

target . The a mount of overpa id

bene fit spent was 2.8% for 2000/01.

Security

Whether the LA has asec urity strategy which

commits it to the a c tive

use of p resc ribedinitiatives and is

com munic ated to all

sta ff and is demonstrab ly

acted upon

Yes Plymouth ap prove da c orporate a nti-

fraud strategy in

Novem ber 2000.

Only ta rge ts set for

fraud staff relate to

WBS.

Plymouth should d evelop a rang eof p erformanc e m ea sures to

measure e ffec tiveness of a nti-

fraud measures.

Source: Plymouth and BFI analysis

Performanc e monitoring and assuranc e2.589

2.590

2.591

2.592

Reg ular pe rforma nce m onitoring of w ork be ing c arried out b y

sta ff is an essential co mp one nt of a n efficient a nd sec ure b ene fit

delivery service .

DIP and wo rkflow system s ha ve the pote ntial to p rovide va luab le

information on productivity and throughputs of work. DIP is in its infancy

in Plymouth and we found ma nagers sta ted they ha d d ifficulty in ea sily

extrac ting me aningful informa tion from the DIP system . For exam p le,

Plymouth wa s unab le to p rovide a profile o f the d evelopm ent o f the

ba c klog over time and had to refine the DIP rep orts to p rovide a

usea b le a na lysis of d oc ume nts in the b acklog .

Plymouth was tackling this through discussions with its software

supp lier and other c ustome rs. This need s to be resolved urgently, asPlymouth is c urrent ly not m aximising its use of the DIP system.

Although Plymouth monitors its BVPIs monthly and sets service-

wide ta rge ts, it ha s not translated these into ind ividua l targe ts to ensure

that all sta ff are c lea r on the pe rforma nce stand ards and ta rge ts

req uired . Assessment sta ff to ld us tha t they w ere no t set ta rgets although

these ha d be en in plac e b efore the introd uc tion o f DIP. We c onside r

Plymouth nee ds to d evelop a pe rforma nc e mo nitoring a nd

ma nage ment reg ime , linking individua l ta rgets to service-wide ta rge ts

to ensure it delivers the service improvements it aspires to in its service

plans.

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Findings


2.597

2.598

2.599

We have c omm ented in Putt ing it right that a lthoug h the work on

the visiting sec tion is gene ra l, with all sta ff expec ted to carry out b oth

fraud and non-fraud work, in p rac tice the m ajority of fraud wo rk is

ca rried out b y a sma ll numb er of expe rienc ed staff. We ma ke

rec om me ndations for Plymouth to ensure a ll sta ff are given a b a lanc e

of fraud and non-fraud wo rk to c onsolida te the ir training a nd work

tow ards the ge neric a im, b ut Plymouth should still review the gene ric

wo rking on the visiting te am to e nsure it delivers an e ffec tive and

efficient service.

We rec om me nd tha t Plymouth Reve nues rev iews its working

prac tices and organisation by Dece mb er 2001 to take ac count of

DIP and VF and to ensure it is working e ffec tively.

Inte rna l Aud itIA c an p rov ide Plymo uth w ith assuranc e tha t its systems and

proc ed ures a re ope rating a s intend ed .

Figure 2.68 shows the number of IA da ys spent on benefit

administra tion and bene fit fraud ma tte rs ove r the last 4 yea rs.

Fig. 2.68: IA a c tivity breakdown

1997/ 98 1998/ 99 1999/2000 2000/ 01

Tota l numb er of IA days used 2,320 2,634 2,396 2,231

Numb er of IA da ys used on HB/ CTB ad ministration

(number of days planned in brac kets)

20 (25)* 38 (20) 53 (40) 78 (40)

Number of IA days used o n counter fraud work 0 0 0 0

Source : Plymouth

Note : * de ta iled review c arried out by DA in 1997/ 98, Co untering HB Fraud

2.600

2.601

There is no simple ratio tha t c an be set o ut of the amo unt of HB

spe nding a s a propo rtion o f tota l LA spe nding a nd the a mount o f IA

time to be spent o n HB wo rk. The p rop ortion o f aud it days a lloc a ted to

HB and CTB in 2000/01 represents 3.4% of days ava ilab le. Plymouth spent

£61.8 million on benefits during the same period , rep resenting 15% of its

gross revenue e xpend iture. In our view there is scop e fo r increa sing IA’s

coverag e o f be nefits wo rk.

We w ere p lea sed to see that IA had inc rea sed its coverag e o f

the benefits service over the last 4 yea rs, in d irec t p rop ortion to its risk

assessment and the IA resources available. Values and volumes of

transactions are taken into account in the assessment of the risk score,

which is reviewed a t the sta rt and end of ea ch audit. How ever, we

noted that c ounter fraud work has not b een c overed be ca use o f

chang es in the fraud tea m over that pe riod . In view o f the po tential risk

posed by fraud and error within HB, it is not unrea sona b le to expe c t a

fa r higher level of IA inte rest a nd involvem ent in HB and CTB stud ies, and

in pa rticular counter fraud wo rk, tha n has bee n the c ase in Plymouth.

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Findings


2.602

2.603

IA repo rts in Plymouth a re sent to the Hea d of Financ e a nd the

service managers. We are conc erned tha t de sp ite this there has been a

rec ord of fa iling to imp leme nt IA rec omm end ations. AC guida nce state s

it is goo d p rac tice fo r aud it rep orts to b e c onsidered by Mem bers. In

view o f previous inac tion we rec om mend tha t unac tioned IA

rec om mend a tions are regularly rep orted to Mem bers.

We examined the IA reports published for 1997/98 to 2000/01.

Figure 2.69 show s the ma jor rec om mend ations ma de b y IA a nd

Plymouth’s response, for the draft report for 2000/01 dated 9 February

2001.

Fig. 2.69: Plymouth’s response to m ajor IA report rec ommenda tions

Rec ommendation Response BFI ob serva tion

Brought forward from 1999/2000 (pub lished 9 May 2000)

Random checks should beintroduced to ensure validity of

c laims pre introduc tion of VF

Not fully ac cep ted by Plymouth – all newc laims seen by senior offic er and cases

selec ted by risk ca teg ory. Targe t da te 26

March 2001.

Wea knesses foundin selec tion of c ases

for visiting.

Service developm ent team to

introduc e operational ma nuals

for standa rd working p rac tices

– written to common standard –

to be a greed with IA

Accepte d a nd started – target

completion 29 March 2002.

Service

development team

have sta rted

process.

Original doc uments to be

produced at all timesimmed iately – should not be

dep endent on introduction of

VF

Not acce pted – aw aited introd uction of

new c laim form and pha sed introduc tionof VF. Target date 26 Ma rch 2001.

Samp ling show ed

evidence thatoriginal documents

(where requested )

we re seen.

Checking of a selec tion of

c laims should be introduc ed to

provide assuranc e of the

continuing receipt of

Departmental benefits

Not fully accepte d – to be d one as

phased introduc tion o f VF, EDT will help.

Targe t d ate 26 March 2001.

Samp ling show ed

po or performa nce

in rene wa ls. Y/ N flag

not a lways set

correc tly so EDT will

not a lwa ys help.

Numb er of checks to be

reduced but to include widerspa n of transac tions

10% level of che cking introd uced and

range increased . Targe t da te 30 June2001.

Some evidenc e o f

c hec ks in sam plingnew c laims only, not

renewa ls or

ove rpa yments –

c hec ks selec ted

from DIP, not HBIS,

so a re no t

comprehensive and

present risk of

internal fraud .

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Findings


Rec ommendation Response BFI ob serva tion

Brought forward from 1999/2000 (pub lished 9 May 2000)

Regular monitoring ofoverpayments ac tion and

rec overy ac tion should becarried out – with results

reported to SMT

ICL developing HBIS to provide BVPIinforma tion. Revenue ’s ma nag eme nt

tea m will monitor overpaym ents in themeantime. Targe t da te 31 March 2001.

No evidenc e thatPlymouth w as

regularly monitoringoverpayments and

rec overy a c tion.



XXXXXXXXXX



XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXX

Rec ommenda tions for 2000/ 01

Access to HBIS only by valid

ac cess request form authorisedby ma nager. Forms to be filed

in rec ognisab le format

Process revised and safeguards put in

p lac e to e nsure all users have va lidac cess form signed b y team lead er.

Our examination

found somewea knesses in the

process.

Officers should c hec k to ensure

whether overpaym ent ac tion is

required when assessing a

claim

Guide to o verpa yments issued to sta ff.

Op eration currently running to target

invoices. HBIS will be chec ked to ascertain

current status. Review prog ress at 31

March 2001.

Samp ling c onfirm

IAs concerns.

Guideline required on when a

c laim should b e suspended

and an investigation carried

out. Cases where cheques

have rema ined outstanding for

over 3 months should b e

suspended and investigated

Current p roc ed ures in plac e a re under

review. Target d ate 30 Ap ril 2001.

Not completed.

Source: BFI ana lysis

2.604

2.605

2.606

•

•

Figure 2.69 shows tha t IA considered it nec essa ry to b ring fo rwa rd

some rec om mend a tions that it ma de in 1999/ 2000. IA ma de a tota l of

21 rec om menda tions in that yea r and b roug ht forwa rd a tota l of 10

(48%) to the following year.

Figure 2.69 also show s tha t Plymo uth ha s either not a cc ep ted a

numb er of rec om mend a tions or has delayed the introd uc tion o f the

rec om me nda tions by at least 10 mo nths.

Our exam ina tion o f earlier rep orts show s tha t som e of the

rec om menda tions pred a ted 1999/ 2000. These inc lude 1998/ 99

(pub lished 19 May 1999):

Conside r setting up a d ed ic ate d overpa yments tea m and

improve lia ison with the DSS

Review d eb t rec ove ry proc ed ures to e sta b lish a m ore efficient

polic y fo r pursuing or writing o ff these deb ts.

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Findings


2.607

•

•

2.608

2.609

2.610

2.611

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

We c onsider tha t there ha ve b een difficulties in the a cc ep tanc e

and c lea ranc e of rec omm enda tions ma de by IA. We note that the

most rec ent rep ort conta ins a ta rge t date for ac tions and nam es a lead

officer responsible for the ac tion. This should ma ke the mo nitoring of

subseq uent ac tion ea sier.

We recomm end tha t Plymouth:reconsiders the numbe r of IA d ays that it alloc ates to HB and

CTB work a nd estab lishes an app ropriate annua l minimum,

including aud its of counter fraud

sets up proc ed ures to ensure tha t IA rec ommenda tions are

properly c onsidered a nd implemented, and progress is

reported to the Chief Exec utive a nd Memb ers.

This will ensure IA com mitment to HB and CTB audit and a llow IA

to provide assuranc e to Me mb ers and the Chief Exec utive that

sec ure proc esses are in p lac e to protec t the system ag ainst fraud

and abuse.

Externa l Aud itThe AC a ppoints EA. It is indep end ent of Plymouth a nd has

statuto ry duties to e nter an opinion o f its ac counts and com ment on the

effic ienc y and effe c tiveness of Plymouth’ s service s. EA service s for

Plymouth a re p rovide d by Distric t Aud it (DA).

In recent yea rs DA ha s com plete d reviews of Plymo uth’ s HB

administra tion a s part o f a c orpo ra te review of financ ia l system s or in

more deta il in a spec ific review of HB.

As we ll as pub lishing its rep orts, DA will a lso p rovide fee dback to

Mem bers by way of a Ma nag eme nt Letter. Ma nag em ent Lette rs

summ arise fo r Memb ers the results of the aud its and c om ments on the

LA’ s p rogress during tha t year.

EA’s Countering HB Fraud rep ort 1997/98 was c omp leted and

pub lished in Aug ust 1998. This c om prehe nsive rep ort c onta ined a tota l

of 55 rec om menda tions that included :

ado p ting a n anti-fraud a nd c orruption stra tegy

reg ular rep orts to M em bers

IA – stra teg ic p lan for aud it o f bene fits system and consider

a lloc a ting add itiona l resource s to the aud it of the system

sta ff inte rests reg iste r

sta ff d ec la ra tions

imp roving c om munica tions be tween b ene fits and investiga tions

team

vetting for agenc y staff.

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Findings


2.612

•

•

•

•

•

•

2.613

The repo rt a lso c om mente d on:

high sickness leve ls

be nefits investiga tion m ana ge ment be ing (a t tha t time) sep arate

from b ene fits and rec om mend ed integ ra tion

backlog s, prob lem s delivering service (ad d itiona l sta ff rec ruited in

1998)

strained rela tionships with land lords

qua lity c ont rol, lack of system s and ta rgets

rec omm ende d de velop ment of a forma l training p rogramme .

We exam ined the DA dra ft rep ort from 1999/ 2000 entitled Housing

Bene fit Fraud and Corrup tion . Figure 2.70 lists the main

rec om me ndations with Plymouth’ s response.

Fig. 2.70: Plymouth’s response to EA recommendations

Rec ommendation Response BFI observa tion

A finalised copy of the anti-

fraud and corruption strategy

and response p lan is ag reed

promptly b y Mem bers

This has be en a greed and

formalised. Copies distributed

to a ll sta ff.

Strate gy ag reed by Mem be rs in

Novem be r 2000.

IA recomm endations

1999/ 2000 – should be

implemented before next

aud it. IA to follow up as pa rt

of 2000/01 audit

IA has include d 1999/ 2000

recommendations in 2000/01

audit. Most recommendations

have no t been resolved a nd

carried fo rwa rd to 2000/01.

Disappointing that this

rec ommendation was

necessary.

IA reviews anti-fraudarrangements, including

annual testing of WBS

c laimed a nd a review of the

HB fraud investigation team

IA no t reviewe d for 5 years willinclude in next year’s plan.

Target date 31 Ma rch 2001.

Ad d itiona l testing of WBS will

impa c t on IA resources. CS

ma nag er chec k should ide ntify

weaknesses in WBS c laim –

seeking c larifica tion from DA on

interpreta tion o f WBS

Reg ulat ions. Target date 30April 2001.

IA a dvised us tha t b oth these

ta rge ts we re me t.

We reco mm end m ore IA timeand imp rovement in c hecking

of WBS by CSM. WBS va lidity

po or in samp ling.

3 month enc ashment limit on

cheques and encashment

patterns are reviewed and

followed up a s pa rt of visiting

procedures

The fo rma t o f cheq ues is

current ly be ing reviewe d. This

will be conside red as part of the

review – ta rge t d ate 30

Sep temb er 2001.

Agree.

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Findings


Rec ommendation Response BFI observa tion

The c ounc il does not have a

spec ific c ode of c onduct for

investigators

Agreed – to b e included in

visiting team objectives for

2000/01.

Agree.

The c ounc il co nsidersproducing and adop ting a

policy and proced ural

guidanc e on selec ting cases

for prosec ution and / oradministrative penalty

Polic y ag reed by Membe rs on 6April 2000. Working practices

now support these p olic ies.

Not tested – sanc tions notap p lied in any of our sam ples.

We were advised one c ase wa s

currently under consideration

for a c aut ion, no prosec ution orad ministrative pe nalties.

Source: BFI ana lysis

2.614

2.615

2.616

2.617

2.618

2.619

Figure 2.70 shows tha t DA ha s conc erns for the effe c tivene ss of

Plymouth to ac tion IA rec om me ndations. It supports IA b y end orsing its

rec om menda tions and includ ing a recom menda tion of its ow n to

ensure tha t outsta nd ing IA ones should b e p a rt of the follow ing yea r’ s

audit.

We a lso consider tha t the rep ort recog nises and addresses som e

of the g aps in the IA reports by cove ring som e fraud aspec ts of HB wo rk.

We c onc lude that Plymouth is taking too long to impleme nt the

rec om mend a tions of DA. The c om prehensive repo rt c om pleted by DA

in 1998 ga ve Plymo uth a goo d basis to deve lop its HB administra tion.

Subseq uent rep orts from both IA and EA ha ve c ont inued to

highlight a rea s of c onc ern. Som e o f these c onc erns, for examp le the

effective ma nag ement a nd recovery of overpa yments, have yet to b e

addressed . Others, pa rticularly on effec tive fraud wo rk and the

introduc tion o f VF, are o nly just c om ing to fruition.

We reco mme nd that bo th DA and Plymouth agree a nd introduc e

effec tive monitoring p roc edures that ensure that

rec omm enda tions made are progressed , and a ny de lays to

imp lementation are reported to the Chief Exec utive and

Members.

Members’ involvementPlymo uth rep orts to Memb ers throug h its Polic y and Resourc es

(Central Services) sub c om mittee on p rog ress on BVPIs on a qua rte rly

basis. Plymouth ha s a lso set up sc rutiny p ane ls, includ ing a sc rutiny

panel on d eb t rec ove ry, whic h inc ludes HB and CTB ove rpayments.

Their rep ort in Novem ber 2000 inc luded a rec om menda tion on the

esta b lishme nt o f Op eration Rec laim.

Mem be rs have a lso rece ived b riefings on the bac klog and have

supp orted the service in its ba cklog c lea ranc e p lan by a greeing

red uced op ening hours for the p ublic c ounter for 8 weeks.

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Findings


2.620 We consider it impo rta nt tha t Memb ers rec eive reg ula r rep orts on

HB and CTB ma tters and have rec om mend ed that Mem be rs rec eive

rep orts on a ny de lays or fa ilures to imp lem ent a ud it rec om me ndations

to e nsure the se a re a c tioned ap propria tely.

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Appendices


AppendicesApp endix A: Methodology 153

Appendix B: Claim form 159

Append ix C: IT sec urity 167

Append ix D: Post op ening 175

Abbreviations 177

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Appendix A: Methodology


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•

•

•

•

• •

•

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•

•

•

•

Inspection The inspec tion proc ess beg an with an ana lysis of the d a ta p rovide d b y

Plymouth a nd tha t co llec ted c entra lly by the Depa rtment. A pen

picture wa s developed ide ntifying the p erceived streng ths and

weaknesses of Plymouth in both bene fit administra tion and counter

fraud aspec ts of its work. This pen p icture a llow ed BFI to identify where itnee ded to c onc entrate its effo rts, in terms of interview ing , da ta ana lysis

and samp ling w hen c arrying out the field wo rk in Plymouth.

The inspec tion c ove red a rea s essential to administer b ene fits effec tively

and sec urely, group ed unde r the 4 main head ings of the g overnment’ s

strategy for safeguarding social security:

gett ing it right

keep ing it righ t

putting it righ t

ma king sure the strate gy wo rks.

We examine p erformanc e in a numb er of a rea s. The e xtent o f our

exam ina tion in ea ch a rea va ries betw ee n LAs as it reflec ts our find ings.

The follow ing parag rap hs expla in wha t a rea s we c ould examine unde r

ea ch of the 4 ma in headings.

Getting it right

To sec ure the g a tew ay to bene fit, an orga nisa tion must:

insist that c la ima nts produce eno ugh evide nce to p rove t hat the y

qua lify for bene fit befo re b ene fit is pa id

ma ke sure informa tion ca n be c hec ked system atica lly, with a sound

apprec ia tion of w here it is a t risk of being w rong

bring tog ether a ll the availab le informa tion where the c la im is

checked

ma ke sure it has c ontinuing c ontac t with claima nts.

To consider how we ll an LA d ea ls with c la ims from the sta rt, the area s

we c ould exam ine a re:

ra ising awa reness of the HB and CTB sc heme

the c laim form used by the LA

verification of claims

POAs

po st ope ning

dea ling with vulnerab le g roup s

lia ison w ith the RS

liaison with BA and ES.

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BFI inspec tion: Plymo uth City C ounc il page 155

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Kee p ing it right

There a re 4 c rucia l elem ents:

designing op erationa l p roc ed ures tha t ma ke it as ha rd as possib le

for fraud and error to hap pe n, but which a re easy to understand

and simp le to use

focusing resources where the system is weakest, to target regular

c hec ks designe d to keep payme nts right

keep ing c ontac t with the c laimant through the p eriod of the c laim

lea rning lessons from expe rienc e and using a ll ava ilab le information

from all possible sources to spot inconsistencies.

To c onsider how w ell an LA d ea ls with c la ims onc e in pa yment, the

areas we c ould examine are:

notices of de termination

be nefit pe riod s

c hec king c la ima nts’ c irc umstances

reviews and ap pe als

lia ison with land lords

internal sec urity a nd c ont rols

training and guida nce

lia ison w ith BA.

Putt ing it rightThe g rea ter emphasis on sec uring the g a tew ay to b ene fit lets fraud

investiga tors c onc ent ra te o n peo p le w ho intend to stea l. This me ans:

ensuring that fraud investigators are well-trained

providing high quality referrals to investigators

passing on e xperienc e a nd informa tion to othe r investiga tors quickly

publicising the efforts of investigators

providing investiga tors with sufficient resources

sha ring information with other agenc ies as a llow ed by the law

rec ording o verpa yments and ma king e very effort to reco ver them

ap plying varied and effec tive sanc tions.

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•

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•

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To consider how we ll an LA d ea ls with ide ntifying c la ims tha t a re w rong

and putting c laims righ t a fter it estab lishes tha t the c laim is inc orrec t, the

areas we c ould examine are:

counter fraud policies and strategies

fraud referrals

c ounter fraud initiatives suc h as re-d irec ting po st and d a ta m atc hing

ap po inting inspe c tors

ma nag ing investiga tions

tra ining o f fraud investiga tors

qua lity of fraud investiga tions

sanctions

overpayments

lia ison with third parties.

Ma king sure the strate gy wo rks

Key p oints a re tha t:

ac tivity must a im to red uce fraud and error

the results of c ounter fraud effo rts must b e me asurab le

orga nisa tions must b e sure tha t rules and p roc ed ures are follow ed

correctly

c ounte ring fraud is everyone ’s business and a ll organisa tions must

co-operate

the pub lic unde rstand that chea ting the be nefit system is a c rime.

To c onside r how w ell an LA is ma king sure the strate gy wo rks, the a rea s

of pe rforma nce we co uld exam ine a re:

elected Members’ monitoring of the security and effectiveness of

the delivery system

using BVPIs and other pe rformanc e ind ica tors

mo nito ring the speed of p roc essing

ba cklog o f work

ta king assuranc e from a ud it

monitoring SLAs.

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BFI inspec tion: Plymo uth City C ounc il page 157

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•

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•

•

•

•

Inspec tion methodolog y The ma in e lem ents we re:

a wa lkthroug h of the be nefit a dministration a nd c ounter fraud

systems with Plymo uth officers

interview ing Plymouth sta ff, and loca l BA a nd ES sta ffsee king e xpert ad vice w here nec essary

ob serving Plymouth’ s wo rking prac tices

inspec ting ind ividua l benefit c laims and c laims for WBS and c ross-

c hec king information in these c la ims ac ross BA a nd the LA

ana lysing refe rra ls to the fraud tea m

exam ining do c ume nts relating to reviews, ove rpayments and IA

work.

Reporting Initial find ings we re presented to Plymouth’ s bene fits and financ e sta ff in

the c ourse o f the inspec tion. A further p resenta tion of emerg ing find ings

taking into a c count fee db ack from the initial presenta tion a nd also

further find ings from the cont inuing a na lysis wa s given to the Hea d of

Financ e, Assista nt Head of Finance, b ene fits senior ma nage me nt a nd

the internal aud itors a t the end of the on-site p hase o f the inspec tion.

The inspe c tion report was d rafted around the 4 a rea s outlined ab ove

and find ings from fieldw ork used to d raw c onc lusions and ma ke

rec om menda tions in ea ch of the 4 area s of b enefit ad ministration a ndcounter fraud ac tivity.

Dra ft fac tua l rep orts we re sent to the C hief Exec utive for com me nt.

Meetings were held w ith Plymouth to d iscuss the dra ft, and written

com ments were rece ived and fully co nside red be fore the repo rt wa s

finalised.

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App end ix B: Claim form


•

•

•

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•

•

•

•

Appendix B:Claim form

Introduction The c la im form p lays a funda menta l role in protec ting the ga tew ay to

HB and CTB. The c laim fo rm is the p rimary me ans of c ollec ting the initial

evidenc e to inform the de termination of b enefit claims.

BFI’s Good Prac tice Guide and pack for LAs, Designing the HB/ CTB

c la im fo rm , c onta in ad vic e on the p rod uc tion of a c laim form. A well-

designed claim form reduces the risks of:

overspend ing o n be nefit adm inistra tion a nd b enefit payments

failing to c ap ture suffic ient informa tion to allow be nefit to be

determined c orrec tly

errors in the c a lcula tion of b ene fit ent itlement

confusion for claimants resulting in inaccurate or insufficient

informa tion be ing supp lied

inc rea sed req uests to c la ima nts for further informa tion

delays in the promp t d ete rmination o f be nefit entitleme nt

enc ouraging fraud by p roviding c laimants with op po rtunities to

deliberate ly m isrep resent their circumstanc es

providing fraud sters with the exc use tha t they were c onfused .

Findings Plymouth introd uc ed a sing le ne w c la im fo rm, a long side the old fo rms,

in the we ek b eg inning 29 January 2001. The c la im form was red esigned

to rep lac e the previous 6 claim fo rms. Guidanc e no tes, as we ll as an

explana tory letter exp la ining the rea son for the change, were sent out

with t he new forms. Figure B.1 illustrate s our co mp arison of Plymouth’ s

current c laim fo rm a nd p rop osed ame ndme nts aga inst BFI's’ s Good

Prac tic e G uide .

Conclusions As Plymo uth ha s a lrea dy sta ted tha t it plans rep rinting the who le o f the

new c laim form, due to the p rob lems be ing c aused by the thickness of

pa pe r, it wo uld be an idea l op po rtunity to upd ate the form b y making

the necessary adjustments.

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Fig. B.1: Analysis of Plymouth’s cla im form

Attribute Attribute

present?

BFI comment

BFI's Good Practice Guide attributesComb ined HB and CTB c laim form. Y Single new fo rm introduc ed 29

January 2001.

Each up date of the form is rea d ily identifiable. This willhelp to e nsure tha t only current versions of the fo rm a re

used . It w ill a lso he lp in any c laims for ba ckda ting.

N We found that the single c laim formdid no t have a version c ontrol

ma rking. This will only cause d ifficulty

when Plymouth up da tes or

redesigns the form.

Providing advice on translation services and issuing

forms in othe r langua ge s.

N Plymouth does not p rovide any

forms or ad vice leaflets in other

languages.

Large print c laim form for pa rtially sighted c laimants. Y Plymouth provides such forms and

this is me ntioned on the c laim form

itself. The c laima nt ha s just to ask.

Explana tion of what hap pe ns when the LA receives the

form.

Y This is me ntioned on the form.

Details of c hang es of c ircumstanc es that must b e

reported.

Y The form a dv ises cha nge s of

circumstances must be notified.

Examp les a re given.

Clea r instruct ions on ho w t o fill in the form a nd whe re togo for help.

Y The c laim form a dv ises how the formneeds to be c ompleted and where

to g o for help.

An explana tion that de lays in returning the form couldresult in reduc tions to bene fit.

Y This can be found on the frontpage.

Plain Eng lish – no jargon. Easiness to read. Y We were told tha t Plymouth had

communicated with the Plain

English Society. Whilst the claim form

is well written and is easy to read, it

do es ap pe ar busy bec ause of the

initial guida nce no tes be ing socomprehensive.

Clear layout – using a grid pa ttern and white spa ce

effec tively, and naviga tion, allowing c laimant to

comp lete the form quickly a nd c onfidently.

Contrasting colours of fonts.

Y The c laim fo rm uses a grid forma t

and uses signposting, although as

some q uestions need the c laima nt

to m ove o n to a nother sec tion if the

answe r is No , then ‘No ’ should be

put first. The answers No and Yes

should b e ve rtica l rathe r thanhorizonta l, in ac corda nce with The

Goo d Prac tice Guide, pa ra 5.120.

Com pletion boxes that require the c laima nt to ma ke a

consc ious de c ision, for exam ple Yes or No boxes.

Y Plymouth uses suc h a system (see

ab ove as well).

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Attribute Attribute

present?

BFI comment

BFI's Good Practice Guide attributes

An explanation of p ayment choices and the valida tion

the c laima nt will be required to p rod uce. For exam ple,

a b ank sta tement showing the c laima nt’ s currentaddress is essentia l for pa yme nt b y c red it transfer

through Bank Automated Clea ring System (BACS).

N This doe s not a ppea r on the new

c laim form as the c laima nt is not

given a c hoice of pa yment.

Spec ific spac es for claima nts to p rovide further

relevant informa tion if they nee d to.

Y These a pp ea r throug hout the c laim

form b ut a re limited in spa ce.

Clear statements of the c laima nt’ s ob liga tions andduties.

Y This can be fo und throug hout thec laim form.

Sta tem ent a s to po tential use to which informa tion

supp lied might be put, e.g. take-up ca mp aigns.

Y The o nly me ntion of w hat the

informa tion supp lied could b e used

for, p reve ntion of fraud is the only

subjec t mentioned , ap pe ars unde rthe de claration on p ag e 13.

Plac e for the c laima nt and p artner to sign and d ate. Y This can be found on p ag e 13.

Plac e fo r anyone else who filled in the fo rm to sign and

date.

Y This can be found on p ag e 13.

Nationality N The c laim form should ask ab out

entry into the c ommon trave l area

(CTA) and a n add itional question as

to last d ate o f ent ry into the UK, in

accordance with Circu lar A22/2000.

For hab itua l residenc e test the

period of living in the CTA ha s beenred uced from 5 to 2 years.

Identity. The fo rm must c ollec t:

• c laima nt and p artner's full name, tog ether with anyformer nam es or 'known as' names

P This can b e found on p ag e 1,

although former nam es are not

asked for.

• c laimant and pa rtner's da te o f birth Y This can b e found on p ag e 1.

• NINO for the c laimant and p artner (or sufficient

informa tion for one to be trac ed or alloc ate d) Y This can b e found on p ag e 1.

• proof of identity for the c laimant and pa rtner. Y This can b e found o n pa ge 2 and ,a lthough a c om prehensive list is

supp lied , bette r guida nce for the

be st type o f evidenc e should be

given. We nee d b irth certificate or

driving licenc e AND one o ther.

Residency a nd rent. For all tenancies: X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



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Attribute Attribute

present?

BFI comment


• the da te the c laimant moved into the dw elling a nd

the date the tenancy c ommenced . The exac t da tes

should b e a sked for in the c ase o f new c laims and

new tena nc ies. How eve r, for long-sta nd ing

tena nc ies the app roxima te d ate would suffice

Y Non c ounc il tenants are a sked this

on pa ge 9, and o n pag e 1 all

c laima nts are asked fo r the d atethat they moved out of their

p revious add ress if the m ove wa swith in the last 3 years.

• details of their previous address and their status at

tha t a ddress (for exam ple, owner, tena nt o r livingwith friend s), toge ther with deta ils of a ny p revious

c laim for HB and CTB. This informa tion could a lso

ident ify the possibility of und isc losed cap ita l in the

form of p rop erty owne d b y the c laimant or their

family.

Y A p revious address, if move d within

3 yea rs, is asked for on p age 1 but

no me ntion of sta tus is asked for. If

c laim ing HB/CTB at this address is

asked o n

pa ge 1.

For priva te tena nc ies only (inc luding registered soc iallandlords):

• the landlord’s name, business address and

rela tionship, if any, to t he c laima nt. This should

inc lude relationships by m arriag e a nd pa renta ge of

any c hildren in the househo ld. Where there is an

ag ent ac ting for the landlord, the a gent’ s name ,

business address and rela tionship, if any, to thec laima nt is req uired , together with the land lord’ s

details

Y This can b e found on p ag e 9.

• type of tenanc y (for exam ple, assured short-hold)

tog ether with period o f tenanc y and d eta ils of anyrent registration


• de ta ils of o ther joint tenants (if any) a nd c laima nt’ s

share of rent Y This can b e found on p ag e 9.

• the a mount o f rent, how o ften it is pa yab le, and to

whom Y This can b e found on pag e 9

a lthough there is no q uestion on towhom the rent is pa yab le.

• de ta ils of wha t is provide d unde r the a greeme nt,

tog ether with de ta ils of the a mounts charged (for

examp le fue l, wa ter, meals and other supp ort

services, in p articular, pe rsona l ca re, gene ra l

counselling and support, cleaning of rooms andwindow s, and eme rgency alarms)

Y This can be found on p ag es 10 and11.

• de ta ils of the m ake-up o f the dw elling, including

sha red area s (for exam ple, house, fla t, room, numb erof room s, furnished, unfurnished).

Y This can be found on p ag e 10.

Household composition. The fo rm m ust c ollec t:

• full names of everyone living in both the c laima nt’ s

household a nd the d welling Y The fo rm asks deta iled questions

relating to household, b ut d oes not

mention the d welling.

• child ren’ s da tes of b irth Y Dependent c hildren’s da tes of b irth

ca n be found on pa ge 2.

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Attribute Attribute

present?

BFI comment


• de ta ils of a ll those na me d, inc luding relat ionship to

c laimant and w here ap propriate to e ac h other

(c lear de finitions of d ep end ants, non-househo lders,

boa rders, sub-tenants and joint tena nts should be

given on the form). Relat ionship inc ludes family,

friends, and 'unrelated' people

Y This can b e found on p ag e 3,

although no definitions are given.

• deta ils of no n-depe ndant s' gross income . Proo f is

required for low earnings before the lower

ded uctions ca n be ma de.

P Gross income is asked for with proof,although there is no statement

req uesting p roof b e p rovided for

low ea rnings spec ifica lly.

Earned inc ome. The form must c ollec t:

• de ta ils of the c laima nt’ s and pa rtner’s ma in

emp loyer, the da te the c laima nt and p artner sta rted

work and the num be r of hours wo rked


• if the c laima nt and pa rtner does any othe r wo rk,

de ta ils of the employer, the da te the c laima nt and

pa rtner started wo rk and the numb er of hoursworked. (As some pe op le have more than one job ,

or emp loyer, the c laim form must p rovide an

opp ortunity to d ec lare all the work done and pa y

rec eived. The form must p rompt the c laima nt to

de c lare a ll their ea rned income)

P This can be found on p ag e 4. The

form doe s ask the claimant to make

a consc ious Yes or No answe r to

having mo re than one job, but thereis no room for more than the first job .

The c laimant is asked t o p ut the‘other’ d eta ils in the add itional

informa tion box at the end of theform.

• the full nam e and a dd ress of ea c h emp loyer Y This can be found on p age 4. (Also

see ab ove).

• whe ther the e mp loyment is for a fixed period . If so

the d ate on w hich it will ce ase. (Conside rat ion

should b e g iven to restric ting the b enefit pe riod to

the pe riod of emp loyment)


• the am ount and freq uenc y of earnings (for examp le,

wee kly, fortnightly, ca lenda r monthly) toge ther with

details of all bonuses, overtime, commission or tipsthe c laimant a nd p artner rec eives

Y This can b e found on p ag e 4,

a lthough only bonus/ tips a re a sked

ab out but no am ounts arespe c ifica lly asked for.

• method of pa yment (for example, cash, cheque,

ACT)Y This is not asked as the c laima nt has

no choice a bo ut how they are

paid.

• req uest for evidence o f ea rnings. Sta te tha t if the

evidenc e requested is not p rovided , the LA ma ycontac t the emp loyer to c onfirm the deta ils

P This can b e found on p ag e 4.





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Attribute Attribute

present?

BFI comment


• if known, the d ate of the next expec ted inc rea se in

pay. (This informa tion can b e used when de c iding

on the length of b enefit pe riod s)


• the type of wo rk the c laimant a nd pa rtner does for

the em ployer. (This will help the assessme nt o fficer to

de termine whether the d ec lared ea rnings, hours

worked e tc are c onsistent w ith the typ e o f wo rk

stated)

P The q uestion a sked is ‘what is your

job ?’. It should b e more spec ific .

• c laima nt and p artner's employee numbe r or payroll

numberY This can b e found on p ag e 4.

• details of any deductions from the gross pay for

private pension scheme, superannuation or

employee contribution to company pension scheme


•

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX




XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

• de ta ils of a ny sta tuto ry ma ternity pa y or sta tuto ry sick

pa y inc lude d in the gross pa yP These a re no t spec ifica lly

mentioned, but the c laim form d oes

ask for any ‘ other’ a llowanc es on

pa ge 7.

• de ta ils of any expe nses for child minding. (The name

of the reg istered childminder must be c ross-che ckedwith the LA's records).

Y On pag e 2.

Self-employe d ea rned inco me

Althoug h the LA need s a ll the informa tion listed here, it

need not be requested on the m ain claim form.

Instea d, the LA c an use a supp leme ntary c laim form.

This can be combined with the self-employed ea rnings

informa tion shee t.

The form must c ollec t:

• if the c laima nt a nd pa rtner is self-emp loyed , de ta ilsof the business and the type of w ork unde rtaken (for

examp le, window c lea ner, taxi driver)


• whethe r self-employment is the c laima nt a nd

partner’s only employment. (It is possible for a person

to b e b oth self-emp loyed a nd a n emp loyee)

N This question is no t asked . It shouldbe introd uced as soon a s a new

version of the c laim form is

designed.

• whethe r the c laima nt a nd pa rtner are sole trade rs or

partners in the business. If they a re partne rs, deta ils ofthe partnership and their share in the business

P These q uestions are no t a sked ,

except fo r ‘ are you a p artner’ . It

should b e introd uc ed as soo n as a

new version of the c laim form is

designed.

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Attribute Attribute

present?

BFI comment


• the da te the income has bee n pa id from N This question is no t asked . It should

be introd uced as soon a s a new

version of the c laim form isdesigned.

• de ta ils of a ll income a pp lied for by, or due to, the

c laimant and p artner or their de pe nda nts but not

yet rec eived (for exam ple, maintenanc e, pa yments

from hea lth insurance).


• Capital. The fo rm must c ollec t:

• de tails of all the c ap ita l held by the c laima nt and

pa rtner or their dep end ants. The fo rm should p rovide

promp ts for different t ypes of c ap ita l (for exam ple,

'do you have a ny bank ac counts? If yes, what typ e

of ac counts and how m uch is in eac h ac count?' 'Do you own a ny land o r p rop erty, either in this count ry

or abroad , other than the dw elling in whic h you are

living?' ). The fo rm must g ive c lear definitions of wha t

is reg arded as cap ita l


• the fo rm m ust g ive d eta ils of the evidenc e required

for ea ch type o f ca pital (for exam ple statements,

savings book, certificates).


Checklist Y The c hec klist can b e found o n pa ge

12.

Claim form dec laration and statement of purpose P The form d oes inc lude a c laima ntde c laration, but c ould be c learer.

See BFI’ s mo del c laim form.

Sourc e: BFI’s: Good Prac tice Guide and BFI analysis

Key Y Yes

N No

P Partly

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Appe ndix C: IT sec urity


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Appendix C:IT security

Introduction The a ims of a sec ure acc ess c ontrol proc ed ure for an IT system inc lude :

ensuring tha t only valid users ha ve a c cess to it

limiting the access of va lid users to the fac ilities they nee d to c arryout their day-to-day duties

providing assuranc e tha t the sensitive func tions ava ilab le to the m ost

pow erful users a re p rop erly restric ted and c an be sub jec ted to

sup ervisory review .

The bene fits p roc essing syste m used by Plymo uth is HBIS. Figures C.1 and

C.2 com pare Plymouth’ s c om p lianc e w ith 10 informa tion sec urity

cont rols c onta ined in BS 7799 and goo d p rac tic e on ac cess cont rols.

Fig. C.1: Assessme nt of Plym outh’s com pliance with the 10 key controls of BS 7799

Control and Objec tive Met by

Plymouth?Y/N

BFI comment

Existence o f information sec urity policy

To ensure that ma nag ement provide s direc tionand support for informa tion sec urity.

Y

Allocation of security responsibilities

To a lloc a te explicit individua l responsibility for the

protection of information and other assets.

Y

Information security education and training

To ensure tha t users a re aw are of sec urity threats

and are able to supp ort the p olic y. Sec urity

proc ed ures should be expla ined to users so tha t

they are c orrec tly followe d.

Partly The systems control tea m has not

been app roac hed by the

training tea m, so little o r no

feedb ac k ca n b e g iven. Little

ad vice is be ing g iven to ne w

starters.

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Control and Objec tive Met by

Plymouth?

Y/N

BFI comment

Reporting of sec urity inc idents

To p rovide a proc ess whe re inc idents a ffec tingsec urity a re rep orted as quickly as possible so

tha t a ny dam age is limited . Suc h incide nts should

be mo nitored a nd ana lysed so that lessons are

learnt and the effectiveness of security controlscan b e re-eva luate d if nec essary.

XX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Virus controls

To safegua rd the integrity of softwa re a nd da ta .

Virus detection and prevention measures and

user awareness procedures should be

implemented.

Partly There are system me asures but

there are no p roc ed ures or

awareness training for staff to

increase their knowledge.

Business continuity p lanning proc ess

To ensure tha t a pp rop riate rec ove ry plans a re in

plac e to protec t a ga inst any interruptions to

norma l business p roc esses and to rec ove r

business-critica l ac tivities quickly.

Y

Control of p roprietary copy ing

To a void a breac h of sta tutory or com merc ialsecurity requirements.

Partly Although users are mad e aw areof b rea ches there is no

monitoring w ith rega rd to thisissue.

Safeg uarding o f organisation’s rec ords

To sa feg ua rd importa nt rec ords from loss,

destruction and falsification.

Partly Bac kups are ta ken daily which

sa feg ua rds aga inst loss.

Safeg uard ing aga inst de struct ion

falsification involves adequate

user access cont rols and these

are not present.

Comp lianc e with data protection legislation

To ensure c omplianc e with da ta p rotec tion

legislation.

Y

Comp lianc e with sec urity policy a nd standards

To ensure continuing c omp lianc e with the

organisation’s policy and standards.

N As there is no monitoring of

po lic y o r sta ndards Plymouthcannot b e sure that c omp lianc e

is be ing ma intained .

Source: BFI ana lysis and BS 7799

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Fig.C.2: Summ ary of Plymouth’s complianc e with ac cess control best prac tice

Ac cess control element Met byPlymouth?

Y/N

Comments

Access control policy

Req uirements fo r user acc ess to systems should

be defined and doc umented.

Partly Whilst this is being done it is poo r

and nee ds upd ating.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


X XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX




Privilege m anag ement

Som e system privilege s ma y a llow users to

ove rride system cont rols and thus they must b e

identified, a lloc ated and authorised on a ‘nee d-

to -use’ basis.

N There is no management of

ac cess code s nor alpha c od es

on a ‘need-to-use’ basis.

Review of user access rights

Users acc ess capab ilities (including privileges)

should b e regularly reviewed .

N There a re no regular reviews and

there has not b een a reviewsince the system was set up.

User password m ana gement

Alloc at ion of user pa sswo rds should be controlled

by a forma l ma nag eme nt proce ss.

Partly The p asswo rd controls tha t a re

being emp loyed a re not

securing the system.

Password use

Users should be advised to follow good practice

in selec tion a nd use of passwords.

Partly This adv ice should b e c onta ined

in written p roc ed ures and should

be pa rt of a new sta rter’s

training.

Unattended e quipment

Unattende d equipment should be protecte d

from unauthorised access or usage (for examp le,

active sessions should be terminated unless they

can b e c ontrolled by a system lock or time-out).

Y

User identifiers

All compute r ac tivities should be trac ea ble to

individuals.

Y

Source: BFI ana lysis and BS 7799

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HBIS ac c ess c ontro l HBIS allow s ac cess to b e restric ted bo th to data and to t he c om pute r

prog rams tha t p roc ess tha t d a ta (refe rred to as 'transac tions').

Data can be strea med into 'divisions' and acc ess of individua l users c an

be p ermitted , or den ied , to spec ific d ivisions.








Amongst othe r things, the user ent ry defines:

•

•

•

•

•

•

the d ata d ivisions that the user ca n a c cess

wha t transac tions the user can use, b y spec ifying :

– the a c c ess leve l of the user

– any alpha c od es alloc ate d to the user.

HBIS keeps a list o f a ll the transac tions tha t c an b e used . Eac h

transac tion is a lloc a ted an a c cess leve l and eve ry transac tion in the list

ca n also b e g iven an a lpha co de . An a lpha co de c an a lso g ive users

ac cess to transac tions with a higher ac c ess leve l tha n the ir ow n.

HBIS users can use a ll transac tions whose ac cess leve l is eq ua l to, or less

tha n, the ir persona l ac c ess level. For examp le, a user with Level 9acc ess c an use transac tions with Leve l 9 ac c ess and below.

In summary, acc ess permissions in HBIS a re c ontro lled by:

d ividing d a ta into strea ms, and g iving users ac cess to particular

da ta strea ms

g iving HBIS transac tions ac cess leve ls, and a lloc a ting a lpha c od es to

these

g iving users ac cess leve ls to dete rmine the gene ra l transac tions they

c an use

using a lpha c od es to g ive som e users spec ific acc ess to transac tions

which ha ve a highe r ac cess level than the y would otherwise b e

entitled to.

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HBIS ac c ess p roc edures within Plymouth

Ac c ess to c ases - the o rganisa tion o f d ivisions

Plymouth's da ta is strea med on HBIS into b roa d c la ima nt c a teg ories

designed for rep orting purposes, ra ther tha n fo r ac c ess c ont rol. It is

preferab le thoug h that sta ff should only be allow ed upd ate ac cess toda ta within the ir ow n spec ific sphere o f responsibility. Although this is

tec hnica lly possib le, it would req uire a d ifferent (and prob ab ly more

complex) division struc ture w ithin HBIS. For exam p le, allow ing sta ff

update a cc ess to the ir ow n area of responsib ility, and v iew -only ac c ess

to the rest of the data , would involve each user having to be

rea lloc a ted acc ess levels and alpha cod es. This would be a leng thy

process but would increase security significantly.

Division of duties




XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX








Fac ilities ava ilab le to m anagers









Level 9 users

Users with Level 9 ac cess ha ve unrestric ted acc ess to the system a nd

the da ma ge they ca n ca use, either by a c cident or design, ca n be

ca tastrophic . XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX





XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


Fig. C.3:


XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXX X

XXXXXXX XX

XXXXXXX XXX

XXXXXXX XX

XXXXXXX XXX


Improving the integrity o f HBIS The first step to ac hieving system integ rity is to ensure tha t o nly va lid

users can a c c ess HBIS. Afte r a mo re sec ure a cc ess structure ha s bee nesta b lished , ac tion is needed to e nsure tha t users c an only do w ha t

they ne ed to d o, and to m onitor their ac tivity. It is essent ia l to m onitor

the mo re p ow erful users – tho se w ho ha ve access to the sensitive system

administra tion func tions. The step s tha t Plymouth m ight ta ke to ac hieve

these last 2 aims are o utlined here.

Limiting user ac c ess to transac tions

A num ber of p rincip les should g uide the design o f user responsibilities

and , therea fte r, the ir ac c ess permissions to HBIS transac tions:

•

•

•

•

•

no sing le user should b e a b le to ca rry out the full range o f func tionsfrom c rea ting a c ase to g enerating a pa yment

ma na gers, sup ervisors and qua lity c ontrol sta ff should not have

upd a te a ccess to the func tions that they a re respo nsible for

overseeing

more senior ma nag ers should no t ha ve up da te a c cess to a ny pa rt

of the system

users should only have a cc ess to the transac tions they ne ed to do

the ir job

nob od y should ha ve a utom atic acc ess to the mo st sensitivefunctions.

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•

•

•

•

•

The responsibilities and orga nisa tion o f sta ff in benefits work should be

reviewe d aga inst these princ ip les. As a minimum :

only benefit assessors should have access to the Assessment Request

transac tion (HBT11)

the ga tewa ys to b enefit pa yment should be gua rde d by d enying

assessors acc ess to the Crea te (Insert) Ca se transac tions (HBT00 andTBT00), at the time of our visit these we re set a t Level 3, and any

other transac tions which c rea te p ayees – for exam p le, the Create

Land lord t ransac tion (HBS25). Idea lly these responsibilities should be

d ischarged by staff w ho a re no t involved in day-to-da y be nefit

processing.

Once this is done, the organisation, and its requirements for different

pa tte rns of access to HBIS transac tions, can b e rev iewe d. This will

norma lly ide ntify a numb er of co mm on p atte rns of minimum ac cess

rights. For exam ple, som e users w ill req uire view-only acc ess to c laims

da ta , whilst o thers will req uire a ll of the func tions nee ded to p rog resscases. The ta sk the n is to :

reflec t these c om mo n ac c ess req uirem ents in a hiera rchy of group s

of transac tions acc essed tog ether, and reflec t this by giving the

transac tions in ea c h group a com mo n acc ess leve l, sta rting a t Leve l

0 and working up wa rds group b y group

rec ord ac cess levels on user identifiers, ba sed on the minimum

c om mon level that the user need s

alloc ate alpha c od es to individua l users who need ac cess to som e

(but not all) transactions at higher levels.

A go od examp le of how this could wo rk in prac tic e w ould be a senior

ma nage r who currently has a Leve l 9 acc ess. This ma nager probab ly

need s ac cess to som e t ransac tions set a t this level. For examp le, those

required to view deta ils of the c urrent HBIS workloa d (HBS63 and TBS63).

How ever, giving the se ma na gers Level 9 sta tus a lso g ives them rights to

c rea te a nd progress be nefit c laims throug h to pa yment. It wo uld be

more a pp rop ria te to alloc a te the m a level which reflec ts their overall

system ac cess req uirem ents, probab ly view -only right s a t a low ac c ess

leve l, but g ive the m a ccess to the Leve l 7 transac tions they need by the

use o f alpha c od es.

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•

•

•

Co ntrolling the most pow erful users

The func tiona lity of these users defines the nee d to c ont rol them , yet

a lso makes them d ifficult to c ont rol. As they c annot b e limited throug h

HBIS, it is nec essa ry to esta blish prop er sup ervisory controls. A basic

framewo rk for suc h c ont rols wo uld b e as follow s:

on ly 2 Level 9 users should b e set up on the system a t a ny g iven time

one should b e a backup user, used only in an em ergenc y. The

password for this user should be kept securely in a sealed envelope

held, p refe rab ly, in a sa fe

the other Leve l 9 ac cess wo uld be fo r use b y the system s

adm inistrato r or their de puty, dep end ing on w ho sets or cha nge s

parameters.

The passwo rd for the system administra tor should not be known to the

system s administra to r or dep uty, bu t shou ld be held sec urely by a

ma na ger responsible fo r sup ervising the w ork of the systemsadministrato r. If systems administrato r ac cess is required , it should

norma lly be req uested b y written app lica tion to the responsib le line

ma nage r, de ta iling the rea sons for the req uest. This ma nage r would

then release the passwo rd to the system s administra tor and dec ide ho w

to mo nitor wha t is to b e d one .

Onc e the ag reed task is com pleted , the respo nsib le m anag er would

change the Leve l 9 passwo rd and hold it sec urely until the next time it is

need ed . This ma nag er co uld typica lly have a Level 0 ac cess, but alpha

cod e a cc ess to the c hang e p asswo rd transac tion.

Conclusions Although Plymo uth is keen to ma ximise sta ff flexibility for op erationa l

rea sons which is to b e a pp lauded , it is very imp ortant tha t the LA

ba lanc es this ob jec tive aga inst the risk of a llow ing too ma ny users to

ha ve HBIS ac cess tha t they d o no t no rma lly require. Ob viously, this is a

que stion o f risk mana ge ment and there is a ba lanc e to be struck

betw ee n operationa l flexib ility and sa feg ua rd ing the integ rity of HBIS.

We saw no ev idenc e tha t Plymouth ha d add ressed this issue in risk

ma nage ment te rms and it is c lear that IA has not b ee n fully involved inproviding a ny assuranc e to the senior manage ment in this a rea . In our

view, Plymouth need s to ca rry out suc h a risk assessme nt exerc ise

urgently.

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App end ix D: Post opening


Appendix D:Post opening

Introduction A post op ening system tha t is controlled and e ffic ient p rovide s

assuranc e tha t ma il sent to the LA is rec eived and hand led in a sec ure

fashion. Provision o f, and stric t a dherence to, c lear instructions rela ting

to the rec eipt and rec ording o f ma il, and in pa rtic ular valuables

rec eived , serve to ensure tha t post is hand led in the c orrec t ma nner at

all times and the risk of fraudulent claims entering the system is reduced.

If the post opening proc ess is not sec ure, the LA is op en to both internal

and external fraud .

Findings The m a il is sorted in bags ma rked ‘ financ e’ by the Roya l Ma il and then is

delivered to Windsor House, arriving around 07.00. Here it is security

scanned and then d elivered to the Civic Centre, arriving be tween 08.00

and 08.30.

Two full-time d ed ic a ted ma ilroo m sta ff then ta ke all the m ail to va rious

loc a tions around the build ing . The Revenues mail is delivered to the post

roo m w hic h is loc a ted on the 5th floo r. At the va rious points, one sta ff

member delivers mail whilst the other remains with the rest of the mail.

The b ags are sec ure up to th is sta ge.

Post room XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX



XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Post op ening proc ed ures The sup ervisor sta rts the proc ess by sorting ma il by size and passes to

another mem ber of sta ff who slits the m ail op en a nd sta cks ma il on the

positions where the mail openers work.

The 4 po st opene rs are d ue to sta rt a t 09.00. When we ob served the

proc ess 2 arrived la te. They w ere a llow ed to b ring bags and c oa ts in

with them a nd these items were no t kept a wa y from the spa c es wherethe po st wa s to b e op ened . We d id ob serve a goo d p rac tice which w as

that the p ost openers a re logge d in a nd their positions noted.

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App end ix D: Post opening


Do Not Return envelop es a re slit ope n a nd chec ked fo r cash a nd

cheq ues, and sent to the HB sec tion by the visiting tea m.

The op ene d ma il is collec ted by the supervisor a t intervals during the

op ening p roc ed ure. The supervisor then d a te stamp s and ‘ sorts’ the m a il

for the va rious sub dep a rtme nts within Financ e.

When a cheque, posta l order or ca sh (wh ich is ra re) is found , this is kep tsep arate from the o ther po st and is log ge d by a nother memb er of the

te am who dea ls solely with che que s. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The c heq ues and the m a il are sec ured in sep arate boxes, bo th o f which

are loc ked by the supervisor. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX




XXXXXXXX

The ma il is the n sorted rea dy for sc anning . There are 2 d istinc texce ptions to th is. New c la ims forms and ma il which wo uld lea d to c ase

suspension are kept separate.

The m em ber of sta ff then leaves a ll the m a il una ttended whilst they:

•

•

tell the visiting tea m tha t the forms a re rea dy for sc rutiny

ta ke the lette rs to a senior office r for suspension.

A senior mem ber of the visiting tea m w ill eve ntua lly go throug h the

forms stamp ing them ‘ visit req uired ’ or ‘no t req uired ’ .

Whilst it is goo d p rac tice tha t suspension is dea lt with promptly,

espec ia lly as there is a log jam b etw een rec eiving m a il and it being

indexed onto the DIP system , Plymouth should introd uc e a chec k to

red uce the risk of anything unto wa rd hap pe ning.

Rec orded delivery is a lso d ea lt with this sta ge . We o bserved tha t a tea m

memb er was da te stamp ing for the d ay b efore receipt.

Conclusions The p ost p roc ed ures are in nee d of o verhauling as there a re som e

sta ges when the re is very little sec urity. Whilst w e note tha t the sta ff

em ployed in the proc ess are keen, professiona l and w ell mo tivated a ndthere a re som e g oo d p rac tices, there a re still op portunities for breac hes

in sec urity d ue to poo r supervision.

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Abbreviations


AbbreviationsAll abbrev ia tions used in this rep ort a re writte n in full when the y are first

used . For easy refe renc e the m ore c om mo nly used abb reviations a re

listed below.

AC Audit Commission

ACT Auto ma ted Cred it Transfer

BA Bene fits Agenc y

BACS Bank Automa ted Clearing System

BFI Bene fit Fraud Inspe c torate

BFIS Benefit Fraud Investiga tion Service

BV Best Va lue

BVPI Best Va lue Performance Indicators

ChB Child Benefit

CT Counc il Tax

CTB Counc il Tax Bene fit

CTB Reg ula tions Counc il Tax Bene fit (General) Reg ulat ions 1992

DA Distric t Aud it

Department, the Department for Work and Pensions

DIP Doc ume nt Ima ge Proc essing

EA External Aud it

EDT Elec tronic Data Transfer

ES Emp loyment Service

HA Housing Assoc iat ion

HB Housing Benefit

HB Reg ulations Housing Benefit (Genera l) Reg ulat ions 1987

HBIS Housing Benefit Informa tion System

HBMS Housing Benefit Ma tc hing Service

HD Housing Department

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Abbreviations


HMO Houses in multiple oc cupat ion

HPU Homeless Persons Unit

IA Internal Aud it

IIDB Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit

IS Incom e Supp ort

IUC Interview Under Caution

JSA Jobseeker’s Allowance

JSA(cont) Contribution-based Jobseeker’s Allowance

JSA(IB) Income -based Jobseeker’s Allowanc e

LA Loc a l Authority

NFI National Fraud Initiative

NINO National Insurance Number

NNDR Nationa l Non-Domestic Rates

PACE Police a nd Criminal Evidence Ac t 1984

PINS Professiona lism in Sec urity

Plymouth Plymouth City Council

POA Payment On Ac count

RAT Rem ote Access Termina l

RIPA Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000

RO Rent O fficer

RS Rent Servic e

SLA Service Leve l Agreement

SSAA 1992 Soc ial Sec urity Administrat ion Ac t 1992

SSCBA 1992 Soc ial Sec urity Co ntribut ions and Bene fits Ac t

1992

VF Verifica tion Frame wo rk

VO Visiting Officer

WBS Weekly Benefit Savings

WRSU Welfare Rights Support Unit

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bfi plymouth01-2002

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