Issue - meetings

To receive a report from the Head of Customer Services on the introduction of risk based verification in housing benefits for 2012/13.

Approved the a proposal to introduce Risk Based Verification for the verification of new Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims that are submitted using the online claim facility.

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Customer Services (a copy of which is appended in the Annex to the Minute Book) outlining a proposal to introduce Risk Based Verification for new Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims submitted through the Council’s online claim facility.

In noting monitoring arrangements and the financial implications of introducing the new system, the Cabinet were advised that the process would be considered by the District Council’s Auditors to ensure that it works correctly and that they would expect to see a reduction in fraud against the Council as a consequence of its implementation.

Members’ attention was drawn to the conclusions reached by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Economic Well-Being) and the Corporate Governance Panel relating to the scheme’s cost and implementation.  In that respect, Members were advised that the scheme would apply to Council Tax support claims from April 2013 following the abolition of Council Tax Benefit as well as continuing to apply to Housing Benefit claims.  Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

  that the Benefits Risk Based Verification Policy, appended to the report now submitted, be approved.

To receive a report from the Head of Customer Services on the introduction of risk based verification in housing benefits for 2012/13.

(Members of the Overview & Scrutiny Panel (Social Well-Being) have been invited to attend for the discussion on this item).

(Councillor B S Chapman, Executive Councillor for Customer Services, was in attendance for this item).

With the assistance of a report by the Head of Customer Services (a copy of which is appended in the annex to the Minute Book) the Panel considered a proposal to introduce Risk Based Verification of new Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims that were submitted using the online claim facility. By way of introduction, Councillor B S Chapman explained that Risk Based Verification was a more efficient mechanism for the verification of new Housing and Council Benefit claims which were submitted online. Members then received an explanation of the way in which the Risk Based Verification process would operate and noted that the Executive Councillor expected to see a reduction in fraud against the Council as a consequence of its implementation. The Head of Customer Services explained that it was the intention to implement Risk Based Verification for Council Tax Support in due course and a further report would be submitted to the Cabinet for this purpose when the new Local Government Finance Act had received Royal Assent.

Following a question about the cost-benefits of the proposal, Members were informed that a Business Case had been prepared, which showed that the system was not expensive and would produce new savings in terms of the Officer time spent on the processing of claims. Members were also informed that the proposal had been incorporated within the Medium Term Plan as part of the E-Forms project, which was intended to save the cost of two Full Time Equivalents from 2013. With this in mind, Members suggested that it would have been helpful for the Business Case to have been appended to the report to give Members a better indication of the financial implications of the change. The Head of Customer Services agreed to circulate a copy and incorporate a summary of it into the report which would be considered by the Cabinet at its meeting on 18^th October.

In response to a question about the process through which claimants advised the Council of changes in their circumstances, the Panel was advised that it was intended to introduce Risk Based Verification in this area in due course. Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

that the Cabinet be recommended to adopt the Benefits Risk Based Verification Policy as set out in Appendix A of the report now submitted.

To receive a report from the Head of Customer Services on the introduction of risk based verification in housing benefits for 2012/13.

(Councillor J A Gray, Executive Councillor for Resources was in attendance for consideration of this item).

With the aid of a report by the Head of Customer Services (a copy of which is appended in the annex to the Minute Book) the Panel considered a proposal to introduce risk based verification on new Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims submitted through the Council’s online claim facility.

By way of background, the Managing Director (Resources) outlined that the proposals had arisen as a result of a pilot undertaken by a number of local authorities across the country. The scheme would enable the Council to categorise applications into one of the three risk groups of high, medium or low and would generate efficiencies of up to 50% in the caseload for low risk claims and improved error detection rates for high risk cases.

In response to questions raised by the Panel it was confirmed that the scheme would relate to both Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims which were submitted through the Council’s website. It was therefore agreed that paragraph 6.1 of the report should be amended to clarify this point in advance of its submission to the Cabinet. Whereupon, it was

RESOLVED

  that the Benefits Risk Based Verification Policy attached as an Appendix to the report now submitted be approved by the Panel.