Appendix E:
Analysis of post received on 6 October 1998
We looked at all the post received in the benefits section’s post opening area from the BA office in Ramsgate on 6 October 1998. In total there were 134 items of post. Specifically, we looked at the quality and timeliness of the service, using the agreed quantifiable performance targets laid down in the SLA as a measure.
The following table shows the final distribution of the post and our findings.
| Fig. E.1: Analysis of post received from BA | |||
Type |
Number |
Met SLA quality target |
Met SLA time target |
| NHB1 | 42 |
No |
Yes |
| NHB1 (IS/JSA(IB))/(JSA) Entitlement | 12 |
No |
Yes |
| NHB (IS)/(JSA) Change of circumstances | 25 |
No |
Yes |
| NHB5 | 12 |
Yes |
No |
| NHB (IS)/(JSA) End of entitlement | 22 |
Yes |
Yes |
| NHB (Clerical) | 3 |
Yes |
Yes |
| NHB1-EP | 2 |
Yes |
Yes |
| Internal memo | 13 |
Yes |
No |
| HBF1 | 2 |
Yes |
Yes |
| HBF4 | 1 |
Yes |
Yes |
| Total | 134 |
||
Source: BFI analysis
As can be seen from the table above, BA is forwarding only the end of entitlement notices, the NHB(Clerical)s, the NHB1-EPs and HBF forms to Thanet in the prescribed manner. Of the other notifications and forms we found that:
- BA had date stamped only 3 of the 42 NHB1 forms
- 30 of the 42 NHB1 forms did not arrive with the NHB(IS) or NHB(JSA) entitlement decision notice
- BA takes an average of 13.45 days to reply to the NHB5 forms. The SLA states that BA should answer 90% of all written enquiries within 5 days
- BA takes an average of 6.3 days to reply to a Thanet memo. The SLA states that BA should answer 90% of all written enquiries within 5 days.
Conclusions
From our sample we found that BA is not achieving the performance targets prescribed in the SLA and that this is having a detrimental effect on Thanet’s ability to process claims and payments on time.
There is an agreed commitment in the SLA to monitor the service levels, but we found no monitoring processes in place, either at Thanet or at BA.
We found that, because BA post is collected daily at noon by a courier from Thanet, this allows BA to gather and sort all the system printouts ready for collection. Therefore BA sends most NHB(IS) and NHB(JSA) notifications to Thanet on time and within the targets prescribed in the SLA. However, this does not allow for the entitlement notices to be attached to the NHB1 forms.
Furthermore, the information on the change of circumstances notifications does not always reflect the actual change. The BA benefit processors are not able to amend these as different staff collate the printouts.
