Appendix B:
Benefit gateways

Figure B.1 shows the different gateways to benefit for claimants making claims to HB or CTB in Tower Hamlets.

Source: BFI inspection

Benefits

Entitlement to HB and CTB is not dependent upon receipt of another benefit, but approximately 74% of Tower Hamlets’ HB and CTB claimants receive IS or JSA(IB).

Employment Service

Tower Hamlets is served by 3 Jobcentres in the Thames Gateway District (City Side, Poplar and Isle of Dogs) and one Jobcentre in the Hackney and City District (Shoreditch).

ES staff take no active part in the actual assessment of JSA claims, but they do interview new claimants and ensure that claim forms (JSA1 and NHB1) are completed correctly and passed to BA. They make clerical payments on behalf of BA, process changes of circumstances and deal with queries from BA and Tower Hamlets. They also deal with claims for payments under the Extended Payments scheme.

Benefits Agency

BA processes JSA and IS claims to benefit. Tower Hamlets is served by:

• City East office and Poplar office, which form City East District
• Hoxton DO, which is part of Hackney and Islington District.

They are responsible for notifying Tower Hamlets of entitlement to benefits within the timescales laid down in their SLA.

There are 2 BA fraud sectors operating in Tower Hamlets:

• City East Sector
• Hackney and Islington Sector.

We have calculated that work from Tower Hamlets accounts for 91% of City East Sector’s workload and 14% of Hackney and Islington’s workload.

The Area also employs special teams to tackle collusive employer fraud, which are managed outside the sector.

Inspection

We inspected the interface and liaison arrangements between the 3 organisations to assess the extent of their mutual co-operation and co-ordination. The results are set out in Appendix D.