An inspectorate of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Report

Charter Mark - Awarded for excellence

Findings

Introduction

2.1 Lewisham is an inner city LA in south east London. It covers 8,581 acres stretching from the Thames in the north to Bromley in the south. Lewisham’s neighbours are the London boroughs of Southwark, Greenwich and Bromley. It is the third largest inner London borough in terms of its population and area. It has a resident population of 242,500. The total number of households in the borough at the time of our inspection was 114,537.

Social and economic details

2.2 Information from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) indicates that the unemployment rates for the 3 parliamentary constituencies for 1997/98 and 1998/99 are:

Fig. 2.1: Unemployment rates for 1997/98 and 1998/99

Constituency

1997/98
%

1998/99
%

Lewisham East

8.2

6.5

Lewisham West

9.7

7.5

Lewisham Deptford

16.1

9.6

Source: DETR

2.3 Even though there has been a decrease in the rate from 1997/98 to 1998/99 the rate in 1998/99 is still higher than the English average unemployment rate of 4.3% in 1998/99.

2.4 Statistics from DETR also show that Lewisham is fourteenth most socially deprived and eleventh most economically deprived out of 357 English LAs, where the most deprived is ranked at number one.

Caseload and expenditure

2.5 In 1998/99 61% of claimants were LA tenants and 72% of claimants were in receipt of Income Support (IS) or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA(IB)). Figure 2.2 shows the HB and CTB caseload in the Lewisham for the years 1996/97, 1997/98, 1998/99 and 1999/2000.

Fig. 2.2: HB and CTB caseload, 1996/97 to 1999/2000

Benefit

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/2000

HB

37,190

34,960

32,490

29,565

CTB

33,540

32,620

30,580

28,174

Source: Lewisham

2.6 Lewisham’s total gross expenditure for the year 1999/2000 was £435,935,000. Of this £110,950, 700 (25.45%) was spent on HB and CTB. In 1998/99 gross expenditure on HB and CTB was £116,270,286, of which £96,295,559 were HB payments.

Fig. 2.3: Actual cash value of HB and CTB paid 1997 to 2000

Benefit

1997/98
(£)

1998/99
(£)

1999/2000
(£)

HB rent rebate (RR)

52,295,599

51,744,740

50,193,793

HB RA (non HA payments)

30,500,543

26,600,171

24,031,620

HB RA (HA payments only)

17,793,473

17,950,648

19,294,611

HB sub-total

100,589,615

96,295,559

93,520,024

CTB

20,406,539

19,974,727

17,430,676

Total

120,996,154

116,270,286

110,950,700

Source: Source: Lewisham

Fig. 2.4: HB by tenure 1998/99 and-1999/2000 expressed as percentages

Source: Lewisham

2.7 As can be seen from Figures 2.2 and 2.3, for the years 1996/97, 1997/98 and 1998/99 the caseload and expenditure has been falling year on year and may well be mirroring the decline in the unemployment rate. Lewisham also attributes this to VF.

2.8 Figure 2.4 shows that although RR expenditure has remained constant, RA paid to HAs has increased.

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Fig. 2.5: XXXXX XXXXX XXX

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Source: XXXXX XX

Administration

2.10 Lewisham is one of the first LAs to gain all 4 of the available awards for excellence in service provision. They have been awarded ISO9000, Investors in People (IiP), Charter Mark and a Crystal Mark for the claim form. Lewisham asked BFI for comment on its claim form whilst we were on site as it is in the process of redesigning it. We found the form well designed and user friendly. But there were some omissions, as it did not fully comply with the requirements of VF. More information is given on the claim form in Appendix A.

2.11 There are 112.5 full-time equivalent staff administering the HB and CTB system. They are in the Directorate for Resources in the subsection of Revenues and Benefits. The Deputy Head of Benefits reports to the Acting Head of Benefits who in turn reports to the Head of Public Services.

2.12 For historic reasons, there is a split between RA and RR. Those staff administering RR claims were previously housed in another building and were part of the Housing Directorate. Lewisham has been undergoing a long period of change and RR is now administered alongside RA in the same building. Although there is closer integration, the split is still maintained for practical purposes because the integration of RR cases onto the RA claim maintenance system has not been completed.

2.13 The only staff remaining as part of the Housing Directorate and dealing with HB and CTB issues are the staff at the 14 NHOs serving local council estates. These officers deal with HB and CTB enquiries and gather evidence for the claims, but are not involved with the processing and administration of HB and CTB.

2.14 The organisational structure is detailed in Figure 2.6.

Fig. 2.6: Organisation of Lewisham’s HB and CTB administration

Source: Lewisham

2.15 Lewisham’s HB and CTB administration is currently organised by separate functions, rather than working generically. There are teams to deal with systems control, quality assurance, fraud investigation, overpayment recovery and benefit processing. The benefit processing work is sub-divided into teams dealing with:

This division of duties helps with the management and control of the workload through the DIP system, as well as allowing staff to build up their expertise and efficiency by specialising in a particular area of the work.

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