An inspectorate of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Report

Charter Mark - Awarded for excellence

Findings: How good are the services?

32 A best value (BV) inspection checks that an LA has agreed the key aims for the service being inspected, how clear those aims are to the people who receive the service and whether those aims relate to the LA's corporate aims.

33 BV requires LAs to show why they are providing the service under review and whether alternative ways of providing the service have been examined. The challenge element of BV is an important part of the performance improvement requirement. Part of the task for Benefits is to show that both corporate and community aims are being met.

Are the aims clear and challenging?

34 The need for the Benefits Service to exist is prescribed by law and therefore not open to challenge, however the manner and means by which the service is delivered is open to challenge.

35 North West Leicestershire's Corporate Policy Statement includes the council's vision:

To improve the quality of life of all the people in North West Leicestershire by promoting equality, democracy, community welfare, sustainable economic, social and environmental well being and best value service.

36 This vision is supported by 3 corporate themes of equality, sustainability and BV.

37 The Corporate Policy Statement states that to achieve its vision, North West Leicestershire will promote its activities under 4 key objectives. These are:

Objective 1 – Democracy and Community Leadership – to encourage people to become involved in democratic local decision making.

Objective 2 – Environmental Well-being – to promote good environmental management, to maintain and improve the quality of life of the people who live and work in the district.

Objective 3 – Economic Well-being – to actively promote and encourage the development and diversification of the local economy to secure sustainable long term prosperity for the area.

Objective 4 – Social Well-being – to promote social well-being and community welfare and seek to eradicate relative deprivation and social exclusion.

38 Taking this a stage further North West Leicestershire has prioritised aims within 4 areas:

39 North West Leicestershire's BVR of the Housing Benefits Service links into the priorities identified under Better Services For All. These are:

40 There are clear links with the provision of the Housing Benefits Service. All the BVPIs are categorised as forward targets by North West Leicestershire under Social Well-being. Particular areas for improvement are identified under Better Services for All, such as tackling obstacles to equality of access to opportunities within the district, and the intention to conduct a major campaign for housing benefits take up.

41 The BVR details why Housing Benefits was chosen to be one of the first services for review in year one of its 5 year cycle. The criteria used were:

42 A scoring matrix was used to rank services. Housing Benefits had the highest score and ranked as number one for service review.

43 North West Leicestershire produced an improvement plan for its Housing Benefits Service as part of the BVR. Originally this was a 2 year plan, but was due to be amended to take account of longer term aims following our on-site work in December 2001. We discuss the plan later in this report. Forward targets are identified under Social Well-being in the Best Value Performance Plan (BVPP) for the 5 years from 2000/01 to 2004/05. This 5 year period is not reflected in the improvement plan.

44 Local people's views on a service provided by a council can also be expressed through the complaints made to the service. North West Leicestershire has a corporate complaints policy that covers all parts of the service including Housing Benefits. However the Housing Benefits Service does not keep any formal records that show the number of complaints received, nor does it analyse the outcomes of those complaints.

45 What is not clear is how the council has challenged itself in the improvement plan to drive performance up beyond the minimal improvements indicated in its forward targets. An alternative challenge to North West Leicestershire may be to examine its internal processes whilst maintaining its good performance. This may identify if any can be changed to direct resources more effectively.

Does the service meet the aims?

46 Having considered the aims of the service, Inspectors then make an assessment as to how well North West Leicestershire is meeting those aims. This includes an assessment of performance against specific standards and targets and the council’s approach to measuring whether it is actually delivering what it set out to do.

47 North West Leicestershire's performance over the last 3 years has been stable and consistently high in most areas of performance. Figure 6 shows details of North West Leicestershire's performance and targets for the last 2 years and in the year so far to date.

Fig. 6: Performance
BVPIs

1999/2000

Target

1999/2000

Actual

2000/01

Target

2000/01

Actual

2001/02

Target

2001/02

Actual
77 DNA DNA   £40.22 £41.00  
78 (a) DNA 22 days 19.5 days 20.5 days 19.25 days 18.1 days
78 (b) DNA DNA   7.2 days 5.8 days 4.6 days
78 (c) DNA   88.25% 88.8% 91.5% 89.9%
79 (a) DNA DNA   98.6% 98.5% 97.6%
79 (b)   69%   69.0% 69.5%  
80       84% 82.6%  

Source: North West Leicestershire

48 The BVPIs are as follows:

49 The BVPIs listed above were introduced for 2000/01. North West Leicestershire's performance against these and local indicators has been consistently good.

50 We considered if North West Leicestershire Benefits Service was making best use of its resources such as the use of staff and systems to offer the best possible service to customers.

Service to customers

51 Callers to the main office at Coalville are dealt with at the benefits counter, which is staffed by members of the assessment teams on a rota basis. Telephone calls are directed to the officer dealing with that particular address. Most of the letters issued by benefits staff include the name of the officer who has dealt with that claim. This makes it easier for the claimant to contact the officer dealing with their claim and ensures continuity.

52 North West Leicestershire does not keep or analyse statistics showing the numbers of personal callers, the number of telephone calls received or the reasons for those enquiries.

53 However feedback from all stakeholders and customers was very positive and complimentary. We spoke to internal users, housing association representatives, resident association representatives, local councillors, the Rent Officer, and Benefits Agency (BA) who all expressed satisfaction with the levels of access and service provided by North West Leicestershire.

54 A Claimant Satisfaction Survey carried out in August 2000 and based on all claims determined during June/July 2000 shows that 84% of customers were satisfied with the service.

55 Some customers, both internal and external, expressed thoughts on how the current service could be improved. These included:

56 We noted that 69% of the customers who responded to the questionnaire said they were willing to take part in future consultation, the majority by post but a quarter were prepared to be consulted by other means. This opportunity had not been explored by North West Leicestershire.

57 Our own experience of the public entrance to the main offices at Coalville was that the signs were confusing. We saw further indications of confusion caused by the signs during our observations with officers staffing the counter. Two of the 8 customers who called at the benefits counter during the time we were there were redirected to other counters.

58 The customer survey also supported the view that an area where North West Leicestershire could improve its service to claimants was to improve the claim form and determination letters. This view was supported by our discussions with other stakeholders.

59 However it became clear during our discussions that any changes to the claim form or decision letters had always come from staff. The claimant survey established that customers thought the claim form should be easier to complete but the survey did probe further to ask which parts of the form presented particular problems.

60 We compared the claim form used by North West Leicestershire with the BFI Model Claim Form. By using a single claim form for all types of benefit, North West Leicestershire is working to good practice recommended by BFI.

61 The form itself includes some positive features, such as:

62 But the form could be improved in:

63 Before the next changes to the form are made we recommend that it is compared to the BFI model claim form to make it more effective.

64 The effectiveness of the claim form can also be measured by counting the numbers of query letters issued by staff to get further information before claims can be determined. North West Leicestershire does not analyse its query letters. Such analysis can reveal trends relating to certain parts of the form which may be ambiguous or do not ask what is required.

65 The customer survey identified aspects of the Benefits Service that could be improved from the claimant's point of view but failed to take the extra step to find out how those aspects could be improved. There is always a balance between what is needed to determine a claim and what is easiest for the claimant, but it is important that claimants are consulted about aspects of the service they are required to be a part of, such as completing forms and understanding letters.

66 We also looked at some examples of decision notices used by North West Leicestershire and are satisfied that they meet legal requirements. We commend North West Leicestershire for including the name and contact number of the officer deciding the claim on all the examples we saw. This helps claimants if they need to contact the council.

Benefits take up and access to the service

67 Looking at the priorities identified by North West Leicestershire under Better Services for All there are 2 aspects that link directly to the Benefits Service. These are:

68 The first aim of tackling obstacles to equality of access to opportunities within the district presents particular problems for the council. Identified as a Community Action Zone, North West Leicestershire has a mix of rural and urban settlements with pockets of deprivation. Previously a thriving mining area, the district is now refocusing its industry.

69 Access to information on all council services is an issue throughout the district. North West Leicestershire's second aim of conducting a major campaign for HB take up relies on such access being made easy as possible for its constituents. We examined the Benefits Service to establish how well North West Leicestershire was tackling those obstacles and how it proposed to conduct a major campaign for HB take up.

70 The appointment of a new Anti Poverty Officer in July 2001 was partly driven by concerns from voluntary organisations about the rise in deprivation and poverty in the district as a whole. This was fully supported by the council. The role of this officer is primarily to focus on benefit take up, using established methods. These include:

71 The Anti Poverty Officer has a service delivery plan that is agreed and managed by the council’s Poverty Action Group. Meetings take place every 8 weeks. The plan has 9 key aims and Benefits features in the top 3.

72 The improvement plan contains details relating to the Ibstock Pilot, also known as ICE (Ibstock Community Enterprise). This is a one stop shop pilot that deals with all aspects of the council’s business at a local level. The Benefits Service agreed to reimburse ICE for the cost of photocopying and postage when ICE accepts and completes benefit forms. Regrettably the introduction of this service has been delayed due to staffing problems at ICE.

73 The government pilot programme or Your Guide is a scheme introduced in September 2001 by the Post Office throughout Leicestershire. The aim is to allow customers to submit benefit claim forms and have income verified at post offices.

74 The evidence so far is that forms received by this pilot still require further information from the customer before their claim can be determined, however it is early days. The pilot itself will be reviewed by the Post Office 6 months after it started and the results analysed. North West Leicestershire will have an important part to play in feeding back its experience of this initiative and those of its customers.

75 Funds of £20,000 have been earmarked for developing the council's website. This is to provide council information, including benefits, to those customers with on line facilities or access to such facilities. This is currently being developed.

76 Initiatives previously explored by North West Leicestershire include a mobile advice unit that travelled to different parts of the district on different days. The aim was to provide local people with advice on all aspects of the council's services, including Housing Benefits. The number of customers made its continued use inefficient in terms of staff time and costs so the service was withdrawn.

77 In 1999 a campaign which targeted pensioners entitled to Income Support resulted in £115,000 being awarded to local residents. The policy of targeting specific client groups will be used again in the campaign under way to target pensioners to claim the Minimum Income Guarantee. It is hoped this new campaign will be equally successful.

Verification

78 In view of North West Leicestershire’s good performance against its BVPIs, we considered its verification and assessment procedures against those recommended by the Verification Framework (VF).

79 The BVR explains why North West Leicestershire decided not to adopt the VF. Although this is a voluntary scheme, it is widely recognised as a way of safeguarding the gateway to benefits and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) funding is available to those authorities adopting it.

80 The VF provides guidance on how to prevent fraud and error entering the benefits system. We asked North West Leicestershire how it provided assurance that its processes met this aim. We discussed a number of aspects and concluded that North West Leicestershire is vulnerable to the risk of fraud and error entering its system in the following ways:

81 North West Leicestershire's response to our concerns was it did not suffer the same levels of fraud or error evident in other authorities. However as North West Leicestershire does not analyse the results of its visiting programme, administration errors or fraud referrals, we saw no evidence upon which it could support this view.

Renewal claims

82 North West Leicestershire generally uses standard benefit periods as follows:

83 Individual circumstances are considered and the award period is adjusted if appropriate.

84 The issue of renewal claims is spread over 10 months from May to February, avoiding the year-end in March/April. North West Leicestershire's performance in 2000/01 against BVPI 78 (c) of 89.5% of claims processed before the end of the benefit period is good.

85 However North West Leicestershire does not pursue renewal claims that are not returned. In such cases the benefit period comes to an end and payments stop. However it is unlikely that in all cases where a renewal claim expires, the claimant will have had a change of circumstance within the previous week. It is therefore likely that there has been an unreported change.

86 For cases where the claimant has moved, the council should make reasonable efforts to establish where the claimant has moved to so that any overpaid benefit can be pursued.

87 For cases where the claimant is still resident but has allowed the payment to cease, the council should find out from the claimant what the change of circumstance was and when it happened.

88 There is the potential for fraud to be identified in both scenarios. By not pursuing these non-renewals, the council is allowing undeclared changes of circumstances to go undetected. This sends out the wrong message to potential fraudsters. The council is also failing to identify, record and recover any overpaid benefit.

Changes of circumstances

89 North West Leicestershire's performance against BVPI 78(b) is good at 6 days on average to process a change in circumstances.

90 However we identified serious flaws in the procedures used by staff to process changes in circumstances. North West Leicestershire does not calculate and record overpayments arising from increases in income of under £6 a week. In the BVR the council says it has adopted this local tolerance rule where such changes are ignored until the next claim as ‘…….DSS forgot to include a tolerance rule when it drafted the current regulations…’.

91 Ignoring such changes could result in individual overpayments of up to £200 going unrecorded. This worst-case scenario takes into account the HB taper of 65% and the maximum length of outstanding award period.

92 The procedures issued to staff tell them that in such cases they send a letter to the claimant, acknowledging receipt of the changes declared, and advising the claimant that the change will be taken into account the next time the claim is reviewed.

93 These changes of under £6 a week are noted on the benefit file. When a subsequent review of the claim takes place, the original change is implemented but only from the Monday date following the review. The benefit overpaid from when the change happened, to when it was finally acted on is not calculated or recorded. The total overpayment figure for each year will be inaccurate as it does not truly represent the amount of overpaid benefit that has arisen.

94 By not dealing with these changes of circumstances on time, North West Leicestershire is failing to send the correct message to claimants and may be increasing the likelihood of claimants not telling the council of future changes which are above the £6 a week limit.

95 This practice also has implications for the council’s subsidy claim. The council’s subsidy claim for payments of HB will be overstated as it is claiming full subsidy when none should be payable in the case of council error overpayments. This practice has existed in North West Leicestershire for a number of years.

96 North West Leicestershire acknowledges that it has been incorrectly interpreting the procedure for dealing with changes in circumstances and has agreed to amend its procedures. The council mistakenly believed that the current regulations allowed it to act in a similar way to the reforms for pensioners now proposed by DWP for April 2003.

Management checks

97 BVPI 79(a) relates to accuracy of processing. North West Leicestershire's performance against this BVPI is high at 98.6% for 2000/01. The figure is calculated from a sample of 500 claims checked each year.

98 In addition, North West Leicestershire checks 10% of claims as recommended in the BFI Good Practice Guide. The following details on each claim are checked:

99 We are concerned that the checklist of items to be examined does not include any checks relating to overpayments that have arisen, the amounts overpaid, the period of the overpayment or if the overpayment has been correctly classified.

100 The IPF report states that one in 20 claimants were being over or underpaid and that there was scope for North West Leicestershire to reduce payment errors. The report recognises that the main productivity improvements will come from reducing claimant error rather than staff error and suggests that the council examines how it requests information from the claimant and how it provides guidance to the claimant on what is required to make a successful claim. We cover the claim form in more detail later in this report.

101 Two fraud cases are selected at random and checked each month by the Head of Housing Benefits. The check includes compliance with procedures, adequacy of documentation and the robustness of conclusions drawn. There is a summary sheet detailing the check results.

Management Information

102 Management information is an essential tool for effective delivery of a well-run benefits service. North West Leicestershire collects information to provide statistics to the DWP but does not always use that information as effectively as it could. There are several examples of this:

103 We also identified a number of areas where statistics could be used to improve performance but the information is not collected. The following paragraphs give examples.

104 The number of callers at the counter and telephone calls made to the Benefits Service are not recorded, neither are the reasons for that contact. Analysing this information can indicate common reasons why customers make contact and allow the council to consider if those enquiries can be reduced or dealt with more effectively.

105 The numbers of letters sent by the council asking for more information is not recorded, neither are the reasons why further information is needed to decide the claim. Analysing this information can reveal patterns or trends that may show why and when claimants have difficulty completing the claim form and can identify how the claim form might be improved.

106 Statistics relating to the management of overpayments were limited. We discuss overpayments later in this report.

107 The number of non-returned renewal claims is not recorded. We have already mentioned the issues that relate to renewals not being returned and how these should be processed. Such information is key to the successful risk management of claims.

108 North West Leicestershire has carried out specific exercises to get usable information in the past, for example the counter survey done as part of the BVR. The results showed the:

109 This information was analysed by the council who concluded that it would like to offer customers an alternative to having to visit the counter at Coalville. Alternatives proposed included the Post Office Pilot, ICE and improving arrangements with housing associations.

110 The benefits of analysis are evident in the above exercise, however the staffing problems at the ICE, and the possible limitations imposed by the Post Office Pilot present obstacles to North West Leicestershire in achieving its outreach goals.

111 Ongoing consultation with customers and analysing the findings from that consultation may provide the council with other alternatives to consider. The customer survey will currently take place every 3 years, but if North West Leicestershire is to meet the targets in the improvement plan, it cannot afford to wait 3 years for feedback on improvement to the service.

Overpayments

112 We examined the overpayment recovery process at North West Leicestershire and have concerns about its overall management. The BVPI 79(b) of 69% relates to the percentage of recoverable overpayments (excluding CTB) recovered annually.

113 Of all North West Leicestershire's BVPIs, this one represents its lowest performance. It is not as good as the average performance of similar councils in the CIPFA family group and needs to improve to match or exceed performance of the top quartile nationally. Having said that, North West Leicestershire’s reported performance is still better than the national average against this indicator.

114 Some of the difficulties relating to managing recovery of overpayments arise because there is no direct IT link between the HB system and the Sundry Debtors system. This means that all reconciliation is done manually, which is a time consuming and labour intensive exercise.

115 The improvement plan includes only one objective relating to BVPI 79(b), the objective states that new form design and information to the claimant will improve the percentage of overpayments recovered within the year. However it is hard to see how this will be achieved. The recovery of overpayments is largely governed by how well the council manages its overpayments processes, rather than how well the form collects information.

116 The recovery rate for North West Leicestershire for 1999/2000 was 69%. The estimated performance figure for 2001/02 was 69% and the target was 69.5%. The targets appear to be based on past performance rather than desired improvements and have not changed significantly since 1999/2000. It is not clear how the action detailed in the improvement plan will improve the rate of recovery above 69%.

117 RR overpayments below £100 are passed to the housing rent account if the debtor is no longer receiving HB.

118 The recovery figures are affected by North West Leicestershire’s practice of recording overpayments for RR cases as fully recovered when they are passed to the housing rent account. This means the correct rate of recovery as measured by this BVPI is much lower than that recorded.

119 North West Leicestershire’s management information system does not indicate the amount of money recovered by Housing in respect of overpayments, although Housing makes a distinction between benefit overpayments and rent arrears.

120 We are concerned that North West Leicestershire has not challenged its working practices sufficiently in this area and that the improvement plan fails to address this.

121 The lack of interface between the HB system and the Sundry Debtors system makes it difficult to monitor ongoing recovery of overpayments. Information on the amount of overpaid benefit recovered during the year can only be calculated after the year end.

122 Figure 7 shows the methods of recovery used by North West Leicestershire.

Fig. 7: Recovery methods

Recovery Method

Used by NW Leicestershire

Deductions from arrears of benefit

Yes

Deductions from HB awarded to claimant

Yes

Deductions from other social security benefits

Yes

Deductions from future payments to claimants partner

No

Deductions from payments made direct to the landlord in respect of other tenants

Yes

Recovery via other local authorities

No

Registering a decided and notified overpayment as a debt in the county court and using the court’s enforcement methods to recover the debt

Yes

Invoicing using sundry debtors system

Yes

Transfer to rent account for RR claims (recovery is undertaken by the housing section using rent collectors)

Yes

Debtor tracing/ debt collection agencies

No

Source: BFI analysis

123 North West Leicestershire does not currently pursue all methods of overpayment recovery such as recovery by other local authorities, deductions from a partner’s future payments or by debt collection agencies.

124 Recovery of fraud overpayments is not prioritised above other debts and this should be addressed.

125 If North West Leicestershire intends to improve its lowest performing BVPI, it must examine the entire overpayments process and reconsider how performance can be improved.

Counter Fraud Activity

126 Targeting resources against known risk areas is a key element of an effective counter fraud strategy, particularly where resources are limited. North West Leicestershire acknowledges the need for this but also accepts it has never undertaken any formal risk assessment of fraud entering its benefits system.

127 North West Leicestershire has a commitment to visit certain new claims to provide a secure and visible gateway to the benefits system and to support its commitment to customer service. Fraud staff visits all new private RA cases but the number of visits is not recorded and the outcomes are not analysed.

128 We were told that the purpose of visiting new claims was to check:

129 This means that rather than target specific types of claimants or particular properties from a risk based analysis, North West Leicestershire is operating a blanket policy to visit all private RA claims. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX .

130 An understanding of risk would also help prioritise referrals when the section has more than its capacity. At the time of our on-site visit in December 2001 both fraud staff had a full file holding, yet there were 50 referrals that had not been looked at. Fifty cases represent approximately 6–8 weeks of referrals.

131 Twenty of these 50 cases were referrals from Housing Benefit Matching Service. Experience shows that cases not investigated quickly soon go cold, making investigations more difficult. And if there has been fraud or error then the overpayment will be larger by the time it is resolved. It is therefore important to continually review progress of investigations and ensure that new referrals are risk-assessed and sifted as quickly as possible.

132 Good quality fraud investigations are important because they:

133 North West Leicestershire has implemented a number of good practices as part of its counter fraud activities. It:

134 North West Leicestershire could add to this list by installing a fraud hotline for fraud referrals and adopting the do not redirect postal facility.

135 Figure 8 shows North West Leicestershire has undertaken 3 prosecutions in the past 18 months. It has also successfully issued 4 formal cautions and given an administrative penalty in the first half of 2001/02.

Fig. 8: Prosecutions 1999 – 2001
  Prosecutions Initiated Successful Prosecutions Prosecutions Pending
1999/2000

0

0

0
2000/01

2

2

0
2001/02*

1

0

1

Source: North West Leicestershire *up to 30 September 2001

136 The council’s prosecution policy was developed following discussions with other Leicestershire councils and was ratified by the Policy and Resources committee in March 1999. However, It was not aligned with the Benefit Fraud Investigation Service (BFIS) Prosecution Policy nor was it discussed or agreed with the council’s own solicitor.

137 Factors to be considered when deciding whether or not to prosecute are stated as:

138 Whilst we were on site in December 2001 we reviewed 2 fraud investigations which met the prosecution criteria and had been authorised by the Director of Community Welfare to be passed to the council solicitor to start proceedings. The solicitor applied different criteria and decided it was not in the council’s interest to prosecute and rejected the cases.

139 A lot of effort has been spent investigating cases and preparing prosecution files that may ultimately not meet the solicitor’s different prosecution criteria. The new DWP incentive scheme that comes into effect from 1 April 2002 rewards prosecutions. There is a clear risk that North West Leicestershire will not be able to make best use of the scheme whilst these criteria are out of alignment.

140 There is also the risk that residents in the borough will receive different treatment for similar offences depending on whether the council or BFIS undertakes the investigation. This may have implications for future joint working initiatives.

141 Prosecutions have been covered in the local press to ensure the public is aware of its commitment to address fraud. It is also planned to further publicise the activities of the counter fraud team by having a feature in a free newspaper that has a regular column for raising awareness of local issues and initiatives.

142 Figure 9 shows North West Leicestershire has successfully met its WBS thresholds for the past 3 years, and it is on track to achieve its target for 2001/02 of £80,763 as well.

Fig. 9: WBS Performance 1998 – 2001
 

WBS Threshold

Achieved

% achieved

1998/99

£73,712

£81,513

111
1999/2000

£75,994

£92,146

121
2000/01

£77,556

£119,334

164
2001/02 *

£80,763

£60,620

75

Source: North West Leicestershire *up to 30 September 2001

143 Figure 10 shows the outcome of investigations undertaken in the first half of 2001/02. North West Leicestershire’s practice of not entering cases not accepted for investigation on its fraud management system means the data is not complete.

144 North West Leicestershire intends to train one of its staff to Professionalism IN Security standards. Resources have been secured as well as a place in the training programme.

Fig. 10: Analysis of 2001/02 fraud investigations by claim type

Result

CTB only

RA

RA (HA)

RR

Total

Closed – formal caution given

0

0

0

2

2

Closed – fraud not established

8

13

7

20

48

Closed – not pursuing

3

10

3

14

30

Closed – fraud established

3

4

2

3

12

Closed – WBS claimed

4

17

3

21

45

Current investigation

13

19

5

20

57

Referred to BA

1

7

0

10

18

Total

32

70

20

90

212

Source: BFI analysis of North West Leicestershire data

145 North West Leicestershire has undertaken an impact analysis of the new anti fraud incentive scheme that is introduced on 1 April 2002. The analysis covers all the relevant aspects and assesses the potential effect on the council. It concludes that the main source of subsidy is likely to be from prosecutions and applying administrative penalties and cautions.

How does performance compare?

146 Using the BVPIs, it is clear that North West Leicestershire is consistently delivering a high standard of performance across the full range of indicators. It is in the top quartile for most indicators and in the upper quartile for the rest.

147 As well as using 1999/2000 data, we have also used 2000/01 BVPI data for some of the comparison in this part of the report. We stress that 2000/01 data is provisional and subject to amendment.

Speed of delivery

148 The BVPIs used to measure and compare speed of delivery for 1999/2000 are the:

Fig. 11: 1999/2000 clearance performance for BVPIs G1 – G4
 

CTB

(days)

RR

(days)

RA

(days)

Renewals paid on time

(%)

NW Leicestershire

20

18

27

94

Other Leicestershire

47

40

47

79

Tamworth Group

44

39

46

65

CIPFA family

54

45

55

78

District average

46

41

46

79

District top quartile

30

28

33

92

Source: North West Leicestershire

149 The BVPIs were adjusted for 2000/01. The BVPI for separate tenures of new claims were amalgamated into one overall measure. An indicator was added to give the average number of days to clear a change of circumstances. Therefore the range of measures for 2000/01 are the:

Fig. 12: 2000/01 Clearance Performance for BVPIs 78(a) – 78(c)
 

New Claims

(days)

Changes of Circumstance

(days)

Renewals paid on time

(%)

NW Leicestershire

20

6

91

Other Leicestershire

51

19

51

CIPFA family

47

21

61

District average

46

21

72

District top quartile

32

10

90

Source: North West Leicestershire & Audit Commission

150 Figures 11 and 12 show North West Leicestershire processes cases faster on average than all the comparative groups. It is placed firmly in the top quartile for each indicator.

151 North West Leicestershire’s performance against BVPI 78(c) is declining. Performance dropped from 94% to 91% of renewals paid on time between 1999/2000 and 2000/01. This trend has continued into 2001/02 where for the first 6 months the performance is 89.6% against North West Leicestershire’s stated target of 91.5%.

152 The measure for processing changes of circumstances was only introduced for 2000/01 but North West Leicestershire’s achievement of an average of 6 days places it in the top quartile and shows a commitment to act quickly on these important cases. However its practice of not reviewing cases where the increase in income is less than £6 a week means that many go unrecorded.

153 North West Leicestershire has improved its performance against this measure in the first 6 months of 2001/02. Its average is 5.6 days to process a change of circumstance against its target of 5.8 days.

Cost

154 The BVPI for 1998/99 and 1999/2000 is the cost per claimant. For 2000/01 it was changed to the cost of handling a HB or CTB claim. The 2 measures are quite distinct and comparisons cannot be drawn between them. However comparisons between groups within the same years are valid. North West Leicestershire’s performance is in the top quartile for both measures.

155 Figure 13 shows that North West Leicestershire has lower costs than all the other comparative groups for each of the past 3 years.

Fig. 13: Cost comparison

 

1998/99

1999/2000

2000/01

NW Leicestershire

£72.44

£80.06

£40.94

Other Leicestershire

£86.86

£94.44

£72.82

Tamworth Group

£77.54

£83.60

Not available

CIPFA family

£79.37

£97.41

£62.21

District average

£91.12

£104.73

£80.46

District top quartile

£74.01

£84.02

£52.20

Source: North West Leicestershire & Audit Commission

156 Although North West Leicestershire’s costs compare favourably there are a number of factors that should be considered:

Accuracy of payments and overpayments

157 BVPI G6a measures the proportion of overpayments recorded compared to the total amount of benefit paid out. Accuracy of benefit payments has a marked effect on North West Leicestershire’s performance as it potentially conflicts with its stated anti poverty and fair debt aims. As underpayments may cause hardship, and overpayments may need recovering.

158 For any overpayment the authority has to decide if it is recoverable and if so from whom and how. This directly effects claimants, landlords and housing associations where payment and recovery is made directly from them.

159 Figure 14 shows North West Leicestershire’s performance compared to other groups of councils. Its performance is better than the district average of 3.5% but falls short of the top quartile of 2.8%. It is not as good as the average of its CIPFA family group either. As we discussed earlier, the overpayments recorded is understated because of the practice of not recording overpayments when changes of income of less than £6 a week are reported.

Fig. 14: BVPI G6a Percentage of Benefit Overpaid 1999/2000
 

Percentage of benefit overpaid 1999/2000

NW Leicestershire

3.2%

Other Leicestershire

3.4%

Tamworth Group

4.3%

CIPFA family

3.0%

District average

3.5%

District top quartile

2.8%

Source: North West Leicestershire

160 BVPI 79(a) relates to payment accuracy. Based on a recommended sample size, North West Leicestershire records an accuracy rate of 98.4%. This is a new BVPI for 2000/01 and places North West Leicestershire in the top quartile. Its performance exceeds the average of all the other groups shown in Figure 15.

 
Fig. 15: BVPI 79(a) Accuracy of Payments 2000/01
  Percentage of Benefit Overpaid 1999/2000

NW Leicestershire

98.4%

Other Leicestershire

95.0%

Tamworth Group

Not available

CIPFA family

96.0%

District average

94.2%

District top quartile

97.5%

Source: North West Leicestershire and Audit Commission

161 North West Leicestershire has improved its payment accuracy. During the first 6 months of 2001/02 it is 98.8% against a target of 98.5%

162 Overpayment recovery performance has improved slightly from 68.8% in 1999/2000 to 69.0% for 2000/01. It can be seen from Figure 16 that this performance is better than both the national district average and the average for its CIPFA family. This places North West Leicestershire in the upper quartile, although for 2000/01 it is quite close to the top quartile performance of 71.0%. North West Leicestershire’s improved performance contrasts with a declining performance for all the other groups using this BVPI. Although we have some reservations, expressed earlier, about the reliability of the performance reported.

Fig. 16: Percentage of recoverable overpayments recovered in the year
  1999/2000 2000/01
NW Leicestershire 68.8% 69.0%
Other Leicestershire Not available 63.5%

Tamworth Group

Not available

Not available
CIPFA family 62.6% 56.7%
District average 67.3% 60.3%
District top quartile 79.7% 71.0%

Source: North West Leicestershire and Audit Commission

163 The survey relating to customer satisfaction was expanded in 2000/01 to cover a range of questions. North West Leicestershire’s results are shown in Figure 17. The survey results show North West Leicestershire customer satisfaction levels are all above the average for English districts and with the exception of service within the office, every measure is in the top quartile. This is a highly commendable performance.

Fig. 17: Customer satisfaction survey results 2000/01

% of respondents who are satisfied with:

NW Leicestershire

Average

Top quartile

Contact facilities in benefit offices

88%

81%

85%

Telephone services

85%

74%

82%

Staff in benefit offices

88%

83%

87%

Service in benefit offices

87%

82%

88%

Clarity of forms & letters

71%

62%

67%

Time taken for a decision

87%

70%

77%

Source: North West Leicestershire and Audit Commission

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