Appendix A: Summary of recommendations

Below is a summary of our recommendations for Breckland District Council.

Strategic management

Recommendations
We recommend that Breckland District Council:	Paragraph
provides procedural guidance for all its staff that: includes HB and CTB delivery procedures that covers all aspects of the Benefits Service and includes legislative requirements and Departmental good practice and advice provides an accurate and up-to date account of actual practice details Benefits procedures that are understood by both staff and managers is written in plain English incorporates changes and amendments to procedures into its guidance within 10 days of receipt introduces a formal management control process for developing and changing local procedure.	2.50
introduces a formal process to provide assurance that Customer Service staff receive the same regular updates as Benefits Service staff.	2.77
establishes formal lines of communication between Benefits and Customer Services at a strategic and operational level.	2.88

We recommend that Breckland District Council:	Paragraph
develops a formalised and documented process for the use of the pending system to ensure that information received is actioned as soon as possible and unnecessary delays are avoided.	3.47
develops a formalised and documented process in line with its own target to refer appropriate cases identified to the Rent Officer within 24 hours of receipt introduces a check to identify cases that have not been referred to the Rent Officer within its target of 24 hours monitors its own performance against its service level agreement with the Rent Service.	3.73
develops procedures to ensure that payments on account are made in all appropriate cases.	3.77
revises its claim form in line with the Department’s HCTB1 model claim form XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX X XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX X XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XX	3.101
considers the depth of management checks to identify reasons for claims processing delays and introduces a process to formally collate this information.	3.121