Security
Security of administration
3.1 It is important that councils have effective measures and processes to prevent, deter and detect fraud. Councils should verify information supplied by customers and reconcile any conflicts identified through data matching.
3.2 The council achieved Standard in one of the 3 relevant performance measures and met 2 of the 4 enablers scoped into this inspection for Security.
Compliance with the Verification Framework or to equivalent standard
3.3 Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council became fully compliant with the Department’s Verification Framework in August 2005.
3.4 In our samples of new claims and changes of circumstances, the council had fully verified all claims, ensuring that before making a payment the customers had provided the appropriate evidence to support their claims. This included establishing proof of:
- identity and partner’s identity
- National Insurance number
- income and capital
- residency and liability to pay rent
- non dependants’ income.
3.5 We found that all of the evidence gathered was endorsed original document seen, date stamped and signed by the member of staff. Staff displayed a good level of knowledge on verification issues during discussion at our workshops.
3.6 Although compliant with most of the elements of the Verification Framework, we found some minor procedural weaknesses. For example, staff did not:
- always use ultraviolet scanners to verify the authenticity of documents
- record details of any cross checks performed against previous claims.
(See recommendation 15)
Interventions
3.7 Figure
3.1 shows the council’s performance in respect of interventions conducted,
data matches resolved and claimants visited at the end of quarter
3 (2005/06).
| Performance Measure |
Description | Standard October to December 2005 | Performance October to December 2005 | Standard met |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PM 10 | Number of interventions where review action commenced in the last quarter | 1,140 | 1,323 | Yes |
| PM 11 | Percentage of data matches resolved within 2 months | 100 | 96 | No |
| PM 12 | Number of customers visited | 3,186 | 1,983 | No |
Source: Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
3.8 To
ensure intervention visits are effectively spread throughout the year, the
Department sets a minimum target of starting interventions for 10 out of
12 months.
3.9 The council told us that the implementation of its new Benefits IT system and a restructuring of the Visiting Services Team had impacted on its performance for processing interventions and a backlog of cases had developed. It had not conducted any interventions by visit until August 2005, when it implemented the visiting module of the Verification Framework. The council was confident that it would achieve its performance measures for Security by the end of 2005/06, as it was carrying out extra visits to recover the shortfall.
3.10 The Visiting Services Team was responsible for interventions and visits. This team included 23 Visiting Officers who conducted welfare rights visits, fairer charging assessments and Verification Framework visits as well as all aspects of interventions.
3.11 Interventions were selected using a combination of the highest risk cases as assessed and advised by the Department, and local information such as a list of recent deaths recorded by the Registry Office. The council conducted interventions by post and visit, and maintained records to monitor the completion of interventions. Following an intervention the Visiting Services Team would process any change of circumstances arising from the intervention.
3.12 However, the council told us that not all of the team members had been trained to process cases. This meant that those who could process cases were diverted from carrying out interventions visits in order to process completed interventions, and a backlog of cases was accumulating.
3.13Overall we found that the council
was committed to achieving its intervention targets, but we were concerned
that not all members of the Visiting Services Team were fully trained in all
aspects of their role.
(See Recommendation 16)
Compliance with data integrity
3.14 Circular F10/2004 requires local authorities to provide claim data that is then matched with other Departmental records by the Housing Benefit Matching Service.
3.15 Data matching information from different sources can highlight inconsistencies in the information provided by customers and may indicate a possible fraudulent claim. The Housing Benefit Matching Service confirmed that the council had provided the required claim data at the appropriate time and in the correct format.
3.16 To ensure the accuracy of the data matched by the Housing Benefit Matching Service, it is important that customers’ details are accurately recorded. We found that the National Insurance numbers of customers recorded on the Benefits IT system matched with 96.9% of the numbers held by the Department, against a target of 98% for January 2006. This was an unfortunate slippage as previously accuracy levels had been as high as 99.49%.
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