Claims administration
Quality and reducing error
3.1 Members and senior managers, who are accountable for the delivery of effective and secure HB and CTB administration, need assurance that the Benefits service and counter-fraud efforts are working as planned. Local authorities should therefore ensure that it has arrangements to make full use of management information and checking data across the full range of their benefit activities.
Performance enabler
Using quality checks to improve performance and reduce error
3.2 Haringey council did not meet enabler 10.
3.3 Team leaders carried out quality checks on the work of assessors and the results of the checks were recorded in a series of spreadsheets developed in partnership between the Benefits service and the Business Development team. The spreadsheets captured a variety of data enabling an effective quarterly analysis of errors to be undertaken. Details included:
- an error code and description of the error
- the individual and the team responsible for the error
- the date of the error and the number occurring, by type, within the quarter.
3.4 The results of the analysis were discussed at management meetings and used to inform decisions on both individual, and team, training needs. The results were also used to gauge the overall improvement in the quality of the work.
3.5 Quality checks and analysis of errors were also undertaken on interventions work. Details of the time taken to complete the various types of visit, the name of the Visiting officer and the outcome of the visit were recorded in spreadsheet and tabular format. A monthly analysis of the data was undertaken by the Visiting team manager and used in one-to-one discussions with Visiting officer’s about their performance.
3.6 Although the council had a checking regime on the work of the Benefits service in place, the results of our sampling on the standard of verification work in new claims revealed a high level of error that had not been picked up. A review of existing arrangements needs to be carried out to ensure that all aspects of Benefits work are covered by the checking regime. See recommendation 15.
3.7 In addition, the council acknowledged that it did not have an adequate, formal checking process in place to measure the quality of its investigation work and give assurance that this work undertaken was compliant with legislation. See recommendation 4.