The benefits service provided by Chelmsford Borough Council is 'poor' but has 'promising' prospects for improvement, according to an independent report released today by the Audit Commission.
On a scale from zero to three stars the Audit Commission inspection team gave the service a 'poor' zero-star rating. This was because housing and council tax benefits are not paid promptly when a customer makes a claim. People trying to contact the service by phone also experience long delays. The Council has not done enough to encourage residents to claim the benefits they may be entitled to. Failings in the service over the last three years have cost the Council about £640,000 in lost government income due to unnecessary overpayments. The report shows that the Council recognises its customers deserve better and is making improvements.
Ian Davidson, Audit Commission senior manager, said:
'Chelmsford Borough Council's benefits service has been poor for too long, but the Council has recognised that it needs to improve and has invested in the service. As a result there are signs that things are starting to improve. The Council has a good record of improving other services and is committed to providing a better customer service in this area. This has to happen as an effective benefits service is vital to support the people most in need within the Borough, especially in the current economic climate.'
Strengths include:
- Staff are committed to giving a good service.
- Recent changes are beginning to improve the speed of processing claims.
- Good performance recovering overpayments.
Weaknesses include:
- Not enough new claims are being paid promptly.
- Access to the service for some people is difficult: at busy times customers can face long delays.
- The service has not been designed to meet the needs of people who use it.
- Because it failed to respond to changes in customers' circumstances and to adjust their benefits promptly the Council has created unnecessary overpayments which it now has to recover. In addition it has not received £330,000 extra government income over two years and expects a loss of another £310,000 for 2009/10.
- There were delays in checking records with other organisations, potentially leading to fraud and error in the benefits system.
Recommendations include:
- Making it easier for people to claim or ask questions about benefits.
- Reducing benefit fraud and error.
- Strengthening performance management, which is the system for checking that the service is provided effectively.
Notes to editors
- The benefits service at Chelmsford Borough Council pays out around £40 million a year to over 10,700 households. The cost of running the service in 2008/09 was £1.7m of which £970,000 was funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and the balance by the Council.
- The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone.
- Our work across local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue services means that we have a unique perspective. We promote value for money for taxpayers, auditing the £200 billion spent by 11,000 local public bodies.
- As a force for improvement, we work in partnership to assess local public services and make practical recommendations for promoting a better quality of life for local people.
For more information or for an embargoed copy of the full report contact Eric Ludlow on 0844 798 4183