Hyndburn Borough Council provides a 'good' benefits service and has 'promising' prospects for improving the service still further, 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 benefits service a 'good', two-star, rating.
Tom Keena, Audit Commission senior manager, said:
'It is pleasing to see that this important service is continuing to improve, especially during the recession when more people need help and advice about their housing costs and council tax. Customers have more choice on how they can access the service and the Council is making them aware of what benefits they can claim. At the same time the service takes effective action to deter and investigate anyone who might be tempted to commit benefit fraud.'
Strengths of the service include:
- high levels of customer satisfaction;
- good engagement with local people - their views have been used to design responsive services;
- encouraging potential customers to claim their entitlement to benefits;
- dealing with benefit claims within a reasonable time; and
- a robust approach to tackling benefit fraud.
Areas for further development include:
- improving the time taken to deal with appeals;
- building on existing work with partners to further improve access to money advice; and
- publicising how well the service is performing against customer service standards.
To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations, including:
- ensuring it pays the right amount of benefit and further improving the time taken to process claims and appeals;
- ensuring that the costs of the service provide value for money:
- planning future service improvements; and
- working with partners to make the best use of all opportunities to give customer access to money advice.
- Hyndburn Borough Council's Benefits Service pays out around £29.5 million in benefits per year to around 9,320 people claiming council tax benefit; and
- 6,740 people claiming rent allowance housing benefit. The Service employs 54.4 full-time equivalent staff. The estimated, net cost of running the Service in 2009/2010 is £1,169,000 of which the Department for Work and Pensions funds £1,016,642 and the Council meets the balance.
Copies of the report are available from Hyndburn Borough Council or from the
Audit Commission website at www.audit-commission.gov.uk
Notes to editors
- 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, please contact David Rose, regional communications manager, north, at The Audit Commission on 0844 798 7149 or d-rose@audit-commission.gov.uk