Medway Unitary Authority (Hansard, 26 June 2002)

§ Malcolm Wicks

The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate's (BFI) report on Medway Unitary Authority was published today and copies of the report have been placed in the Library.

Inspectors found that the council's previous good performance had been adversely affected by a number of factors including the move of staff to a central location, the loss of staff to a neighbouring authority and the introduction of a new IT system. This has led to a backlog of work. The council recognised these shortfalls and put in place proposals to tackle the backlog and address many of the other problems.

The report notes that the council needed to implement its stated aim to increase awareness of housing benefits. The council had run no take-up campaigns since 1999.

Inspectors found that most staff applied a high standard of scrutiny to claims, but limited management checking removed any means of identifying inconsistency and training needs.

There was a high level of accuracy in classifying overpayments but some improvements were needed in overpayment recovery.

Medway's fraud investigations unit is experienced and some good quality investigation work had been done.

Medway administered some £51 million in housing benefits in 2000–01.

942W

Series publication, estimates for pensioner couples cannot be split by gender, as the extent of income sharing within the pensioner units is not known.

Information for "All Single Pensioners" and for "Single Male Pensioners" and "Single Female Pensioners" is in the table.

The report makes recommendations to help the council address weaknesses and to improve the administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit, as well as counter fraud activities.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is now considering the report and will be asking the council for its proposals in response to the findings and recommendations of the BFI.