§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Chris Pond)On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) follow-up inspection report on Manchester city council was published on 31 July 2003 and copies of the report have been placed in the Library.
Following the housing Green Paper "Quality and Choice: A Decent Home for All", published in April 2000, the Department for Work and Pensions developed a performance framework for housing benefits. The performance standards for housing benefits allow local authorities to make a comprehensive self-assessment of whether they deliver benefit effectively and securely. They are the standards that the Department for Work and Pensions expects local authorities to aspire to and achieve in time.
The BFI inspected Manchester city council against the performance standards to assess progress since the first BFI inspection report, published in June 2001, and found clear evidence of performance improvements in the council's benefits service.
The report finds that the council is not at standard for any of the seven functional areas of the Performance Standards—strategic management, customer services, processing of claims, working with landlords, internal security, counter-fraud, and overpayments. However, the council had fully embraced the concept of performance standards, and had carried out a full self-assessment against them. The BFI found aspects within the individual standards where the council met or exceeded the criteria.
Manchester city council displayed commitment and professionalism in its efforts to improve benefits administration. The benefits service had strong support from senior officers and members, and there were clear improvements in performance. Processing times for claims and changes of circumstances were markedly better. Customer services had also improved, with longer opening hours, improvements to the public counter, better training for staff, and improved decision notices.
22WSThe council had not adopted the national verification framework, although it had made a commitment to begin introducing part of the framework from October 2003.
Overpayments work had improved significantly, supported by detailed business planning and improved management information. Counter-fraud activity had improved since the first inspection and the council had developed clear counter-fraud policies, and brought responsibility for prosecutions in-house to improve control. In 2001–02, Manchester city council administered some £245 million in housing benefits, about 20 per cent. of its total gross revenue expenditure.
The report makes recommendations to help the council address weaknesses and further 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 BFI's findings and recommendations.