Agenda item

Report of the Chief Operating Officer to update the Committee on the action plan being implemented by Officers to address the errors; the steps being taken to address the backlog of work and ensure adequate resources are available to address issues identified by external auditors.

The Committee considered the report on the actions taken following the external audit of the Housing Benefit Subsidy Grant Claim for 2015-16, presented by Mark Rudd, Assistant Director, Shared Services. It was noted that the Council should get an update on the final subsidy position at the end of April 2017; in response to a question from the Committee regarding this, it was clarified that the Council had been undertaking further testing of housing benefit claims subsequent to the work undertaken by external audit and would be providing further evidence in respect of the errors identified as part of this additional testing to the DWP, with the anticipation that this may reduce the impact on the amount of subsidy received by the Council. The Committee noted, however, that there was the risk that a greater number of errors may be identified as a result of the additional testing. The Committee asked to be informed of the final decision in respect of the level of subsidy to be received directly, rather than waiting to be reported to the next meeting and it was agreed that this would be done.

Action: AD Shared Services / Head of Benefits

The Committee noted the 6-9 month training period required for staff working in the benefits team, and asked whether there was a risk to the Council that staff may leave to work elsewhere, once they had been trained. It was confirmed that this was the case, and that  the retention of trained benefits staff was one of the resourcing challenges the Council faced. In response to a question from the Committee regarding the undertaking of a cost-benefits analysis and potential review of pay grades in order to improve retention rates, Mr Rudd confirmed that this was one of the options being considered. Also being considered was the recruitment of permanent home-workers who could be based outside of London, in areas where the salary offered by Haringey may be more attractive.

The Committee welcomed the report that staff were now in place actively working on addressing the backlog of cases, but noted that home-working had previously been undertaken in the benefits team with good results and asked why this had not been carried on. Mr Rudd advised that the team still had a number of home-workers, following on from the successful introduction of this model, however they had previously been required to come into the office at least one day a week, meaning that they had to be relatively local. New systems, however, meant that it would be possible to employ people working from home on a full-time basis, and this would therefore not restrict staff from being based further away from the borough. It was confirmed that that trade unions were aware that this was one of the options being looked at in response to the challenge of recruiting experienced staff, and it was also confirmed that any staff recruited to work from home on a full-time basis would be subject to the same terms and conditions as other employees.

RESOLVED

i)             That the Committee note the content of the report.

ii)                  That the Committee note the on-going work now being undertaken by officers to address the concerns of the external auditors.