49 Introduction of Risk Based Verification in the Benefits Service PDF 192 KB
[Report of the Director for Customers, Transformation and Resources. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Corporate and Civic Services.]
This report seeks approval for Haringey’s Risk Based Verification Policy as the means by which the Council processes claims for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Cabinet Member for Corporate and Civic Services introduced this report, which sought approval for Haringey’s Risk Based Verification Policy as the means by which the Council processes claims for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Reduction.
The Cabinet Member noted the FOBO programme was initiated in September 2018 to modernise the Council’s services, reduce the number of unnecessary contacts and simplify the experience for residents and businesses when using our services. Introducing Risk Based Verification (RBV) into the Benefits service would allow the Council to deliver on all the programme’s objectives.
The Cabinet Member highlighted that RBV would mean that over 30% of our residents in receipt of Housing Benefit would need to provide less evidence to support their claim than they are currently required to do. This would result in the process to claim Benefits being significantly quicker and easier for them. For Council staff, it would mean sending significantly fewer requests for further information before a claim can be assessed. This would allow staff to spend more time making assessments and checking more high-risk cases rather than asking all our customers for more information.
The Cabinet Member noted the intelligence-based software used to apply RBV meant that only those claims, which were more likely to result in fraud, or error would be subject to the additional checks, which were currently applied to everyone. The result was a better service and experience for our customers and an improvement in our fraud and error detection rates. The RBV software was already being used successfully in 65 other local authorities and introducing it in Haringey would help bring our service in line with the service provided at other local authorities.
In response to questions from Cllr Bull and Cllr Connor, the following information was provided:
Further to considering the exempt information,
RESOLVED