19 March 2004 - Councils continue to improve processing times for Housing Benefit claims
Councils have improved processing times for Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit claims according to new figures published today.
These figures show local authorities’ performance for processing Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.
The figures which cover the third quarter of 2003/4 show that:
- 155 (38%) authorities reported meeting the 36-day standard of processing new claims, compared with 134 (33%) authorities in the third quarter of 2002/3.
- The average reported number of days to process new claims reduced from 53 days in the third quarter of 2002/3 to 47 days in the third quarter of 2003/4.
- 175 (43%) authorities reported the standard of processing changes in circumstances, on average within 9 days, compared to 166 (41%) in the third quarter of 2002/3.
Housing Benefit Minister Chris Pond said “It is encouraging that the majority of authorities are continuing to improve processing times and these authorities should be congratulated.
“This positive trend means that we are on course to meet our target, to be met in 2005/6, of reducing the overall time for all local authorities to process claims by 10 per cent – from 55 to 50 days – and reduce it by 33 per cent – from 99 to 65 days – in the 60 worst performing councils.
“Despite the improved trend, there are still too many councils taking too long to process claims.
“My department is working hard with local authorities to bring the poorer performers up to the standard of the best. Local people have a right to expect a high standard of service from their council.”
Notes for editors
- These statistics can be found on the Department's Information and Analysis website at: www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/hb_ctb/performance.asp.
- The quarterly statistics are provided by Local Authorities (LAs) themselves and are un-audited. LAs can update their quarterly statistics at any time so these statistics are subject to change. Some Local Authorities did not return figures for all the quarters.
- The outturn figures for 2002/03 on the speed of processing new claims and change of circumstances, percentage of renewal claims processed on time and the accuracy of claims are audited figures unless the data was not provided to the Audit Commission (England and Wales) or Accounts Commission (Scotland).
- The statistics cover the following areas of performance:
- average time for processing new claims: this indicator measures the average processing time in calendar days across all new claims for which the date of decision is within the quarter. The time for each claim is measured from the date of receipt of the claim at any of the LA’s offices to the date a decision on the claim is made
- average number of days for processing written changes of circumstances
- percentage of renewal claims processed on time
- percentage of cases calculated correctly. This indicator measures the percentage of cases within a random sample for which the calculation of benefit is found to be correct on the basis of the information available to the decision
- percentage of new claims decided within 14 days of receipt of the local authority receiving all necessary information
- percentage of new Rent Allowance claims paid where the first payment is made on time.
- Benefit claims may be more numerous or more complicated in areas where:
- there is a high proportion of applications from people who live at two or more addresses during the year
- there is a high proportion of applications from people in privately rented accommodation, where the application process is more complex
- there are more people in shared accommodation.
- The Department is working with a large proportion of the councils with the longest processing times to ensure improvements are made.
Press office: John Fennessy on 20 7238 0762 or 0207 238 0866
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Website: www.dwp.gov.uk