The DWP and the Audit Commission have recently had plenty to say about the administration of Housing benefit. It would appear that from their separate reports that both organisations are finding fault with many aspects of its administration and are calling upon all Local Authorities to improve their services.
Under the new Key lines of Enquiry (KLOE) set out by the Audit Commission more emphasis is being paced on the Local Authority providing greater value for money. CLICK HERE TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK. Part of this report states that every Council should be appropriately maximising its subsidy. This relates directly to the service that Branch and Lee offer. In other words the Audit Commission has identified a key area where the Authority is failing to provide value for money. Branch and Lee have been aware of this for some time and have been maximising subsidy for UK councils for over five years now.
The Audit Commission have also identified areas where Authorities need to improve; this includes Overpayments, Fraud and Error. These are key areas in which subsidy is being lost and once again it is in these areas where Branch and Lee are able to implement new procedures that will minimise mistakes and thus help maximise subsidy.
In addition, although the DWP only issue HB guidance, they too have recently placed more emphasis on the fact that Local Authorities need to improve their performance and need to achieve better outcomes from less resources. CLICK HERE TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK. Once again when Branch and Lee maximise any Authority’s Subsidy we do at the same time identify areas that are weak or that would benefit from different procedures which would strengthen and improve the Authority’s performance in line with the Governments own suggestions.
In short, Branch and Lee are well aware that the AC and the DWP are calling on Local Government to improve its administration of Housing Benefit because it is something that we have been helping many Authorities to do for over five years now.
