Civica enables Pathfinder Councils to lay foundation for Housing Benefits improvement
19 May 2004, Sheffield... Civica plc, one of the UK’s most experienced providers of public sector consulting, software and services, is working closely with two local authorities on a Government Pathfinder project designed to make housing benefits easier to understand and claim. This in turn will improve the accuracy and efficiency of housing benefit payments to UK claimants.
According to the latest official statistics, housing benefit is paid to 15% of all UK households and £750million a year is written off by the Government in overpayment of housing benefit due to fraud and error.
Civica’s housing benefit software contributes to the processing infrastructure for Coventry City Council and Teignbridge District Council, two of the Pathfinder councils in the project, to implement best practice in housing benefit improvements. It is expected the project will contribute to the future agenda for benefit processing and payment across the UK.
The Civica system is used by the authorities to process changes of circumstance from existing housing benefit claimants, such as moving house. The software reduces the manual administrative work required to process claims by automatically identifying if a changed claim is possible and calculating the benefit entitlement based on Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) conditions.
The software also confirms the new rent based on the Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMAs) set by the Rent Service. This new method of calculating eligible rent is based on new regulations, where instead of a Rent Officer determining eligible rent for each claim, an allowance will be set at the beginning of each month based on factors such as number of occupiers and location. In the future the monthly BRMAs will be imported automatically onto the system from the Rent Service, over the internet using industry standard XML.The Pathfinder project aims to enable the following improvements in Housing Benefits processing, as defined by the DWP:
- Fairness - equal payments to tenants with similar circumstances in the same area
- Choice - allowing tenants to trade between the quality and price of accommodation
- Transparency - advance notice on how much rent could be covered by benefit
- Personal responsibility - paying allowance to claimant to encourage responsibility
- Increased work incentives - encouraging claimants back to work
- Simplicity - phase out complex rent restrictions and referral to rent officers
Paul Baker, head of revenues and benefits, Teignbridge District Council, said, “We welcome Civica’s enthusiasm and involvement in helping us to develop housing benefit best practice and delivering a framework for all councils across the UK. Based on current legislation the project is hoped to make the local authority housing benefits process more transparent and simpler to understand.”
Paul Simpson, public sector managing director, Civica, commented, “Civica’s involvement in the Pathfinder project alongside Coventry and Teignbridge demonstrates our focus on partnership with the public sector in order to help councils meet their top priorities for service improvement.”
About Civica plc
Civica (www.civica.co.uk) is one of the UK’s most experienced providers of consulting, software systems and managed services to the public sector. Supplying many organisations in the UK, Australia and the USA, including over 700 local authorities, the company has an 18-year history of delivering effective software solutions to local government, police, healthcare, criminal justice and education organisations. Civica Services Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary, is an approved Prime Contractor for software in the UK Government’s GCat procurement catalogue. The company employs approximately 450 people and has a recent track record of profits growth.