2.0 Verification and Standards of Evidence 4
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Title: Supply and Demand Designated Office Procedures Verification of claims and documentary evidence
Purpose: Detail roles, responsibilities and process for be followed for Supply and Demand and RBCS
Attention: All frontline staff in Supply and Demand and Benefit staff in RBCS
Responsibility: All staff
References: Lambeth Verification Procedure, RSL VF Scheme Best Practice Guide
Author: TPU
Version: V1.0 (from 20/09/10)
Last Reviewed: August 2010 Next Review Date: June 2011
Verification of claims & documentary evidence – S&D TPU – 20/9/10 V1.0 Page 1 of 15 CONTENTS
1.0 INTRODUCTION TO RBCS………………………………………………………………………………………………………3
2.0 VERIFICATION AND STANDARDS OF EVIDENCE...... 4
2.1 INTRODUCTION...... 4 2.2 STANDARDS OF EVIDENCE...... 4 3.0 RBCS AND SUPPLY & DEMAND VERIFICATION PARTNERSHIP...... 4
3.1 THE AIMS...... 4 3.2 ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES...... 5 3.2.1 RBCS responsibilities...... 5 3.2.2 Supply and Demand Responsibilities...... 6 3.3 THE PROCESS...... 6 3.3.1 Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Claim Form...... 6 3.3.2 Housing Benefit & Council Tax Benefit Change of Circumstance form and Change of Address form...... 7 3.3.4 Monitoring/Quality Assurance and Dispute Resolution Process...... 8 APPENDIX 1 - STANDARDS OF EVIDENCE...... 9
APPENDIX 2 – NO ORIGINAL DOCUMENT FORM...... 10
APPENDIX 3 – PROCESS MAP – TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION...... 11
APPENDIX 4 – PROCESS MAPS – HOSTELS...... 12
APPENDIX 5 – HOUSING SUPPLY AND DEMAND CONTACT DETAILS...... 14
APPENDIX 6 – RBCS PERFORMANCE MANAGERS AND PRINCIPAL ASSESSMENT OFFICERS...... 15
APPENDIX 7 – RECEIPT...... 16
APPENDIX 8 – BATCH HEADER...... 17 1.0 INTRODUCTION TO REVENUES, BENEFITS & CUSTOMER SERVICES
The Revenues, Benefits and Customer Service (RBCS) department provides income for approximately 35 per cent of households in the borough, with a caseload of approximately 42,000. RBCS has a vital role in helping to address the poverty of many of the most vulnerable members of Lambeth’s community.
The role of RBCS is to assess and award Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefits (CTB) to entitled claimants within Lambeth's diverse community, complying with all statutory regulations, case law, corporate and local policies.
Our aim - to provide a customer focused efficient and accessible service.
RBCS services can be accessed at the council’s Customer Centres as follows:
Brixton Customer Centre Olive Morris House 18 Brixton Hill London SW2 1RD
Gracefield Gardens Customer Centre 2 – 8 Gracefield Gardens Streatham London SW16 2ST
The RBCS and Supply and Demand partnership create additional designated offices where Lambeth tenants can make claims, notify changes in circumstances and bring documents to be verified. The offices are:
2-7 Town Hall Parade Brixton Hill London SW2 1RP
10-22 Tooting Bec Gardens London SW16 2ET
Verification of claims & documentary evidence – S&D TPU – 20/9/10 V1.0 Page 3 of 15 2.0 VERIFICATION AND STANDARDS OF EVIDENCE 2.1 Introduction Lambeth has introduced a Verification Procedure to assist in the detection and prevention of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit fraud and error. The standards of evidence detailed in this procedure must be met for all claims by all verification partners.
2.2 Standards of Evidence All evidence collected will be verified to Lambeth standards including: New claims, Changes in circumstances, The Housing Benefit Matching Service (HBMS), Postal Interventions,
The documents acceptable as evidence are set out at Appendix 1. For some types of documents Lambeth need to have seen and verified the original document. These people are asked to bring original documents to one of the council’s designated offices, where officers will verify them as originals. Where originals are not available a form should be completed instead. (See Appendix 2)
3.0 RBCS AND SUPPLY & DEMAND VERIFICATION PARTNERSHIP
3.1 The Aims The aim of the partnership is to remove the need for RBCS officers on site at 2-7 Town Hall Parade, while still continuing work to reduce the time taken to decide claims and maximise income collection by adding an additional designated office. It is also intended to reduce customer contact and increase information sharing between departments.
Helping the council improve the administration of HB is one element to the wider reform of the HB system. Improving HB administration includes looking at ways to cut down the time it takes for a local authority to process HB claims. It is about making best use of available resources, while not compromising on other aspects of reform such as: fraud prevention and detection; quality and standards within the HB system; and ensuring the correct level of payment to eligible claimants.
Improved partnership working with Supply and Demand widens the access to council services and contributes to the council’s core priorities of safer stronger communities, better housing and flourishing local economies and serving our customers well.
Under the Verification Partnership, Supply and Demand tenants will have the option of taking their documents to a Supply and Demand office where Supply and Demand officers will verify them as originals on the council’s behalf. Effectively the Supply and Demand offices become designated offices that tenants can use to claim HB and CTB from London Borough of Lambeth.
Verification of claims & documentary evidence – S&D TPU – 20/9/10 V1.0 Page 4 of 15 3.2 Roles and Responsibilities
3.2.1 RBCS responsibilities
RBCS has the legal duty to administer Housing Benefit. Under the Verification Partnership RBCS is required to:
make all decisions on individual HB/CTB awards; inform claimants that they have the choice of having their claims verified by Supply and Demand; be responsible for maintaining and ensuring that verification standards are met, including data protection requirements; take the lead in developing practical and effective processes to enable the Verification Partnership to be implemented; provide introductory Verification and Fraud Awareness training to Supply and Demand staff who will act as verifiers; provide training to new staff who either join Supply and Demand or change roles after the Verification Partnership begins; provide refresher training that covers changes to security features on commonly used documents; develop quality checking procedures that ensure that verification activity is accurate and that standards are maintained; retain responsibility for errors or omissions which occur during the verification process; retain responsibility for investigating fraud; take action where Supply and Demand performance fails to meet verification requirements, data protection principles or any other performance standard that forms part of the contractual agreement; specify the procedures to deal with any disputes arising over the course of the partnership; inform Supply and Demand of any future redesign or amendment of the HB and CTB e-claim and provide Supply and Demand with information about e-claims; provide advice on verification by telephone to enable Supply and Demand to deal with tenant queries as they arise; advise Supply and Demand of how changes to the HB and CTB schemes impact on verification.
Verification of claims & documentary evidence – S&D TPU – 20/9/10 V1.0 Page 5 of 15 3.2.2 Supply and Demand Responsibilities
Supply and Demand is required to:
where tenants refuse to consent to participate in the scheme, Supply and Demand should direct the tenant to RBCS; collect and verify evidence provided by a tenant to support their HB/CTB claim; verify the evidence provided by a tenant using the procedures RBCS has specified; ensure that only Supply and Demand staff who have received the appropriate training are allowed to verify evidence; adhere to the minimum requirements specified within the agreement and follow procedures as agreed with RBCS; provide RBCS with a list of staff that will be acting as verifiers and then notify any staff changes; issue a receipt to the tenant as a record of any document verified and any outstanding documents. The receipt template can be found at Appendix 7; issue a written acknowledgement to the tenant for any original documents retained because of a query relating to that document. In the event the customer refuses to release an original document they should be referred to OMH or GG Customer Centre; The e-claim should be used for new claims; A paper Change of Address or Change of Circumstance should be used for these situations; Officers based in 2-7 Town Hall Parade should scan and stamp all documents directly onto Benefits Information@Work on the day of receipt, including the One Serve receipt and batch header; Officers based in 10-22 Tooting Bec Gardens should photocopy, stamp, scan and email all documents daily to RBCS, including the One Serve receipt.
3.3 The Process
3.3.1 Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Claim Form A claim made direct to the council or via a Supply and Demand office should be made via the e-claim wherever possible. All e-claims should be fully completed. The Evidence Checklist should be printed and customers asked provide any evidence requested immediately. Any missing evidence should be flagged up and customers asked to return with this. Verified evidence should be scanned and I@W stamped on the same day (photocopied, stamped, scanned and emailed if based at Tooting Bec Gardens). See Appendices 3 and 4 for process flow charts. Please note e-claims are submitted electronically and therefore do not require an actual signature. Instead the claimant accepts the declaration.
Verification of claims & documentary evidence – S&D TPU – 20/9/10 V1.0 Page 6 of 15 If the e-claim cannot be used, for example network failure, the paper form can be used instead. The form is based on the DWP good practice model claim form. The claim form must be properly completed. The form is divided into a number of sections. It is compulsory to answer every question in a particular section unless the first question in the section is a ‘Yes/No’ question. If the claimant answers ‘Yes’ to the trigger question then they must answer every question in the section. If the claimant answers ‘No’ then the claim form will direct them to the next relevant section of the claim form.
There are sections of the claim form that some claimants are allowed to ignore. For example the questions about capital for anyone on either IS or JSA(IB) or ESA(IR) or Pension Credit with the Guarantee Credit. Sections that can be missed out are clearly sign posted with Yes/No trigger questions in each section.
Supply and Demand staff should check that the claim form is properly completed before sending it to RBCS. If the form is not properly completed, the Pre- assessment Team will return the claim form to the tenant, which causes delay.
Unless the claimant has an appointee they must sign the declaration at the end of the paper form. If they fail to do so RBCS will have to return the form to the claimant. When the claimant lives with a partner, the partner should also sign the form. Where the form is completed by a Supply and Demand officer they must complete the appropriate section of the declaration at page 24.
In addition to claiming direct to the council, either with RBCS or one of the partners, someone making a new claim for IS, JSA(IB) or PC can claim HB via the DWP/JCP. If a claim for HB/CTB has already been made via DWP a person does not also need to complete the London Borough of Lambeth claim form.
The same standards of evidence applies to new claims and changes to circumstances unless the Verification Procedure states otherwise. See Appendix 1 for details. A new claim is a claim from someone who has newly moved to Lambeth or who has never before received HB or CTB or who is claiming again after a break in entitlement. A change of circumstance is a change to the details declared on the HB and CTB claim form and used in the current assessment of benefit entitlement.
There are some important practical exceptions to the above. For the sake of clarity the Evidence Checklist says that the claimant must always provide proof of identity in support of a new claim. But in practical terms this will not be necessary if the claimant has previously received benefit from the council and proof of identity has been retained on their file.
3.3.2 Housing Benefit & Council Tax Benefit Change of Circumstance form and Change of Address form
Once the council has assessed a new claim all subsequent changes of circumstance should also be verified to the same standards. Supply and Demand officers assisting in the completion of either the change of address or change in circumstance form should ensure that all sections are properly completed and evidence is verified to the standards of evidence set out below in appendix 1. 3.3.4 Monitoring/Quality Assurance and Dispute Resolution Process
To ensure the daily delivery of all claim forms and documents received RBCS Pre- Assessment team will monitor receipt and record delays between date of receipt and date of documents delivered to RBCS. They will also monitor the quality of the scanned image. In addition any errors identified at the point of assessment will be reported to Performance Manager immediately.
In order to resolve any issues:
Any issues will initially be discussed and reviewed with Supply and Demand Team Managers/Hostel Manager and RBCS Performance Managers or Principal Assessment Officers.
Any issues which cannot be resolved will be escalated to the Service Managers and Deputy Head of Benefits.
At any point RBCS Training & Policy Unit can be contacted for advice.
By mutual consent partners can propose and accept changes to the personnel authorised to deal with issue resolution.
Verification of claims & documentary evidence – S&D TPU – 20/9/10 V1.0 Page 8 of 15 APPENDIX 1 - STANDARDS OF EVIDENCE
The Standards of Evidence procedure is being re-written to simplify the process so is not yet included. It will be available as part of the training material. APPENDIX 2 – NO ORIGINAL DOCUMENT FORM
Original Document(s) Unavailable – Reasoning
We request original documents from all of our customers however not all customer will be able to provide originals. Please complete this form if, when asked the customer informs you s/he will be unable to provide the originals. At completion please attach this form to form/documents supplied.
Customer Name
Claim Reference
Type of Original Document(s) unavailable
Reason for unavailability
Alternative document supplied?
If ‘Yes’ please provide details
Name of Officer:
Date:
Verification of claims & documentary evidence - Supply and Demand TPU – 20/09/2010 V1.0 Page 10 of 15 APPENDIX 3 – PROCESS MAP – Temporary Accommodation Temporary Accommodation – Claim and Verification Process
Client sign up with Key DPO – Duty Placement Officer DPO DIO – Duty Income Officer I@W – Information at Work (Anite) Give copy of Licence agreement to the client
Give print out of the rent reference to DIO
Send client to DIO Print Complete Evidence YES the e-claim Checklist Collect and Is an e-claim verify required? Complete Determine what evidence NO CIC/COA as evidence required required Issue a receipt for the customer and print
Complete Batch header
Scan all documents including receipt and batch header to Benefits I@W adding HSD to the ‘Batch Reference Field’
Add I@W stamps to the Destroy Return all original first page of each batch documents and document showing header receipt to customer ‘original seen’, ‘original not seen’ or ‘received’
Verification of claims & documentary evidence - Supply and Demand TPU – 20/09/2010 V1.0 Page 11 of 15 APPENDIX 4 – PROCESS MAPS – Hostels Hostels (2-7 Town Hall Parade – Claim and Verification Process
Client sign up with Key DPO DPO – Duty Placement Officer DHO – Duty Hostels Officer I@W – Information at Work (Anite) Book Client into hostel on SX3
Give details of the client and a print out of the rent reference to DHO
Send client to DHO to complete Hostel Print sign up Complete Evidence the e-claim Checklist Collect and Is an e-claim YES verify required? Complete Determine what evidence NO CIC/COA as evidence required required Issue a receipt for the customer and print
Complete Batch header
Scan all documents including receipt and batch header to Benefits I@W adding HSD to the ‘Batch Reference Field’
Add I@W stamps to the Destroy Return all original first page of each batch documents and document showing header receipt to customer ‘original seen’, ‘original not seen’ or ‘received’
Verification of claims & documentary evidence - Supply and Demand TPU – 20/09/2010 V1.0 Page 12 of 15 Hostels (10-22 Tooting Bec Gardens) – Claim & Verification Process
Client sign up with Key DPO DPO – Duty Placement Officer DHO – Duty Hostels Officer I@W – Information at Work (Anite) Book Client into hostel on SX3
Give details of the client and a print out of the rent reference to DHO
Send client to DHO to complete Hostel Print sign up Complete Evidence the e-claim Checklist Collect and Is an e-claim YES verify required? Complete Determine what evidence NO CIC/COA as evidence required required Issue a receipt for the customer and print
Stamp first page of Scan each document Photocopy documents showing ‘original seen’, evidence as PDFs ‘original not seen’
Return all original Email documents and receipt to documents and [email protected] receipt to customer
Verification of claims & documentary evidence - Supply and Demand TPU – 20/09/2010 V1.0 Page 13 of 15 APPENDIX 7 – RECEIPT
Supply and Demand Housing & Council Tax Benefit Receipt b Date:
Customer Details
Name
Address
Telephone Number
National Insurance Number
Application Details
Claim Reference Number (if available)
E-Claim form submitted? Yes Paper claim form submitted? No
Supporting Evidence Provided
Additional Information
Customer Seen By:
Verification of claims & documentary evidence - Supply and Demand TPU – 20/09/2010 V1.0 Page 14 of 15 APPENDIX 8 – BATCH HEADER Benefits Batch Header
Customer Name Customer Address Customer Tel. no. Claim number (if available) National Insurance No.
Batch Number once scanned……….
Verification of claims & documentary evidence - Supply and Demand TPU – 20/09/2010 V1.0 Page 15 of 15