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Council House

The Audit Commission says the service is poor and has "uncertain prospects for improvement"

On a scale of zero to three stars, the authority hasn't been given any.

The independent report states that people have to wait too long for claims to be processed and that some find the letters they receive about their claim hard to understand.

The review also found that levels of debt are increasing because Bristol City Council isn't good enough at collecting overpaid benefits.

Philip Suter, Audit Commission senior manager, said: "Successfully claiming benefits is an essential safety net for many people, especially during the current economic downturn. Bristol City Council has much to do to improve the benefits service for local people. It recognises this and has begun to tackle the problems. It is committed to providing a better customer service, building on work already started."

Weaknesses include:
*    Customers wait too long to have their benefits claim processed.
*    Customers face increasing delays getting telephone advice.
*    Levels of debt are increasing because the Council is poor at collecting overpaid benefits.
*    Action to deter fraud is inconsistent.
*    Customers who appeal against their benefits decision face long delays in having their claim reviewed.
*    Approaches to assisting people who may be entitled to benefits claim are limited.

The city's Benefits Service pays out around £200 million in benefits each year to over 43,200 people claiming Council Tax Benefit and over 19,000 people claiming Housing Benefits.

Bosses at the authority have stated their disappointment at the findings of the report but accepted the judgement of a no-star service.

However, it described the Audit Commission's failure to acknowledge the city's improved performance as "harsh".

Since the recession the service has seen a 10% increase in the amount of claims staff have to deal with and an overall rise in the workload of more than 5,300 cases.

Officials at the council will now look at implementing the recommendations within the report to help improve the service.

They include:

*    Developing a detailed understanding of the reasons for delays in processing to reduce unnecessary delays
*    Using this new understanding to deal with new claims and change events efficiently and effectively
*    Being more supportive towards customers who need to provide extra information so that it is received quickly
*    Analysing defective and unsuccessful claims to identity patterns and taking appropriate action
*    Ensuring appropriate resources are available to implement improvements


Councillor Anthony Negus, Cabinet Member for Strategic Housing and Regeneration, said: "I accept that the council's benefits service is not delivering the speed and quality that people in Bristol have a right to expect.

"We need to deliver a faster, more responsive service that offers value for money. All the areas of weakness identified are the subject of a detailed action plan and I expect to see improvement in all areas very soon.

"We were unhappy at the failure of the Commission to acknowledge the improvements already made and we feel that this omission is unfair.

"They suggested that evidence of recent improvements was not sufficient to influence their judgement on the direction the service is going.

"In fact we were able to show inspectors that we deliver the most cost-effective benefits service of England's eight largest councils, (known as the Core Cities), and have a customer satisfaction rating just short of 80 per cent.

"However, I know that the livelihood of many low-income households and also many landlords depend on us improving the service that we provide. I shall be keeping a very watchful eye on this area of work to ensure the authority meets the challenge and delivers quickly on its promise of better services."

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