A-Z of Services

Benefits Performance Section

With effect from 1 April 2008 the Government have introduced two new performance indicators for Housing and Council Tax Benefit administration. These new indicators reflect the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) strategic objectives of ensuring that the correct benefit is paid and at the right time.

Since performance monitoring was introduced by the Government in 2001 the national average time taken to process a new claim has fallen from 62 days to 33 days, and the losses due to fraud have halved. Despite this there has continues to be considerable error in the system, mainly due to customer error.

For the next three years the DWP priority is to ensure that all Councils provide an effective and efficient benefit service that is protected against fraud and error.

Unfortunately due to technical difficulties the DWP have been unable to publish any statistics in relation to the “Right Time” indicator.

The DWP have published statistical data relating to the “Right Benefit” on their website but this information is difficult to understand, if you wish to view this data please go to: www.dwp.gov.uk/local-authority-staff/housing-benefit/security/right-benefit-toolkit/

You can either access Wrexham’s data by scrolling down the list of Local Authorities to “Wrexham”, or you can enter group “A” to see how Wrexham County Borough Council compares to other similarly ranked councils.

In the meantime Wrexham Council continue to monitor its performance in relation to the old performance indicators set by the DWP. We have produced a series to graphs and charts to illustrate our performance, work and caseload.