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Benefits Service Statement Of Intent
Introduction
Sheffield City Council's vision is to be amongst the best performing Councils, providing the best quality services in the country, and to work in active partnership with the community to create a successful Sheffield with a good quality of life for all its residents.
This Council Benefit Strategy Statement sets out the Council's objectives and aspirations for the Housing and Council Tax Benefits Service. It explains the processes that will lead to the delivery of identified targets and establishes how the vision for the service contributes to the achievement of the Council's corporate objectives and priorities as established in the Corporate Plan.
Our Service Objectives
The Council, in partnership with our contracted service provider Liberata, aim to provide the people of Sheffield with one of the best benefits services in the country. Specifically we will strive to: -
- Provide a properly resourced, high quality, modern, customer focused service
- Pay all our customers the correct amount of benefit in a timely manner
- Take all possible steps to reduce the risk of error
- Ensure that the service we provide is inclusive and accessible to all our customers, particularly those who don't speak English as a first language, the elderly and the disabled
- Take an innovative, proactive approach to the delivery of benefits advice in the wider community to ensure the service is accessible to everyone regardless of their location or tenure
- Develop our Benefits Awareness Strategy to ensure that all current and potential customers are informed of all the benefits to which they are entitled
- Recover overpayments when they occur
- Minimise the risk of fraud but, where it does occur, ensure that it is investigated and, where appropriate, penalised in accordance with our counter-fraud strategy and prosecution policy
- Develop and maintain partnerships with our key stakeholders
- Assist customers to access decent standards of housing and minimise barriers to work by ensuring claims and enquiries are handled speedily, proactively and accurately and that customers are aware of the benefits to which they are entitled in any given circumstances
- Continuously improve and develop the service and strive to achieve and maintain upper quartile performance in respect of all applicable Best Value Performance Indicators
How We Aim to Deliver
We intend to translate our vision for the service into reality by use and application of the following principles and processes: -
- An ongoing programme of Service Development Planning to identify improvements and developments on an annual basis
- Application of rigorous performance monitoring
- A continuing willingness to embrace and accept external inspection, to measure service standards against external criteria such as the Benefits Performance Standards Framework and to develop and implement action plans to address identified areas of weakness
- The ongoing measurement of customer satisfaction levels to ensure that the effect of service improvements and developments are being translated into real, discernible benefits for our service users
- A continued emphasis on partnership working, not only between the Council and Liberata, its Housing Benefits service provider, but with stakeholders in the service including Registered Social Landlords, Advice Agencies, Private Landlord Groups and Housing Services
- Adoption of a positive, proactive approach to the receipt of complaints and suggestions for service improvements from customers and stakeholders
- Application of the principles of Best Value to ensure continuous improvement by consistently:
- Challenging how we provide each element of our service
- Comparing our performance with other authorities
- Consulting the local community on what they want
- Testing the competitiveness of our service
Our Contribution To Sheffield City Council's Corporate Vision and Priorities
As stated at the beginning of this Statement of Intent Sheffield City Council's vision is to be amongst the best performing Councils, providing the best quality services in the country, and to work in active partnership with the community to create a successful Sheffield with a good quality of life for all its residents.
The Council's Key Corporate Policy Priorities are: -
- A Modern, Customer Focused Council
- A Best Performing Council
- Sound Financial Management
- Creating a Successful Sheffield
The Benefits Service has a fundamental contribution to make in respect of every aspect of the Council's Vision and Priorities.
Our emphasis on partnership working, the provision of an accessible, inclusive service, rigorous performance monitoring and our commitment to maximise awareness are intrinsic to the Council achieving its corporate objectives.
In terms of the wider financial management of the Council the continuing improvement in performance in the assessment of benefit claims contributes positively to Rent and Council Tax Collection Rates, while the maximisation of subsidy available from Central Government is closely monitored to ensure any burden on Sheffield's Council Tax payers is minimised.
Our Commitment
The Council's Commitment is a straightforward one. We aim to become and remain one of the best performing, most innovative Benefit Services in the country and to provide benefit customers in Sheffield with the standard of service that they are entitled to expect.
Housing and Council Tax Benefit provides financial assistance to approximately 56,000 of the City's most vulnerable residents.
It is vital to these customers that the Council ensures that the service is easily accessible to the whole community and that benefit claims, once made, are processed in a timely manner.
The Council is committed to tackling poverty and the promotion of social inclusion and the benefits service has a crucial role to play in the achievement of both these objectives.
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