10 million citizens to gain....

08 October 2008, 8:31am

10 million citizens to gain from radical new benefits service

Three local authorities serving 1.4 million citizens have signed up to the innovative eBenefits service, taking the number of people benefiting from a radical transformation in housing benefits and council tax services to 10.4 million, Northgate Information Solutions announced today.

Key councils including Shepway District Council are now working in partnership with Northgate, a leading provider of innovative services to the public sector and utilities markets, to provide greater accuracy in decision making and faster times for claim handling and assessment. The service is designed to reach out to those who may be missing out on their entitlement, and radically simplify and speed up the process of housing and council tax benefit assessment.

Visiting officers have the option of using mobile technology to help citizens through the assessment process face-to-face, to collate and verify the documents supporting the claim, and provide an indicative benefits calculation on the spot.

- Non-specialist advisers can be quickly guided on-screen through a citizen’s claim for council tax and housing benefits to reach a decision based in law;

- Advisers are presented with only the relevant questions they need to determine a citizen’s eligibility and entitlement;

- Advisers can tell what evidence is needed to support the claim and create a comprehensive decisions audit trail showing how the decision has been made;

- Self-service systems can allow citizens to make full applications online and send over all the evidence that is required to assess their claims;

- Local authorities are able to successfully meet key best value performance indicators;

- Optional mobile systems, linked up to the back-office, allow benefits services to reach out to the community and to target those most in need.

eBenefits also frees up specialists to focus on those cases where help is needed most and offers greater opportunities to work collaboratively, including with CABs and registered social landlords to assess cases requiring closer attention.

Local authorities which have radically improved their benefits services since implementing eBenefits include North Kesteven District Council, Torfaen County Borough Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council:

“eBenefits means we can do more for our customers, more quickly and accurately.”

Andrew Everard, Benefits Manager at North Kesteven District Council

“eBenefits has helped us to improve performance and give a better service to our customers.”

Richard Davies, Head of Revenues and Benefits at Torfaen County Borough Council

“eBenefits ensures a better Benefits experience for our customers.”

Alison McGrory, Income & Awards Business Manager at Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

Joe Bradley, Managing Director of Local Government & Social Housing for Northgate Public Services, said today: “We are delighted to be working alongside key local authorities such as Shepway to revolutionise the way benefits are delivered to citizens, especially those in the most vulnerable communities. Accessing benefits can be a difficult and stressful process for many people. eBenefits is built around individual citizen need and ensures that time-consuming form-filling and repeated requests for evidence are a thing of the past. We are proud of our relationships with local councils across the country and strive to deliver continuously improving services, contributing to stronger and more sustainable neighbourhoods.”

NoE- eBenefits was launched in June 2006. It was originally one of the 22 Local e-Gov National Projects sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now Communities and Local Government). It now provides a national benefits service that serves some of the country’s most hard to reach areas. eBenefits uses rules-based technology developed in partnership with RuleBurst Ltd.

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