Person responsible for managing the assessment

Head of Revenues & Benefits for Capita Business Services, working on behalf of Havant Borough Council.

Name and brief description of the service / policy to be assessed

The delivery and administration of the Housing Benefits Service to the residents of Havant Borough Council within the legislation and guidelines provided by the Department for Work and Pensions.

Objectives of the service/policy to be assessed

To provide a service that is accessible for all, that pays the correct amount of benefit to the right person at the right time.

To provide a comprehensive customer service, using up-to-date technology that ensures easy access to the benefits service.

To promote Housing Benefits and to encourage benefits take-up so that all customers entitled to benefit are made aware of their eligibility and are encouraged to apply.

Baseline/monitoring data

The number of households in the Borough is 51,722. There are currently 10,115 benefit claims.

Information from the 2001 census :

Population: 115,700

Of the residents in the Borough, 48.02% are male, 51.98% female.

1700 residents (1.5%) are non-white

3570 residents (3.1%) are not British

29.55% are aged under 25. 18.92% are aged 65 or over.

4,530 residents are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance and 2,470 are in receipt of Attendance Allowance.

We do not currently collate data regarding the ethnic origin of benefit claimants.

Service/policy outcome evaluation

The following list details how the Council is meeting the equality standards:

1. Regular liaison meetings with Citizens Advice Bureau
2. Holding customer forums for claimants, landlords and relevant agencies
3. Regular meetings and dialogue with representatives from major Housing Associations in the Borough
4. Links and liaison with other organizations such as Women’s Aid and Welfare Advice Agencies
5. Working in partnership with Housing Aid to provide a Supported Tenancy Scheme for vulnerable tenants.  We are assisting around 200 tenants through this scheme.
6. Joint working with Jobcentre plus for new benefit applications.
7. Local liaison with Pension Service representative

1. Benefits information is published on the web
2. Ready reckoner to check entitlement on the web
3. Language-line facility available for translation service
4. Benefit take-up literature included on Council Tax bill and recovery notices
5. Documentation available in large print for the partially sighted.
6. Benefit letters advise claimants to apply for Income Support if claimant not on IS and claimant’s income is below applicable amount
7. Letters are sent to claimants where rent is restricted to advise them that they may wish to apply for Discretionary Housing Payments
8. Autumn 06 – data provided to Pensions Service in relation to claimants who may be entitled to Pension Credit
9. Regular benefit surgeries held at Waterlooville Library
10. Regular articles in Serving You, the Council’s newsletter, advising residents in the Borough of updates in Benefit services
11. Appointment Based Service for customers to have their benefit entitlement calculated while they wait.  Since the commencement of this service in August/September 2006 we have actioned in excess of 400 appointments, this is steadily increasing.
12. Team of visiting officers to assist vulnerable claimants in their homes.
13. Interview room designed to ensure wheelchair access.
14. Customer survey undertaken in 2006/7. 625 respondents – none mentioned equality issues as cause for dissatisfaction.

The Council also has a Customer Services Policy, a Race Equality Scheme and the Council’s website can be automatically translated into a number of different languages for members of minority groups.

List of main stakeholders/beneficiaries

1. Benefits claimants
2. Private landlords
3. Registered Social Landlords
4. Citizens Advice Bureaux
5. JobCentre Plus
6. Other Council Departments, such as Housing, Council Tax
7. Welfare Organisations
8. Rent Officer Service

How representative is the ‘stakeholder’ list above?

The customer and landlords forums that take place enable all groups to be represented.

Who benefits from the service/policy?

There is no evidence that any groups benefit more or are under represented.

In what area are there concerns that the policy could have a differential impact

Race

Disability

Gender

Age

Religious beliefs

Sexual Orientation

Please explain for each of the target equality groups, but in particular race, disability and gender:

Areas of concern that the service/policy could have a differential impact  

Benefits legislation and guidance is set by Central Government and is either prescriptive in the administration and assessment of benefit or provides specific criteria where there are areas for discretion such as local awards for war widows or discretionary housing payments. From the point of view of benefits assessment, therefore, there is no concern that the service/policy could have a differential impact. With regard to benefit take-up and the application process relating to race, more data needs to be collected to form a view – please see below.

Differential impact

It is not thought that there is any negative impact in the areas of disability, gender, age, religious beliefs and sexual orientation. With regard to race, more information needs to be collected, and consultation undertaken. At this moment it is not possible to be totally certain whether ethnic minorities are disadvantaged by the benefits take-up strategy and the applications process. Forums and customer satisfaction surveys have not identified any negative impact but it is not considered that these in themselves are sufficient to state that there is no negative impact.

Reasons for any differential impact

At this moment there is not enough evidence to determine any differential impact.

Are there any barriers to opportunities or access for some groups?

Take-up : ethnic origin not currently monitored.

Further consultation with minority groups required.

Further analysis of the application process, and the collection of evidence required for applying for benefits needs to take place to identify whether minority groups are in any way deterred from applying for benefit.

Complaints data

No complaints have been received in this service area in respect of equality issues.

Are there disadvantages caused by discrimination?

None identified.

Are there opportunities to better promote service/policy inclusion?

This is being discussed generally within the Council. There is an intention to create a directory of hard to reach groups which will enable the Service to link up with them and gain a greater understanding of any issues.

Have you undertaken any consultation?

Customer satisfaction survey 2006/7.

Meetings held with Hermitage.

Claimants forum.

Landlords forum scheduled.

CAB meetings

Consultation outcomes

No feedback of differential impact received.

Assessment conclusion

The general conclusion is that there is no evidence of any existing working practices or procedures within the Benefits service having any negative impact on different groups within the community. However the assessment identified further action would be useful in certain areas and the following action plan has been compiled:

Monitoring timetable

Performance against these targets will be monitored by Capita Head of Revenues and Benefits. All new policies will be impact assessed. A review will be undertaken by the Capita Head of Revenues and Benefits in 6 months time.

Signed:  Head of Revenues & Benefits for Capita Business Services

                                                                                                            (Completing Officer)

Signed:       Head of Finance

                                                                                                            (Head of Service)

Date:  2/11/2007