Councils benefit review (From Penarth Times)

Councils benefit review

THE Vale of Glamorgan Council has been hauled over the coals by the public services ombudsman following a housing benefit mix-up.

A member of the public complained to the ombudsman over the time taken by the council to work out his housing benefit claim and the way in which it sought to recover an overpayment of benefit made to him.

Following the ombudsman's intervention, the council acknowledged that there had been errors and administrative shortcomings in dealing with the claim.

It offered to pay the complainant 75 in recognition of the distress he had experienced.

The Vale council also agreed to conduct a review of its arrangements for dealing with housing benefits claims with a view to reducing delay.

The Vale of Glamorgan Council's head of financial services Clive Teague said: "The council is still liaising with the ombudsman with regard to this customer's complaint, which dates back to last year.

"Since the problem was first reported, a number of improvements have been made to the way in which the council administers benefits claims, and the council now meets, or is better than, numerous standards set by the Department for Work and Pensions.

"For example, the council processes new claims 10 days faster than average and decides 95 percent of claims within 14 days of receiving all the relevant information, where the DWP benchmark is 90 percent."