Revenues & Benefits Performance Outstrips Targets and Saves Taxpayers Money
Cabinet Member for Revenues & Benefits, Cllr Rory Love
Cllr Rory Love told a meeting of more than 40 Conservative councillors and campaigners in Folkestone last Friday (20th March) that his Revenues & Benefits Cabinet portfolio at Shepway had exceeded all its quality performance standards, and saved the council taxpayers £225,000.
Cllr Love said that when he took on his current portfolio last May, it was taking 37 days to process a claimant’s housing or council tax benefit application. The Council had set a target to bring this down to 28 days by the end of this month. In fact, it now takes just 10 days to process the average claim.
Cllr Love also gave details of a dramatic improvement in processing many claims within just 48 hours. Last May only 3 in every 100 claims were handled this quickly, whereas today, 41 out of every 100 claims are processed within 48 hours.
He also explained that faster handling of claims did not lead to more errors, as the error rate was actually falling. He reassured his audience that rather than costing taxpayers more money to make these improvements, he had reduced his staff by 10%. In total, the Council’s Revenues & Benefits service will cost the taxpayer £225,000 less in the new financial year starting next month.
Cllr Rory Love said:
“Since I took on this portfolio last May, we have not only exceeded this year’s performance targets, but we’re ahead of next year’s as well. This drives a coach and horses through the myth that you can’t have a better quality of service at a lower cost. The two things can go hand in hand. That is what the public expect, and that is what we have delivered.”
23rd March 2009
“ This drives a coach and horses through the myth that you can’t have a better quality of service at a lower cost. ”