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Error

Planned action

Incorrect Calculation of Earnings – the errors listed fell into two categories.

Self employed – inconsistency identified in the way that officers had calculated net income.

PAYE – errors in the way that staff had transferred earnings data when inputting claim details.

Further training has been provided to the assessment team and new procedures introduced to ensure a consistent approach to the treatment of self employed expenses.

A review of existing self employed cases is also being progressed.

In addition to the sample check of benefit assessments that is completed on an ongoing basis, the service will review an increased  sample of cases with earned income as part of its preparation for future audits.

Incorrect Classification of Eligible Overpayments – At the point of the assessment the member of staff entered an incorrect date.

The error has been corrected and further training will be provided to the member of staff and the wider team.

Incorrect Duplication of Benefit Award – This occurred due to a technical error within the housing benefit software.

The service has been able to demonstrate that there have been no further instances of this error occurring.

The error has been corrected within the software

Missing Evidence of Water Rates Deduction – At the time of the Audit the service was unable to provide evidence to support the basis of the £1 water rates deduction that was being made within the claim.

Further inspection has confirmed that the rent level and deduction was registered with the Rent Service. 

The service will include the review of available evidence as part of its preparation for future audits.

Incorrect Calculation of Tax Credits – The error (£1 underpayment) occurred as a result of a member of staff applying a change to the tax credit entitlement from the wrong effective date. 

This was the only error of its type identified through the initial sample of claims checked, the additional 40 case check completed and has not been identified as an error in any earlier audits.

The error has been corrected and further training has been provided to the member of staff.

In addition to the ongoing sample check of benefit assessments that is completed on an ongoing basis, the service will review an increased  sample of tax credit awards as part of its preparation for future audits.