£2m benefits cash paid in error
Council welfare service given 'zero' rating
Milton Keynes Council has doled out more than 2million in benefits by mistake and failed to keep tabs on some claimants.
The high level of overpayments over four years led to the city losing out on 1 million government "reward" money and contributed to the Audit Commission slating the benefits service as "poor" with a dismal zero-star rating.
The verdict is a further blow to a council still recovering from a ranking of "inadequate" for child services.
The Commission says the service does not fully understand whether it meets the needs of all customers and not enough is being done to ensure people claim all benefits to which they are entitled.
Commission boss Robert Hathaway said benefits were vital to people in the recession but added: "Milton Keynes Council has not done enough to ensure that people who need help with their housing costs get this promptly and accurately."
Inspectors found the service concentrated on people who could get to the council offices and "neglects the needs of many other users," and failed to act on changes in customers' circumstances and adjust benefits accordingly.
The council said the lower rating of the service – last time judged "good" – was due to "a change in the rules" of inspection which was previously carried out by the Benefits Fraud Inspectorate.
Council leader Sam Crooks said: "The Audit Commission accepts itself that a downward score does not mean that the service has deteriorated but that they are now looking at the service from a different perspective."
But the council needed to make sure "we are not just chasing money and figures but putting people who rely on these benefits at the very centre of things."
The council pays out more than 70million a year to 20,500 claimants.
A council spokesman said all overpaid benefits were "recoverable" and it took steps to recover them.
If a customer was still on benefits, the council got back what was owed from their ongoing benefit entitlement each week or month.
Invoices were issued to people no longer on benefits.
>> Like this story and love MK? Take a look at the online versions of our newspapers - click here to access Tuesday's Citizen First, and here to see Thursday's Milton Keynes Citizen.
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Weather for Milton Keynes
Saturday 04 February 2012
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