Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Finance, Revenues and Benefits

The Committee received the report as set out on pages 42 to 47 of the agenda, which asked it to note the activity within the Revenues and Benefits service area during the first quarter of 2018/19 and the progress of Universal Credit implementation.

The Head of Finance, Revenues and Benefits provided the Committee with a summary of the report.

A Member of the Committee commented that the report contained a number of tables reporting on the volumes of casework dealt with by the Revenues and Benefits teams, however the figures lacked any context insofar as whether these figures were in accordance with expectation levels and/or previous quarterly indicators. It was therefore requested that future reports of this nature be given additional commentary.

The Committee noted that take up of support services to make a Universal Credit claim and receive budgeting advice had been low, therefore a Member suggested that the Council should proactively look to identify further ways of improving promotion and take up of these services, for example by offering an appointment booking service for residents.

It was moved by the Chair, seconded by the Vice-Chair and

UNANIMOUSLY RESOLVED THAT:

The contents of the report be noted.