This article was last updated in October 2019.
The introduction of Universal Credit
After becoming a Universal Credit full service area, Luton found their Administration Grant further reduced and were suddenly under significant pressure to cut costs. Luton’s existing digital service was only digital to a point, and with Universal Credit being digital only they faced an issue.
Clive Jones, Head of Revenues and Benefits at Luton Borough Council, explained
“a claimant would complete an electronic form, but would then have to bring in their verification and ID documents in person, for us to verify their original documents.”
Could Automation cut costs?
Clive felt that there must be a more streamlined way of processing claims. Even with the switch to Universal Credit, Luton have found that there are still a significant number of new claims coming in to them, as for example pensioners, or those in temporary accommodation. Luton Borough Council could therefore see the potential benefits of One’s Automation, and the savings its automated claim processing could bring.
The verification challenge
As Luton started the journey of implementing Automation, the biggest issue they faced was in checking that a claim coming in for automated processing was a valid claim and therefore entitled to receive housing benefit. They were unsure whether the digital uploading of documents would work in reality, for the checking of verification documents. It turned out to work much better than expected, Clive explained
“Previously verification and document uploading took an average of 10 days as claimants had to bring their documents to us in person. It is much quicker now that we are automated.”
Luton made it clear on their website that claims would not be processed until they received the necessary documents to support the claim, and this proved successful with claimants uploading their ID documents online alongside their application form, so that their claim can be processed, and they can begin receiving their benefits.
With claims automatically coming through to the eStore from Luton’s online form, which need to be verified by a council employee, the time taken for this verification process has been greatly reduced. Luton only have two officers looking at claims coming in to the eStore, who check that the necessary documents are present, and then check some of the data on the form, to ensure the claim is genuine. In some cases, where the citizen is already known to the council, the process can be fully automated from start to finish with no manual intervention needed at all.
“If everything is OK the officers simply click on the verification button, and then when Automation is run, everything with a verification tick in the box gets loaded into the system and assessment completed, which is rather marvellous!”
Clive Jones, Head of Revenues and Benefits at Luton Borough Council
Data difficulty
The problem with customers completing the automated assessment forms rather than the traditional manual method is the large variation of data provided. For example, Tesco employees could enter Tesco, Tescos, Tesco’s PLC, Tescos Luton Road, Tesco P.L.C etc., etc. – and this applies to all sorts of data for employers and landlords. Luton stayed with BECS forms and had to undertake a lot of work with BECS for verification within the form, so that data arriving in eStore is a better quality. Clive admitted that had they used Capita One’s forms the process would have been simpler and would likely have sped up the journey. Since the latest version of Automation went live in January, Luton are starting to see improvements.
Data variations remains an issue, and so this needs to be checked by the officer at the verification step, to ensure the employer and landlord details are correct, along with the necessary supporting documentation being present, and then the system does the rest.
Where are Luton now on their Automation journey?
Since implementing automation, Luton are now achieving around 40% of claims that are fully automated and they expect this to increase further;
“This is a saving in time. We have reduced the number of people processing claims down by 6. So, automation has helped us save costs in what is continuing to be a very harsh financial operating environment.”
Next steps for full automation
Luton has also launched eNotifications, which stops the need for paper notifications and saves the council further costs. Clive explained that they are just waiting for their client base to get used to the changes associated with Universal Credit, before encouraging service users to make the switch.
Luton are also in the testing and implementing stage for automating change in circumstances, once this is live they will be as fully automated as possible.
“On our journey, we are expecting to see further improvements and with the next release we think there will be another quantum leap. I think the change in circumstances automation is more exciting and will probably be simpler to implement and deliver even more savings"
Clive Jones, Head of Revenues and Benefits at Luton Borough Council