To receive for information a copy of the Revenues and Benefits Monthly Position Statement sent to Cabinet.

The Panel received the Revenues and Benefits monthly position statement for information.

The Chair informed the panel that she had recently undertaken some observation at first stop and in the Revenues and Benefits customer area at the Civic Centre.  She had been concerned at what she had witnessed and the feedback received from customer in relation to wait times with some people commenting that they had to wait up to two hours.  The Chair had also learnt that customers could be prevented from joining the queue to be seen at 3pm if the queue was too long to clear before 5pm.

The panel were concerned that this could get worse with the upcoming changes brought on by the welfare reform.

Agreed to request a report on wait times and customers satisfaction levels in relation to revenues and benefits customers at the Civic Centre.

The Director for Corporate Services will submit a report providing an update on the

performance of the Revenues and Benefits service.

The Director for Corporate Services submitted a written report providing an update on the performance of the revenues and benefits service.

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) presented the update and indicated that there were continuing concerns on the direction of travel of performance with case loads continuing to rise.  He stressed the need to the Director for Corporate Services for an improvement in services.

Alternative options considered and reasons for the decision –

As set out in the report.

The progress made by the service since the implementation of a new structure in November 2011 was noted with the service now benchmarking as being ‘below average’ costs with improving service delivery.