Finance & IT News No.44, January 2006
Best Value Performance Indicators
1. Council Tax and Business Rates Collection – (Contact Officer Alan Cartwright 01942 828612)
|
At 15/02/06 |
At 15/02/05 |
|
|---|---|---|
|
% |
% |
|
|
Council Tax |
95.87 |
95.83 |
|
Business Rates |
96.2 |
96.5 |
2. Processing of Benefit Claims – (Contact Officers Joe Feeney 01942 828694 and Donna Barrow-Jones 01942 828637)
Processing performance is shown in the table.
|
Category |
01/04/05 TO 31/12/06 |
2005/2006 Target |
|---|---|---|
|
New claims (days to process) |
31 |
42 |
|
% of New Claims processed within 14 days |
76% |
80% |
|
Changes in Circumstances (days to process) |
15 |
10 |
3. Benefit Fraud (Contact Officers Paul Wadsworth 01942 828607 and John Robinson 01942 828670)
Fraud penalties issued so far for 2005/06 are as follows:
|
Sanction Applied |
No. of Cases |
Subsidy from DWP |
|---|---|---|
|
LA Caution |
31 |
£37,200 |
|
Administrative Penalty |
50 |
£60.000 |
|
Summons Issued (court hearing awaited) |
4 |
£4,800 |
|
Successful Prosecutions |
41 |
£131,200 |
|
Total |
126 |
£233,200 |
4. Benefit Intervention Visits (Contact Officers Joe Feeney 01942 828694 and Lesley O’Halloran 01942 828658)
The following performance figures have exceeded the targets set by the DWP up to 31/01/06:
Home Visits 8,607
Postal checks 2,134
Data matches 819
Total 11,560
5. Payment of Undisputed Invoices - (Contact Officer Steve Clegg 01942 827260)
The % of invoices processed within 30 days (or within terms) are:
The target set by Government is 100%.
The Council achieved 91.7% in 2004/05. The average for other Greater Manchester Council’s for the same period was 88%.
For the current year 2005/06 between April to December 2005 the Council has achieved 91.9%.
Departmental Key Tasks And Service Development
6. Payment of Council Bills (Contact Officer Alan Cartwright 01942 828612)
Payments at Post Offices and PayPoint agents continue in line with expectations and completely without problem.
The value of Internet transactions consistently exceeds £200,000 per month since April and now accounts for over 22% (by number and by value) of all credit/debit card transactions.
Payments received via the Credit card line showed an increase in the number of transactions of almost 38% for the same period last year (up 30% by value).
The 24/7 Automated Telephone Service (launched in December 2003) is now the most popular way of paying by credit/debit card and has taken almost 41% by number of all credit/debit card transactions since April (28% by value).
The figures show the position for the period 1 April 2005 to 31 January 2006.
|
No. |
||
|---|---|---|
|
000’s |
£’m |
|
|
Post Office |
479.4 |
25.368 |
|
PayPoint |
89.4 |
3.912 |
|
Telephone |
36.6 |
3.891 |
|
Internet |
22.2 |
2.065 |
|
Automated Telephone |
40.7 |
3.543 |
Customers have been able to pay any council bill by credit/debit card at both Leigh and Wigan cash offices following the upgrade to the cash receipting system (May 2004). Since April over 6,400 payments have been taken. The agreement with HSBC through Co-op Bank now allows us to accept payment by customers who present the Visa Electron card.
Following decriminalisation of Parking, fines can be paid by credit/debit card using any of the above mentioned facilities as well as at the newly opened
office in the Market where 213 transactions have been accepted since April. Payment can also be made at Leigh and Wigan cash offices or any Post Office or Paypoint agent.
7. Microsoft Office 2003 (Contact Officer – Pete Livesey 01942 827214)
The project to upgrade all Office users to the latest version, Office 2003, is progressing well with the new versions live in Wigan and Leigh Housing, Children and Young Peoples Services, Legal and Property Services, Engineering Services and Planning and Regeneration. Chief Executive’s will be done over the week-end of 11/12 February and Social Services on w/e 4th March. Finance and IT have yet to be scheduled.
8. Microsoft Office 2003 – Home Use (Contact Officer – Pete Livesey 01942 827214)
As part of the council's software deal with Microsoft, council employees (unfortunately not WALH or WLCT) can install and use Office 2003 Professional on their home computers free of charge. There is a small handling and admin fee of about £18 per computer to pay to Microsoft.
The licence allows you to use the software for the duration of the council's contract (up to 31/08/2008).
For more information on how to take advantage of this offer, please contact the IT Help Desk on 4142.
9. Examination Successes (Contact Officer – Ian Kell 01942 827238)
We are pleased to report that a number of our staff have passed their final qualifications to gain admittance to their respective professional bodies as follows:-
Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA)
- Alison Billington
- Tony Clarke
- Simon Fillingham
- John McDonald
Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
- Paul Atherton
Practitioner of the Institute of Internal Auditors (PIIA)
- Alison Benson
We offer our congratulations to all these staff on their achievements and wish them every success in their future careers whether in Wigan or elsewhere.