How are we performing?

 Delays in the administration of Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit can impact on some of the most vulnerable people in our district by:

• Leading to rent arrears and evictions
• Preventing access to housing because landlords are reluctant to rent to HB customers
• Acting as a deterrent to people moving off benefits into work because of the disruption to their claim

It is therefore important for our customers to receive a prompt service.  The chart below compares our current performance to 2010/11 and shows the average processing time in days for:

• new claims
• changes in circumstance
• combined average of new claim and change in circumstance processing 

and

• The percentage of new claims decided within 14 days of all the information being received 

Monthly Performance Data

Month	Average number of days to decided a new claim 2011/2012	Average number of days to decided a new claim 2012/2013	Percentage of new claims decided within 14 days of receipt of all required  information 2011/2012	Percentage of new claims decided within 14 days of receipt of all required information 2012/2013	Average number of days to determin a change in circumstance 2010/2011	Average number of days to determin a change in circumstance 2011/2012	Average number of days to determin both new claims and changes in circumstance 2011/2012	Average number of days to determin both new claims and changes in circumstance 2012/2013
April	16.96	15.95	88.93%	96.03%	8.24	11.37	9.70	12.03
May	16.24		95.96%		9.40		10.40
June	16.37		95.33%		8.63		9.93
July	16.20		93.04%		7.14		8.56
August	13.42		95.00%		7.70		8.53
September	12.26		96.10%		6.82		7.55
October	12.86		97.58%		7.27		8.09
November	13.28		99.66%		6.10		7.23
December	14.88		97.76%		7.51		8.85
January	13.35		97.84%		5.83		5.83
February	13.55		100%		3.41		4.05
March	13.53		98.36%		7.68		8.83
Year to date average	14.40	15.95	96.25%	96.03%	6.53	11.37	7.61	12.03