Title
Contents
Acknowledgements 7
The Authors 8
Glossary of terms 9
Summary 11
1. Introduction and methodology 16
1.1 Background and introduction 16
Staff research 20
Customer research 20
1.2 Methodology 20
Staff research 21
Jobcentre staff 21
BDC staff 21
Contact Centre staff 22
HB/CTB processing staff 22
HMRC staff 22
Numbers of staff interviewed 22
Customer research 23
1.3 Report structure 24
2. The 'out of work' process: staff views 25
2.1 Contact Centre experiences 25
2.1.1 Overall reactions - first stage of research 25
2.1.2 Overall reactions - second stage of research 26
2.1.3 Booking WFIs 26
2.1.4 Jobsearch 26
2.1.5 Collecting information for HB/CTB claims 27
2.1.6 Contacting HMRC 27
2.1.7 Mini breaks 27
2.1.8 Call length 28
2.1.9 The Claims Preparation Checklist 28
2.1.10 Dealing with issues 29
2.2 BDC experiences 29
2.2.1 Overall reactions - first stage of research 29
2.2.2 Overall reactions - second stage of research 29
2.2.3 The Claims Preparation Checklist 30
2.2.4 The previewing process 30
2.2.5 Processing cases 32
2.3 Jobcentre experiences 33
2.3.1 Overall reactions - first stage of research 33
2.3.2 Overall reactions - second stage of research 34
2.3.3 Receiving the Claims Preparation Checklist 34
2.3.4 Conducting reminder calls 35
2.3.5 Interview process and timing 37
2.3.6 Evidence brought to the Jobcentre 38
2.4 HMRC experiences 40
2.5 Local authority experiences 40
2.5.1 Overall reactions - first stage of research 40
2.5.2 Overall reactions - second stage of research 40
2.5.3 Receiving evidence 40
2.5.4 Claims Preparation Checklist 41
2.5.5 Effect on claim processing 42
2.6 Summary 43
3. The 'into work' process: staff views 44
3.1 Jobcentre Plus experiences 44
3.1.1 Overall reactions - initial stage of research 44
3.1.2 Overall reactions - second stage of research 45
3.1.3 Receiving IWS 45
3.1.4 Handling IWS 46
3.1.5 The IWS form 46
3.1.6 Tax Credits 47
3.1.7 LA benefits 48
3.2 HMRC experiences 48
3.2.1 Overall reactions 48
3.2.2 Receiving Tax Credit applications from Jobcentre 48
3.2.3 Notifying LAs 49
3.2.4 Processing times 49
3.3 Local authority experiences 50
3.3.1 Overall reactions - first stage of research 50
3.3.2 Overall reactions - second stage of research 50
3.3.3 Receiving IWS 50
3.3.4 Housing Benefit Checklist 51
3.3.5 Customer service 51
3.3.6 Effect on claim processing 52
3.4 Summary 53
4. Customer views 54
4.1 'Out of work' process 54
4.1.1 Contact Centre process 54
4.1.2 Jobcentre Plus process 57
4.1.3 Customer experience of receiving payment 59
4.2 'Into Work' process 63
4.2.1 Returning Into Work Statements 64
4.2.2 Claims for other benefits 65
4.2.3 Comparisons between Phase 1 and Phase 2 experiences 66
4.3 Overall experiences 67
4.3.1 Customers with previous experience 69
4.3.2 Impact on likelihood of Out of Work customers taking up short-term work 71
5. Conclusions 72
5.1 Situation at Phase 1 72
5.2 Situation at Phase 2 73
5.3 Issues for a roll-out of the In and Out of Work pilots 75
Table 1.1 Numbers of staff interviews achieved 22
Table 1.2 Issues explored at Phase 2 24
Table 4.1 Overall customer views on the Out of Work process 69
Figure 4.1 Recall of being asked about other benefit interest by FCOs 55
Figure 4.2 Views on being asked for HB/CTB information at first contact 56
Figure 4.3 Date of WFI 57
Figure 4.4 Bringing documentary evidence 58
Figure 4.5 Time taken to receive payment of benefits: Out of Work customers 60
Figure 4.6 Payment times compared with expectations 62
Figure 4.7 Expected and actual payment times for core benefit 62
Figure 4.8 Channel preference for returning IWS 65
Figure 4.9 Comparison of customer experience of Into Work process between Phase 1 and Phase 2 67
Figure 4.10 Overall views of process 68
Figure 4.11 Comparison with previous experience 70
Figure 5.1 Envisaged resource implications of a national roll-out 77
FlowCharts
Flowchart 1: Out of Work process 18
Flowchart 2: Into Work process 19