Issue - meetings

The Leader of the Council submitted an exception report on finance and performance monitoring for the period April to June 2012.

The Director of Internal Services reported that, subject to all other budgets being equal,  the figures indicated there could be an overspend of £67,000.  Members were advised however, that a positive variance was likely on investment returns with a number of additional fixed term deposits due to be placed which would bring income ahead of the budget.  This would be reflected in the next Healthcheck report.

In respect of NI 181, time taken to process Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit new claims and change events, the Director of Internal Services stated that performance was 23.56 days and the Authority would address this by utilising specialist agency staff and a bulk contract for processing claims.

In response to a query from Councillor N Symonds, the Director stressed that the agency staff would already be fully trained in processing claims so would not be a distraction for existing Council Officers in training new staff. 

Members were advised that a bulk processing contract or contracts would be issued to 1 or more of the specialist agencies once a quote had been received from the final agency.  Members were urged to be patient as Officers took steps to improve performance.

Members received the report.

RESOLVED – that the report be received.