This report proposes the continued use of the Council’s Risk Based Verification (RBV) process in 2023/24. 

Samantha Wills, Revenues & Benefits Manager, submitted a report recommending that the Council continued to use its Risk Based Verification (RBV) process in 2023/24.  The scheme enabled the processing of claims for Housing Benefit payments and Council Tax Support awards to be streamlined, thereby enabling customers to receive payments sooner. The approach also helped to mitigate risk and fraud entering the system.

The report explained that all local authorities opting to apply risk-based verification were required to have in place a Policy detailing the risk profiles, verification standards which would apply and the minimum number of claims to be checked. The Policy must be reviewed annually but not changed in-year and it was considered good practice for the Policy to be examined by the authority’s Audit and Governance Committee. The report highlighted that the Council’s Risk-Based Verification Policy principles remained unchanged from 2022/23.

The Risk-Based Verification Policy 2023/24 had been appended to the report for endorsement but had not been published because it contained exempt information as defined in Paragraph 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Resolved:

(1)          That the Risk-Based Verification Scheme 2023/24, as appended to the report, be approved;

(2)          That the continued use of a Risk-Based Verification approach to evidence supporting claims for Housing Benefit and Council Tax support in 2023/24 be approved.