This report proposes the continued use of the Council’s Risk Based Verification process in 2021/22.

Sam Wills, Revenues & Benefits Manager, submitted a report recommending that the Council continued to use its Risk Based Verification (RBV) process in 2021/22.  The scheme enabled 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 Council’s risk-based verification policy principles had remained unchanged and there were no recommended scheme changes to the Council’s 2021/22 Council Tax Reduction Support Scheme and subsequently no impact on the Risk Based Verification Policy.  The Risk-Based Verification Policy 2020/21 and Temporary Covid measures were appended to the report for endorsement but had not been published because they 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, 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 2021/22 be approved.