Forward Operating Model. 4.1 Introduction This section explains how the Revenues & Benefits and Audit services would be delivered under joint working. The approach to joint working is referred to in this report as the forward operating model. The proposed organisation design is based on the following criteria. Benefits, Council Tax and NDR administration will be delivered from Sevenoaks Fraud and Audit will be combined into a single team and delivered from Dartford Customer face-to-face contact will remain unchanged from current arrangements Customer telephone contact will be staffed by Revenues & Benefits staff based in Sevenoaks. 4.2 Service Standard Definition Throughout the design process, the Core Group have assumed a change in emphasis from targeting upper quartile performance to designing a service that meets customer needs. The resulting service standards and approach will be reviewed after two years by the Councils. The following tables set out the performance targets for key service standards which have been assumed when designing the forward operating model: Standards for Benefits Performance Standards Benefits Comments Days to process new claims 23 days (2011/12) 22 days (2012/13) 21 days (2013/14) Days to process changes of circumstances 10 days (2011/12) 10 days (2012/13) 10 days (2013/14) Accuracy 95% Housing Benefit overpayments collected 36 % (2011/12) 38% (2012/13) 40% (2013/14) % of recoverable debt excluding overpayments being repaid via deductions from other benefits Telephone enquiries 80% of calls answered in 20 seconds Standards for Council Tax and NDR Performance Standards Council Tax NDR Comments In yr collection Dartford/ Sevenoaks Joint Assuming impact of the recession reduces and that Benefits processing is up to date. Differential council tax collection rates take account of different demographics 2011/12 97.7%, 98.6% 98% 2012/13 97.8%, 98.6% 98.5% 2013/14 97.9%, 98.6% 99% Telephone enquiries 80% answered in 20 seconds 80% in 20 seconds Presumes call management system Correspondence 95% actioned within 7 working days 95% within 7 working days Direct Debit take-up as a % of taxpayers with a balance to pay 70 % 2011/12 71 % 2012/13 72 % 2013/14 No target for NDR as a significant proportion pay by other automated methods Assuming impact of the recession reduces. Method of Payments Direct Debit on choice of 4 dates in month DD on choice of 4 dates in month Cheques Sevenoaks to rationalise payment methods for Council Tax Cheques Automated Telephone Payments Automated Telephone Payments Web payment Web payment Postal Postal Standing Order Standing Order Cash Cash Arrears collection in year 40% (2011/12) 40% (2012/13) 40% (2013/14) No target Collection rates are before write off. This indicator relates to previous year arrears collected in current year Overall collection fund collected 99.5 % 4.3 Organisation Design
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