Liverpool City Council

Housing

Welfare

Rights

Service

WELFARE BENEFITS MANUAL

2001/2002


WRO locations and telephone numbers

WRO /

AHOs

/ Number
May Stone / Croxteth / 233 4318
Dovecot / 233 4319
Paul Hackett / Norris Green / 233 4322
Chatsworth / 233 4297
Jimmy Pugh / Old Swan / 233 4317
West Derby / 233 4730
Lynne Jones / Childwall / 233 4308
Sharon Thompson / Walton / 233 4324
Nrth Vauxhall / 233 4313

Community Legal Services Liaison Manager

·  The named representative who will act as a focal point for the Community Legal Services Commission (CLSC) Liaison Manager for the HWRSE (HWRSE) will be the Welfare Rights Manager Terry Craven.

·  He will be available during any audits conducted by the Community Legal Services Commission.

·  He will notify the Community Legal Services Commission account manager of any alteration in the named representative, or if he leaves the HWRSE.

·  Terry Craven as the manager of the HWRSE's activities, has sufficient standing within the City Council to ensure that any requirements of the Community Legal Services commission and any action required following the audits will be carried out.

·  Terry Craven will make available to the CLSC information relation to status inquiries during the lifetime of any CLS quality Mark or funding.

·  He will also advise the CLS of any adverse findings made by either the OSS and any claims made against our indemnity insurance during the term of the Quality Mark period.

WELFARE BENEFITS

·  May Stone (MS) Sharon Thompson (ST) Jimmy Pugh (LJ) Lynne Jones and Paul Hackett (PH) have been appointed as Welfare Benefits Supervisors having met the requirements of the Community Legal Services Commission as set out in Not-for Profit Edition of Legal Aid Boards Quality Assurance Standards April 1999.

·  All legal aid caseworkers will be trained to a sufficient level to recognize when there is a need for specific advice on welfare benefits. Such advice is to be obtained from the Welfare Benefits Department.

·  It is MS,JP,ST, LJ and PH’s responsibility to ensure that all legal aid caseworkers involved in the giving of advice in the HWRSE’s work are able to recognise the need for Welfare Benefit Advice and where appropriate refer clients to the appropriate source of advice using the procedure listed in this manual.

·  MS,JP,ST, LJ and PH’s will also ensure that any new supervisor/case workers will maintain a welfare rights caseload of their own.

·  MS,JP,ST, LJ and PH’s and any future supervisors employed by the HWRSE will attend at least 3 external training courses that are directly relevant to the provision of welfare benefits advice.

·  MS,JP,ST, LJ and PH’s will ensure that s/he can demonstrate enough direct supervision of welfare benefits cases to ensure she maintains her skills base. She will also maintain a caseload of more complex cases.

INDEPENDENT ADVICE.

·  The HWRSE will provide independent advice to all its clients. Please refer to page 4 of the HWRSE Office Manual for a full copy of our independence statement.

·  We will not be pressurised into acting in anything other than our client’s best interests.

·  All case workers are aware of the Law Society’s Practice Rules and ethical guidance regarding conflict of interests, and will ensure that the appropriate action is taken promptly if any such conflict (or the real possibility of it) should arise.

PRINCIPLES OF THE SERVICE:

1. General Statement

The service has a generic role and as such its work will bring it into contact with a variety of clients groups, for example elderly people, disabled people, young people, lone parents and other disadvantaged groups. These clients are over-represented amongst people living in poverty. It is therefore particularly important that the service is underpinned by the following principles: -

2. Equal Opportunity

Users of the service will be treated impartially and without discrimination. Increasing benefit entitlement is one step towards tackling the inequality that exists for actual and potential clients within the benefit system.

3. Anti-Oppressive Practice

Increasing benefit to individual service users provides the opportunity for greater individual choice. The service will seek to promote the empowerment of service users providing the opportunity for individuals to decrease their dependence on other statutory services.

SERVICES PLAN

The Welfare Benefits Department aims to offer services and advice in connection with that promotes the maximisation of income, maintenance of maximum income and development of an understanding of entitlement to income, through the complex legislation and administration of Social Security benefits.

·  The services are to be provided primarily by offering a home visiting service. However, the office is open to provide advice and assistance to clients during normal office opening hours.

·  Potential clients for Advice work will be Merseyside based and in the surrounding areas and will stem from referral, recommendation, advertisement, outreach work and through the HWRSE’s existing client base.

·  The service will have a broader base as a consequence of forming a relationship with Registered Social Landlords to provide Welfare Benefits advice for their clients.

·  See also the Centre’s General Services Plan 1999

SUPERVISORS, SUPERVISION AND FILE REVIEW.

·  The named supervisor for the Welfare Benefits Department will be Terry Craven. He is employed full time 35 hours a week at Millennium House Victoria Street Liverpool L1 6JQ 0151 233 4407 Mobile 07736379665

·  He has been appointed as the Welfare Benefits Supervisor having met the requirements of the Community Legal Services Commission as set out in Not-for Profit Edition of Legal Aid Boards Quality Assurance Standards April 1999.

·  Should he be absent from work for any significant period of time or leave the employ of the HWRSE, then an alternate supervisor will be appointed by the City Council promptly. If the supervisor has to attend any relevant courses, the HWRSE will supplement attendance on the course by providing coaching/mentoring by another experienced supervisor.

·  That temporary supervisor need not have the relevant two year experience, but by the time of the next periodical audit the HWRSE recognise that a suitably qualified supervisor will be put in place.

·  The Welfare Rights Manager of the HWRSE will notify the Community Legal Services Commission immediately should any caseworker/supervisor leave the HWRSE, or be replaced as a supervisor.

During those times when casework is being provided in out reach offices, the supervisor will be available throughout the day for contact by individual caseworkers. Each caseworker may be equipped with a mobile phone. The supervisor has a mobile phone and a direct dial telephone facility. The supervisor is also connectable via e-mail from all the out reach offices served by the HWRSE.

If a caseworker requires a letter to be typed, then the HWRSE’s standard letters can be accessed via the computer wide area network or from a floppy disk or the hard disk of their laptop computer. There is also a Word processing Officer available at each office

MS, LJ,ST,JP and PH are responsible for

(a) Checking incoming post in accordance with page 10 of the office manual

(b) Checking or signing outgoing post in accordance with page 11 of the office manual

INTERNAL QUALITY CONTROL - FILE REVIEW

·  As MS, LJ, ST and PH’s are the persons responsible for the vast majority of the day to day conduct of the files within the Welfare Benefits department, they will be responsible for reviewing substantive legal issues on the files, as well as procedural points. This would include all Welfare Benefits files in the department, whoever has day to day conduct of them. Reviews will be carried out at least once every four weeks to ensure that the files remain active. This will be done by a periodic ‘cabinet trawl’ and data base analysis.

·  Five advice records shall be reviewed per advice worker per month using the file review checklist. The supervisor or his/her nominated deputy will carry out all reviews.

·  Records to be reviewed will be selected at random by the supervisor at the beginning of every month..

·  The supervisor will review the file and complete the file review as per the CaseTrack (CT) corrective action categories. Copies of each file review will be kept on the central record on CaseTrack and a note to this affect will be made on file.

·  Where corrective action needs to be taken the advice worker must be given a deadline for completion. A print out of file reviews undertaken that month will be sent to the caseworkers which serves to inform each individual of the need to check the individual file references on CT to see if any corrective action is required. A table of corrective action categories for CT has been produced a copy of which is attached.

·  When the corrective action has been completed the advice worker must update CT accordingly. The WRM will check that all corrective action is carried out within the deadline, which normally will be by end of that month. For example if a file is reviewed in the first, second or third week of the month the deadline will be the last day of that month. File review 10 November any corrective action will need to be done by 30 November. In most cases these rules will apply. However on occasion it will be necessary to deem corrective action as urgent. It is the caseworker’s responsibility to check that the action has been categorised as urgent and carry out the necessary corrective action as soon as practically possible

·  The service manager shall review the central record monthly, to ensure all required corrective action has been completed, and annually to identify any trends emerging. Feedback from file review will be formally provided at the quarterly team meeting, and individually to advice workers at their annual performance review.

·  A copy of the review sheet follows

Description

O = Opening a File
O1 /

Name and address fault on file cover

O2 /

Client information sheet not fully completed

O3 /
Customer Care letter not sent
O4 / “Have Your Say” leaflet not sent/given to client
O5 / Overview vague and non prescriptive
O6 / No overview of case
O7 / Client’s needs incorrectly assessed
O8 / No signed authority from client
F = File Management
F1 /
Advice not confirmed in writing
F2 / Forms not photocopied.
F3 / Copies of correspondence/emails not on file
F4 / Telephone calls not recorded
F5 / Matter is not clear from file notes
F6 / Standard Letters not sent
F7 / File notes missing or vague
F8 / Appropriate steps not taken
F9 /
File is not in chronological order/ orderly
F10 / Financial information not recorded
F11 / File not being progressed as quickly as possible
F12 / File reviews not been carried out at least once a month
F13 / Present position of matter is not clear from record
F14 / Client not kept up to date
F15 / File reference but no explanation

A = Advice

A1 /
Incorrect advice
A2 / Failure to address all issues
A3 / No practical help offered
A4 / Other (contact manager)
B = Benefit Calculations
B1 /
Calculations missing
B2 / Incorrect calculations
B3 / Avoiding calculations
B4 / Avoiding non benefit calculations
B5 / Failing to identify wrong benefit
B6 / Other
C = CaseTrack
C1 /
Insufficient matters on CT
C2 / Time missed off CT
C3 / Case exceeded target time with no explanation on file
C4 / Cases not being inputted on CaseTrack(CT)
C5 / CT notes not entered or up to date
C6 / E.O. monitoring information not included on CT

  In pursuance of its desire to maintain a quality service the supervisor/project manager is not expected to run a large caseload. This is because the HWRSE consider the supervision and management of the service as a full time provision. However in those cases where the supervisor chooses to open a file, these files will be reviewed by the worker who is most senior in terms of experience at the time of the review.

  The supervisor will supplement the lack of caseload by providing case notes of substantial work carried out on casework files.

·  At least annually there will be a review of the file review sheets to see if there are any recurring trends in corrective action being required, and this review will be documented. This is to try to cut down on the number of recurring trends.

·  The caseworker has ultimate responsibility for consulting with the Welfare Rights Manager if the case they are handling is beyond their competence. Only they can ascertain this and bring it to the attention of the supervisor. Maintaining this approach will be seen as strength and a tool for identifying training needs.

The following two pages include the following.

1.  Corrective Action Categories as they will appear on CaseTrack and the hard copy of file

2.  The hard copy file review sheet

/

Description

O = Opening a File
O1 /

Name and address fault on file cover

O2 /

Client information sheet not fully completed

O3 / Customer Care letter not sent
O4 / “Have Your Say” leaflet not sent/given to client
O5 / Overview vague and non prescriptive
O6 / No overview of case
O7 / Client’s needs incorrectly assessed
O8 / No signed authority from client
F = File Management
F1 / Advice not confirmed in writing
F2 / Forms not photocopied.
F3 / Copies of correspondence/emails not on file
F4 / Telephone calls not recorded
F5 / Matter is not clear from file notes
F6 / Standard Letters not sent
F7 / File notes missing or vague
F8 / Appropriate steps not taken
F9 / File is not in chronological order/ orderly
F10 / Financial information not recorded
F11 / File not being progressed as quickly as possible
F12 / File reviews not been carried out at least once a month
F13 / Present position of matter is not clear from record
F14 / Client not kept up to date
F15 / File reference but no explanation

A = Advice

A1 / Incorrect advice
A2 / Failure to address all issues
A3 / No practical help offered
A4 / Other (contact manager)
B = Benefit Calculations
B1 / Calculations missing
B2 / Incorrect calculations
B3 / Avoiding calculations
B4 / Avoiding non benefit calculations
B5 / Failing to identify wrong benefit
B6 / Other
C = CaseTrack
C1 / Insufficient matters on CT
C2 / Time missed off CT
C3 / Case exceeded target time with no explanation on file
C4 / Cases not being inputted on CaseTrack(CT)
C5 / CT notes not entered or up to date
C6 / E.O. monitoring information not included on CT

File: Advice Worker: Date of Review: / /2001

ALL FILES: