Success Stories
FANTASTIC FINANCIAL SAVINGS FOR BENEFIT SERVICES
BEST Leader Les Lingard, a senior appeals officer in Benefit Services welcomed BEST as an opportunity for his team to develop and improve their working practices, helping to make a real financial saving to the organisation. Through their BEST Workshop in December 2006 Les and his team decided to be more proactive with a new initiative for the Appeals Sector . The initiative involves recovering overpaid Housing Benefit by adjusting the amount the claimant received from other Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits for e.g: Job Seekers Allowance. To facilitate this , Alison Whitmore, an experienced member of the team, demonstrated the process giving the rest of the team the knowledge and confidence to make this initiative part of their working day . In the 6 month period from Dec 2006 - Jun 2007 Les has reported that the total money recovered through this initiative was an incredible£167,000 . (This projects to £334,000 for the calendar year ) Although some small teething problems have been encountered, these are being resolved , and it is likely that even more funds will be recovered in years to come, as the forward looking team increase in proficiency , and further develop their working relationship with partners, the DWP.
