Administration of the Enfield Emergency Support Scheme

Transcription

1 Administration of the Enfield Emergency Support Scheme Award, payment and monitoring Customers apply for the Emergency Support Scheme (ESS) via an on-line application. If they require help they can ask for assistance from the Citizens Advice Bureau. There are terminals available at the reception of the Civic Centre or at the libraries if the customer does not have access to a computer. On occasions a customer may not be able to use a computer in which case an officer from the team will help the customer use one of the self-serve terminals situated on the ground floor of the Civic Centre. There may be occasions when an application is taken over the phone if for example a customer is unable to leave their home. New applications can be created within the DA module. There is a dedicated ESS phone line which is open from each day. This is open to advisors and support workers. The number is not available to the public. There is also a ESS mailbox that can be used to contact the customer if there is no phone number. Communication can also be made with support workers via this mailbox. When a customer logs onto the website to make a claim they will be given further information about the scheme. This includes eligibility criteria, the situations not covered under the scheme, the type of support available and what to do if the application is refused. Application process The customer will apply for the ESS via the on line process. They will be asked a series of prescreening questions which will determine whether they get through to the application. The pre-screening questions are linked where appropriate. The idea is to try and redirect the customer to where they might be able to get the relevant help if they do not qualify under the ESS. During the pre-screening the customer might reach an end point. They will at this point be redirected to such other services as Children s services, Department of work and pensions (DWP), Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) or the Citizens Advice Bureau. If however they fulfil the eligibility criteria for the scheme they will be directed to a link for the ESS application. Within the application the customer will choose one of five life events Emergency or disaster Essential travel costs Victim of crime or violence Leaving care, hospital or prison Moving home

2 Each life event has a series of questions attached. These questions help build up a picture and background to the claim. In the final part of the application the customer will be asked to complete a section that enables them to provide more detail about their particular emergency or disaster. This is a free text section and a customer will always be advised to complete this part as fully as possible. They will also be able to indicate what type of support is required. Where they have indicated food or small household items, supermarket vouchers are awarded. If they require a payment for travel costs or top up for gas/electric meter, cash will be given. If the application is for furniture or white goods, they will be awarded new items from a local supplier who deliver and install the items. Once the customer fully completes the application and submits it, they will be given a unique reference number. The application instantly appears in the back office in the DA module within Civica. The applications are allocated to the team via the team leader. An EDMS document is created with details of the reference number, who the application has been allocated to and the date. A note is also made on the diary section of the application. Where possible each claim for ESS is checked and cross referenced with information held on Open Revenues, if there is no information available to cross check against it will be a case of building a picture of the circumstances by contacting the customer and or support worker and establishing the facts of the case. The team will make full use of the support officers within the WASH (welfare advice and support hub). This could be the DWP officer, CAB or Housing team. It may be appropriate in certain circumstances to make a referral to the WASH team for a more indepth analysis if the customer needs are more complex, particularly if there are debt issues and vulnerability. (See WASH referral notes) Once all the information has been gathered and a decision made to pay the customer (See notes on ESS decision making), awards are made and they can be made by a variety of means: Vouchers If the customer requires assistance with food or small household items vouchers from supermarkets will be awarded - Sainsbury s, Morrison s, Tesco or Argos. The vouchers are ordered in the following way: Cost code FG0114 Argos and Morrison s For these vouchers an order is ed over to the relevant company. They then call to take the payment from a P card that the team leaders on the team hold. The vouchers are then dispatched and arrive within a few days.

3 Tesco and Sainsbury s These orders are placed via our shop with limits purchase system. Once payment is received the vouchers are dispatched. On receipt of the vouchers a Team leader checks the order and then places the vouchers in the safe. The safe, which is used exclusively for storing ESS vouchers, is where all vouchers are stored. Team leaders and senior benefit officers have access to the key for the safe. The four companies have been asked to provide the voucher number range for all vouchers issued. When an assessment of an ESS case has been made and it has been agreed that payment of voucher should be made, the assessor will request that a senior officer obtains the vouchers from the safe. When the vouchers are taken a note is made of the amount, the date and initials of the officer. This record is kept within the box of each relevant voucher type. The vouchers are then given to the assessor. They will administer the case setting the voucher amounts to committed. On administering the case an entitlement letter and voucher code form is created. This is completed by the assessor. The voucher demoniations and codes are also entered onto the form. A senior officer will sign this form. The customer will be contacted and told to come to the offices at an allocated time to collect their award. Two forms of ID (photo and address proof) will only be required where the customer is not on the Civica system with a HB/CTS claim. Checks need to be made to ensure there is evidence already on EDMS that has been supplied by the customer (within the last 5 years). If it is clear the correct ID exists then there is no requirement to ask the customer to bring in further ID. The assessor should write on the voucher form what ID is already present within the system and initial and date this. For full ID requirements see appendix A For circumstances where the customer is not on Civica or if a representative is collecting on behalf of a customer full ID is required. Discretion will need to be used for victims of domestic violence who often flee without any ID. For these cases we would need to liaise with the support worker and use whatever knowledge available to build a picture of the person s identity. Once the customer has collected the award and signed the voucher form the voucher amounts on the DA system will be amended to actual as the payment has been made. The voucher form is scanned onto the ESS allocation document on the EDMS system. The case is note booked that the customer collected the award. Additional processes

4 A process is in place as at the last day of each month a stocktake is taken to check that the amount of vouchers in the safe reconciles with the ESS system. This is undertaken by the Team leader of the ESS and an officer on the control team. They will sign and date the document as a true record. Any difference between purchased vouchers less what is left will be reconciled to values paid out of on ESS system and reconciliation to be shown to account for any differences. Each month e solutions will e mail the team leaders on the ESS team who have made a payment on their P card against the code FG0114. These payments need to be verified and then passed to head of service to agree. Goods Where is has been agreed to award the customer furniture and or white goods we use a local supplier called Myers. They deliver and install the items free of charge. Cost code FG0114 Like Sainsbury s and Tesco s these payment s are set up with the shop with limit purchase system. These awards are made for white goods and furniture items. Once a decision has been made to award the items an e mail is sent to the supplier Myers. The is generated out of EDMS. The items are set as committed on the DA award system. The customer will come to the office to collect the award notification if they are collecting vouchers and or cash as well. If the award is for Myers items only then the award notification is e mailed to the customer via EDMS. On receipt of the Myers will contact the customer and arrange delivery of the items. Once the items have been delivered Myers will the invoice to capitalcapture.com A copy of the invoice is then given to the team leader on the ESS team to check the amount invoiced tallies with the value of goods that were requested. Any discrepancies are taken up with Myers and corrected. Once agreed the committed values are changed to actual figures. The values entered on the system include the VAT element. Team leader then approves the invoice and passes to admin support to make the payment to Myers. Cash If the need of the customer is for emergency travel or for gas/electric top up. A cash award can be made.

5 Cost code - FG Any award of cash is set to committed on the DA module. The case is administered, which in turn creates the award letter and the cash form. The form is completed the cash amount confirmed in both numbers and words. This form is signed by a senior officer on the ESS team. The form is also signed by the customer on receipt of the cash award. The customer is notified of the award and told to attend the office to collect the cash. ID requirements are the same as above (noted under vouchers) Two copies of the cash forms are created out of the system. One for cashiers to retain and one for the ESS team to scan onto the ESS allocation document on EDMS. Cashiers are open from If cash is required outside of these hours ( and 2-4) a call needs to be made to cashiers to pre-arrange a time to collect the amount required. Once the customer has collected the award the DA module system is amended so that the cash item indicates actual. AP1 payments Cost code FG These payments are usually paid for such things as rent in advance/deposits and removals. These payments are raised on the DA module as cash payments. An AP1 form is created and e mailed to the head of service to authorise and forward onto the payments team so that they can make the BACS transfer. A copy of the AP1 form is kept locally. Other payments via P card On occasions other one-off payments are required under the scheme. These are made using a P card. These are administered as cash on the DA module. They are set as committed and amended to actual once the payment has been made. Copies of any Invoices are stored locally.

6 Reconciliation Reconciliation is undertaken by the quality assurance team on a monthly basis - this includes cash, vouchers and goods. They undertake this is accordance by making reference to their work instructions. Refusals/signposting For customers that are refused, wherever possible the team try to signpost them to another organisation that might be able to assist. If it is food that is required and the customer has already exceeded the number of applications to the ESS, there is an option to offer a food bank voucher. A customer is allowed 3 food vouchers in a 6 month period. The food is intended to last for 3-4 days. The food parcel is dependent on the size of the family. The vouchers are kept securely in the safe, along with the supermarket vouchers. There is a record log that needs to be completed each time a food bank voucher is given. A recognised signatory needs to authorise the voucher so that it can be verified at the distribution centre. If the customer has been refused furniture/white goods the team would refer to the CAB to see if there is a charity that might be able to assist. The only charities locally that don t require a referral are the Enfield Charitable trust in Enfield town or the Edmonton Aid in sickness. However, these are quire restrictive and only cater for Enfield town or Edmonton residents. Refusals due to problems with DWP benefits in these cases the customer would be advised to try and claim for a STBA (short term benefit advance) or a hardship payment. Refusals for a rent deposit the team should refer the customer to Housing where they should proceed through the appropriate channels to see if they meet the criteria. The only other option that the team might suggest is to look at applying for a BL to obtain the money.