Download or read book Management of Benefit Overpayment Debt written by Great Britain. National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department for Work and Pensions increased recoveries of benefit overpayments from �180 million in 2005-06 to �272 million in 2007-08, and preliminary results suggest that the Department has achieved its recovery target of �279 million for 2008-09. But recoveries are not keeping pace with the rate of increase in identified overpayments. In 2007-08, �106 billion of benefit payments were made directly by the Department to customers. In the same period 1.3 million overpayments were identified totalling �558 million, exceeding recoveries made of �272 million. The stock of debt therefore increased by some seven per cent from �1.67 billion to �1.8 billion. The NAO report also found that the Department recovers about �3 for every �1 spent on debt recovery operations, though recoveries in 2007-08 represent only some 15 per cent of the identified debt outstanding by the end of the year. The Department's ability to accelerate recovery is restricted by a number of factors, including limitations on the amount which can be deducted weekly from customers' benefits payments under Social Security legislation, and difficulties in tracing some customers who are no longer on benefits. The NAO recommends that the Department pilot increased use of customer contact methods, such as texting, to encourage prompter notification of changes in circumstances which affect benefit entitlement; and that it use risk profiles for customer groups to better target debt collection activities. It should seek more information, for example proof of earnings, when negotiating repayment plans with 'off benefit' debtors; and should enhance performance indicators to monitor the performance of debt collection operations.
Download or read book Department for Work and Pensions written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Department has been successful in improving the effectiveness of its debt identification, referral and recovery procedures, increasing cash recoveries from £180 million in 2005-06 to £281 million in 2008-09. However, yet again, evidence proves that the Department needs to significantly improve how it makes benefit payments. The total amount of money owed to the Department as the result of benefit overpayments is now £1.85 billion and is rising as recoveries are not keeping pace with the increase in referrals. As the rate at which debt can be recovered is limited by the financial circumstances of many of the Department's customers, the current economic downturn may place further pressure on the debt stock."--Summary, p. 3.
Download or read book Department for Work and Pensions written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Committee of Public Accounts and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2010-03-17 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the action the Department for Work and Pensions is taking to tackle overpayment and stem the rising trend in benefit debt; improve its knowledge of its client base; and set realistic targets to improve debt collection and improve write-off. The Department has increased cash recoveries from £180 million in 2005-06 to £281 million in 2008-09. However, yet again, evidence proves that the Department needs to significantly improve how it makes benefit payments, it adds. The total amount of money owed to the Department as the result of benefit overpayments is now £1.85 billion and is rising as recoveries are not keeping pace with the increase in referrals. Helping customers avoid getting into debt is important for both the Department and its customers in managing their finances, and the increasing total level of debt reflects the difficulty of recovering money once overpayments have occurred. Overpayments arising from Income Support accounted for over 70 per cent of all debts at 31 March 2008. It is critical that the Department improves its debt prevention procedures and intervenes more directly to check that the circumstances of customers have not changed. In 2007-08, some £9.3 million of small overpayments below £65 were written off because the Department considered them too small to justify the cost of recovery action. But the Department does not distinguish between different types of debtor or different recovery routes in assessing whether the costs of recovery are likely to outweigh the benefits.
Download or read book Debt Management written by U S Government Accountability Office (G and published by BiblioGov. This book was released on 2013-06 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on debt management practices at the Social Security Administration (SSA), Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). GAO found that: (1) SSA has made little progress in controlling and collecting benefit overpayments, with its collection rate remaining at about 28 percent between fiscal years (FY) 1986 and 1989; (2) SSA was unable to collect a higher percentage of its overpayments due to a lack of emphasis on debt collection, fragmented responsibility for managing and collecting overpayments, legal restrictions on using certain collection methods that other agencies used, and improper use of policies and procedures governing the recovery of overpayments; (3) SSA proposed a legislative strategy to request the authority to use collection methods under the Debt Collection Act of 1982; (4) between FY 1986 and 1989, RRB collected about 55 percent of its total outstanding overpayments, OPM about 55 percent, and VA about 30 percent; (5) OPM and VA could increase their overpayments collections if they used all of the collection methods required by law; and (6) OPM and RRB had fragmented organizations for debt collection, but RRB was working on centralizing this function.
Download or read book Managing Debt Owed to Government written by Great Britain. National Audit Office and published by . This book was released on 2014-02-14 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government is owed a large amount of money but has no overall view of its debt reduction objectives or of the financial risk that the debt poses. Individuals and businesses are in debt to government for overdue tax liabilities, benefit or tax credits overpayments and other reasons, including outstanding fines and court confiscation orders. Overdue debt identified by government was at least £22 billion at March 2013 and £6 billion of debt was written off in 2012-13 as irrecoverable, or 'remitted' on the basis that it was not a good use of scarce resources to pursue it. In total, government accounts show losses of more than £32 billion over the last five years. Government cannot easily control all losses - around 70 per cent result from write-offs in insolvency cases. But it intends to learn lessons from the way the tax credits system works to create overpayments to 'design out' unnecessary debt when implementing future policies such Universal Credit. Too much overdue debt is allowed to age, leading to its value being eroded, as older debt is more difficult to collect. Some 61 per cent of debt owed to HMRC was more than 180 days old. For DWP, 81 per cent of benefit overpayment debt was more than 180 days old, and legal restrictions limit the rate of repayment from people on benefit, who make up 66% of DWP debtors. The ability across government to manage debt is undermined by poor quality data, barriers to data sharing and inconsistent definitions.
Download or read book Improving the Social Security Representative Payee Program written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-10-17 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 7 million recipients of Social Security benefits have a representative payee-a person or an organization-to receive or manage their benefits. These payees manage Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance funds for retirees, surviving spouses, children, and the disabled, and they manage Supplemental Security Income payments to disabled, blind, or elderly people with limited income and resources. More than half of the beneficiaries with a representative payee are minor children; the rest are adults, often elderly, whose mental or physical incapacity prevents them from acting on their own behalf, and people who have been deemed incapable under state guardianship laws. The funds are managed through the Representative Payee Program of the Social Security Administration (SSA). The funds total almost $4 billion a month, and there are more than 5.3 million representative payees. In 2004 Congress required the commissioner of the SSA to conduct a one-time survey to determine how payments to individual and organizational representative payees are being managed and used on behalf of the beneficiaries.1 To carry out this work, the SSA requested a study by the National Academies, which appointed the Committee on Social Security Representative Payees. This report is the result of that study. Improving the Social Security Representative Payee Program: Serving Beneficiaries and Minimizing Misuse (1) assesses the extent to which representative payees are not performing their duties in accordance with SSA standards for representative payee conduct, (2) explains whether the representative payment policies are practical and appropriate, (3) identifies the types of representative payees that have the highest risk of misuse of benefits, and (4) finds ways to reduce the risk of misuse of benefits and ways to better protect beneficiaries.
Download or read book Reducing losses in the benefits system caused by customers mistakes written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2011-01-21 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Department for Work and Pensions does not yet have enough evidence to demonstrate that its activities to reduce the cost of mistakes by customers have been value for money. Mistakes made by claimants in the information they provide to the Department, termed customer error, are difficult to detect, correct and prevent. The scale of overpayments and underpayments demonstrate a clear imperative for improvement. Mistakes made by customers are difficult for the Department to tackle because they often arise from a change in customers' circumstances, which customers may not realise they have to tell the Department about. Overpayments due to customer error, which are estimated at £1.1 billion in 2009-10, represent a substantial loss to the taxpayer. And underpayments, which were approximately £800 million in 2009-10, can cause hardship for the families affected. The establishment by the Department of the Fraud and Error Council shows a commitment to tackling fraud and error, but there is little evidence that sufficient attention has been paid to reducing losses due to customer mistakes. The Department launched a five year strategy for tackling error in January 2007 but there has been no discernible decrease between 2006-07 and 2009-10 in underpayments and overpayments due to customer error as a percentage of total benefits expenditure. The Department and its agencies do not yet have enough information to target initiatives effectively. Nor is there enough consistently measured data on the costs and benefits of interventions.
Download or read book Putting Things Right written by Great Britain. Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2009 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2007-08 the Parliamentary Ombudsman received 7,341 complaints about government departments and a range of other public bodies. Of these, 2,574 were about the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This is not surprising given the size and nature of DWP's business, serving as they do over 20 million customers at any one time. It is understandable, even inevitable, that mistakes will happen. What is important is how DWP dealt with the complaints arising from mistakes. Many, but by no means all, of the complaints received could have been resolved much sooner and by DWP themselves, if the complaint handling had been more customer focused. This report contains an anonymised digest of selected cases, highlighting poor information, delays, poor record-keeping, poor communication. Local resolution of complains should be the most efficient way to secure an appropriate outcome. It is hoped the report will encourage DWP to seek ways to improve the service they provide to citizens.
Download or read book Social Security a Guide for Representative Payees written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Understanding SSI Supplemental Security Income written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1998-03 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication informs advocates & others in interested agencies & organizations about supplemental security income (SSI) eligibility requirements & processes. It will assist you in helping people apply for, establish eligibility for, & continue to receive SSI benefits for as long as they remain eligible. This publication can also be used as a training manual & as a reference tool. Discusses those who are blind or disabled, living arrangements, overpayments, the appeals process, application process, eligibility requirements, SSI resources, documents you will need when you apply, work incentives, & much more.
Download or read book Annual Report of the Railroad Retirement Board written by United States. Railroad Retirement Board and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Implementation of Social Security Administration s Debt Collection Plan written by United States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Aging and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 684 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Surviving Debt written by and published by . This book was released on 2024 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Federal Financial Management Report written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Supplemental security income progress made in detecting and recovering overpayments but management attention should continue written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Federal Financial Management Status Report and 5 year Plan written by and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Parliamentary Debates Hansard written by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 698 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
