Benefits Checks - the best system?

Hi all,

I’ve just started working for a small charity as a WB caseworker and one of the first things they want me to do is come up with a uniform way that other (nonWB specialist) advisors and volunteers can do benefits checks.

I’ve always done them with a notepad, a pro forma, and Disability Rights handbook nearby, but for people who don’t want to get an overall understanding of WB, but still be able to do a fairly thorough benefits check (if that isn’t a contradiction) do any of you have any suggestions?

I’ve looked at online checkers such as http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx and http://www.entitledto.co.uk/calculator/

My supervisor has suggested these are a little bit too detailed, but I’m inclined to disagree and if you want to get it right, you have to look at all the questions they have. Entitledto.co.uk is the one I prefer, but I’m interested to see what other suggestions anyone might have.

Thanks

I like Lisson Grove. it does not require a detailed knowledge of benefits and the reports can be printed out with questions and answers or just in a summary form so they can be checked by somebody else (including the client).

Yes,

there are a few out there and it is up to personal preference as to which one you use.

I prefer QBC

you have a tricky task here as not enough knowledge can lead to potential mistakes. To be honest if an advice service is going to offer a benefit check service I prefer an all or nothing approach (you either learn the detail or don’t offer them..even then its still easy to make a mistake!).

I use the QBC and am used to it so can do it at speed but is there not a chance the programmes could still miss things if not used by an experienced adviser?

if you had to use a programme I would also suggest the Lisson grove programme as its the best that I have seen.

I don’t think that there is one uniform way of doing this.  I’ve been doing benefit checks on pen and paper since Income Support first came into being.  So it is ingrained in me.  One of my colleagues, however, uses an online calculator routinely for Tax Credits and she is very adept and speedy as she is accustomed to using it.  The problem with online calculators is that sometimes they have glitches or anomalies which the non-specialist might find difficult to spot.

Declaring an interest.

It really depends on a number of factors.

(1) How expert will the user be?

(a) Expert.

There are users who need a calculator only because they understand the rules very well.  That means that the system can ask questions such as ‘entitled to SDP?’ and expect the user to answer it correctly.

This kind of system can allow the user to skip bits that they know are irrelevant to the case and produces a tool that can be very fast but disastrous in the hands of someone who doesn’t understand the rules well.

Examples of this kind of system would be our Ferrcalc and LG’s QBC.

(b) Generalist adviser

These users need to be guided through the information that’s needed, so that they don’t skip any potentially relevant questions.  They should have context sensitive help available for the questions so that they can be sure that they are answering them correctly (ideally there should be a helpline as well).  They need a basic level of benefits knowledge at least.  You don’t want to put an advice tool of any sort in the hands of someone who believes the answers blindly.  They must be able to recognise a stupid answer when it’s produced because, for example, they’ve put an amount in annually instead of weekly.  It can be a pretty basic level of knowledge, our ‘Basic MTB’ e-learning course takes about 4 hours.

Examples of this kind of system would be our ucForward or LG’s LGBP

(c) Client / Naive user

This is a really painstaking, walk you through the system carefully explaining everything type of process.  It’s likely that the person carrying out the calculation will know nothing about benefits and will probably only use the system once.  It will need more help on the output in terms of advice on the claims process and links to further advice.

Examples would be our Webben web system or BAMM kiosk system.

(d) Choice

An expert forced to use a client system will want to throw it out of the window after they get half-way through the first assessment.  A client using an expert system will probably never get to the end successfully.  It’s horses for courses.

(2) What kind of work?

There will be different client groups, a variety of specialist workers and varying relevant benefits which make different systems more or less appropriate.

(a) Relevant benefits

If all that you want to do is calculate HB then you may not want an all-singing system that does Tax Credits and Universal Credit. 

(b) Benefit types

If you’re interested only in disability benefits then Ferrcalc or QBC won’t help you.  There are systems which do MTBs and offer guidance about other benefits such as our Maximiser and LGBP and there are self-use systems such as our WebNMTB that offer some pointers towards possible entitlements but nothing that can (or should, except for some areas like special case or double amputees) be definitive in the way that MTB systems can be.

(c) Client types

If you’re doing a particular kind of work you may need to look at how that’s handled by systems.  In-work benefits advice is much easier if you can have a side by side ‘before and after’ comparison which can be easily amended.  Ferrcalc does that and, I think QBC has a similar facility.  Something which tells you which conditionality groups apply will be helpful

Working with older people means that you need to be confident that it handles Pension Credit properly and handles the wrinkles such as those around PC claims and tax credits.  You’ll want it to be able to tell clients about relevant PC dates when mixed-age couple rules come into force.

A different system may be more appropriate for care leavers.

Some system cover only a limited number of housing types, others have a much wider range.  If you’re working for a housing association you may only want a system that handles tenants or you may need one that can take account of shared-ownership with rent and mortgage support for the same case.

Some types of client groups may have commonly got more complex situations around, for example, capital or in-year earnings.  Rather than producing special systems, or making the system more complex for most users, we use little pop-up ‘reckoners’ for making such calculations which can then feed into the usual ‘capital amount’ question.

(4) Special systems

Some kinds of work need to be able to go further than just a benefits calculation.  They may need to be able to some modelling looking more systematically at a range of what-ifs and generate tables and charts, or add-on piggy-back type assessments such as those around care assessments or grants work.

(5) Support and maintenance

There’s little point having a system which isn’t kept up to date.  You need to make sure that whatever you use has developers who are looking ahead to forthcoming changes and not waiting until something comes into force before beginning to amend their system.  Even worse are the well meaning amateurs who write a useful calculator but never update it.  If you’re going to use an online system you also need to be confident that the host keeps it up to date and installs the latest version.

You also need to be sure that the developers will respond to bug reports, feature suggestions and actually understand benefits. 

There are, and have been, systems produced by purely software people who don’t understand benefits or the importance of the work.

(6) Case handling

If you’re not going to record any details about the advice you’re giving and you don’t expect to ever see the client again then you may not need to keep any records.  Alternatively you may want to keep full details of every client in your case management system and batch reassess them using something like our Strati system, whenever rules or rates change.

Somewhere in between will be the need to keep a printed file record when you’d be best advised to use something which produces a record of the information entered and a breakdown of the elements of the calculations. 

<cont. PTO.>

Gareth

You just took the words right out of my mouth.  Chortle.

<from previous - ran out of space>

(6 continued.)

Saving and loading cases individually is fine, and you’ll need to do that to allow people to come back later with the bit of detail that they never have with them, but it’s not a good way to keep records in large numbers.  Either use a case-management system that allows you to store assessments or use a benefit calculator which lets you talk to a database such as Free SQL.

(7) Technology

The platform you use can be important.  Larger organisations will want a system which can be run on a network, perhaps with shared case records, and one update process.  Internet access may be needed if you want to have a system which auto-updates when a new version is released.

If you’re working out and about you will need something which runs on a laptop or tablet.  A system that depends on connectivity to the web may not be useful in a basement or the highlands of Scotland when you’ll need a stand alone program.

If you need to use adaptive technologies such as a screen reader the a pretty layout may not be useful. 

Client use systems should be designed so that multiple languages can be used (in Wales you’ll need to have bilingual systems by statute for public bodies).  If you’re using tablets or touch screens, the system needs to be as touch enabled as possible so that a keyboard isn’t necessary.

Summary

There are a lot of factors that you need to consider to get a system which meets your needs the best.  Putting together a little table and checking that against what you need is a good start.

And again.  It’s uncanny.

Scarcab - 17 October 2013 10:05 PM

Hi all,

I’ve always done them with a notepad, a pro forma, and Disability Rights handbook nearby, but for people who don’t want to get an overall understanding of WB, but still be able to do a fairly thorough benefits check (if that isn’t a contradiction) do any of you have any suggestions?

I would suggest you have answered your own question. The benefit system is very complicated and their is no ‘simple’ or ‘quick’ way of doing better off calculations. It does not matter whether someone is a volunteer, paid or specialist adviser - if they don’t have a fairly detailed understanding of the benefits system there is a big risk of giving clients inaccurate advice / calcuations.

You may also need to consider how long it takes to do a better off calculation (and how many possible senarios need to be considered / calculated) - have you / your team the time to do them?

Following on from a radio 5Live discussion I heard earlier in the week about the next big TV ratings grabing ‘ing’ to follow on from dancing, baking, cooking - how about better off calculating (on paper only - calculator allowed) - Nevip, Gareth, anyone - make a change from all those dull speakers on welfare reform (yawn) at the next NAWRA meeting!

Speaking as an occasional dull speaker .... drone ....

Any talk I gave on welfare reform would be in a Tommy Cooper accent, giving it the gravity it deserves.  I’d open with “a man walks into a bar.  He said ‘ouch’.  It was an iron bar.” And, I’d finish with “a man walks into the doctor’s and says ‘doctor, can you help me out’?  The doctor says ‘certainly, which way did you come in’?”

Ah, Schedule 4 of the ‘Universal Credit (Bad Jokes) Regulations’, or is it the ‘Universal Credit is a Bad Joke Regulations’?

Actually, it’s regulation 2(50009) of the Glass-Bottle/Bottle-Glass (Innuendo Amendment) Regulations 2000 and a half past seven

Thanks everyone, really good to hear your thoughts. Basically about half the staff here are already booked in to go on some http://www.turn2us.org.uk/ training this week, so I’m going to see how they find it and what questions they have, before going any further with it.

Thanks,

Harry