WIREDGOV

The introduction of Universal Credit

After becoming a Universal Credit full service area, Luton found their Administration Grant further reduced and were suddenly under significant pressure to cut costs. Luton’s existing digital service was only digital to a point, and with Universal Credit being digital only they faced an issue.

Clive Jones, Head of Revenues and Benefits at Luton Borough Council, explained

“a claimant would complete an electronic form, but would then have to bring in their verification and ID documents in person, for us to verify their original documents.” 

Could Automation cut costs?

Clive felt that there must be a more streamlined way of processing claims. Even with the switch to Universal Credit, Luton have found that there are still a significant number of new claims coming in to them, as for example pensioners, or those in temporary accommodation. Luton Borough Council could therefore see the potential benefits of One’s Automation, and the savings its automated claim processing could bring. 

The verification challenge

As Luton started the journey of implementing Automation, the biggest issue they faced was in checking that a claim coming in for automated processing was a valid claim and therefore entitled to receive housing benefit.

They were unsure whether the digital uploading of documents would work in reality, for the checking of verification documents.

It all turned out to work much better than expected…

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