Capita helps Derbyshire councils save £2.5m with single person discount review

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Nine of the Derbyshire councils who are part of the Derbyshire Transformational Partnership* have been working with Capita to conduct a single person’s council tax discount review.

Capita reviewed 135,000 cases of single person discount eligibility. 6,545 claimants were found to not be entitled to the discount and these have now been removed. This has generated additional revenue for the councils of £2.5million.

Kath Gruber, director of customer management at Derby City Council, commented: “In these difficult financial times it is important that councils make every effort to ensure that deliberate attempts to unfairly claim single person discount are identified.  We want to ensure that only those entitled to council tax discount receive it, so the vast majority of residents who pay their full council tax each year do not have to subsidise those who choose to claim discounts they are not entitled to. This review has created significant additional council tax income, which can be put back into front line services and help keep council tax as low as possible.”

Capita analysed credit reference data to identify cases where there was a risk that single person discount was not appropriate. They contacted these claimants initially by letter for review. Those seen as high risk were also reviewed with a phone interview using voice risk analysis, a process that uses technology and behavioural analysis to pick up on potential fraud.

Giles Reid, director for Capita’s local government services, commented: “We’re seeing more and more local authorities cracking down on fraudulent activity, not only to save much needed revenue, but to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring they deliver the best possible service to citizens.

“We’re constantly researching and developing innovative ways of helping councils to spot and eradicate fraud.  We’ve worked closely with the Derbyshire Transformational Partnership to understand its unique challenges and needs.  By doing so we’ve been able to achieve some great results for the citizens of Derbyshire.”

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*The nine councils are:

Amber Valley Borough Council
Bolsover District Council
Chesterfield Borough Council
Derby City Council
Derbyshire Dales District Council
Erewash Borough Council
High Peak Borough Council
North East Derbyshire District Council
South Derbyshire District Council
Notes to Editors:

Capita Local Government Services, part of the Capita Group Plc, specialises in providing support, advice and resources to local authorities throughout the United Kingdom.  Capita Local Government Services offers an extensive range of services including council tax administration and collection; housing benefit and revenues resources; ICT and software services; contact centre solutions; financial and treasury services and national non-domestic rates administration.

The Capita Group Plc is the UK’s leading provider of BPO and integrated professional support service solutions.  With 45,000 people at more than 350 sites, including 64 business centres across the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and India, the Group uses its expertise, infrastructure and scale benefits to transform its clients’ services, driving down costs and adding value. Capita is quoted on the London Stock Exchange (CPI.L), and is a constituent of the FTSE100 with revenues for 2010 of £2,744 million.  Further information on The Capita Group Plc can be found at:http://www.capita.co.uk

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