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Local government

Benefits performance audit 2010/11

Background

In April 2008, the Accounts Commission agreed to a request from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to take over the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate’s responsibility for inspecting housing and council tax benefit (benefits) services in Scotland.  As Audit Scotland has no inspection function, this ‘benefits performance audit’ work has been incorporated into the annual audit of local government.  Over the last two years, the Audit Strategy Group has carried out the risk assessment of all 32 benefits services in Scotland to identify risks to continuous improvement. 

Plans for the benefits performance audit from April 2010

From April 2010, our benefits performance audit work will comply with the principles of the Shared Risk Assessment arrangements, and will continue to be carried out as part of the annual audit of local government.  We have recently reviewed our processes and procedures to ensure that our 2010/11 benefits performance audit work will be risk based, proportionate and scheduled on an annual basis.

Useful documents

Benefits performance audit 2010/11: A guide for local authorities

This overview document provides detailed information about the new benefits performance audit from 2010/11, from the initial risk assessment phase to the process for a focused audit.

Local authority self-assessment guidance

This document provides guidance on the level and type of information to submit as part of the local authorities self-assessment.

Local authority self-assessment form

This is a local authority self-assessment template.

Local authority performance information

This document should be used to provide performance information as part of the local authorities self-assessment.

Action Plan template

This is a template of a suggested action plan which can be used when responding to the risk assessment report.

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Contacts

Benefits Manager (Technical)
Tel: 0131 625 1796

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