Archived press release

Date Published: 17/08/06

Benefit claimants are being asked to tell AVDC what they think of the council’s benefits service. There are around 7,700 families and individuals in the district who claim housing benefit or council tax benefit. For these people it is vital...

Benefit claimants are being asked to tell AVDC what they think of the council’s benefits service.

There are around 7,700 families and individuals in the district who claim housing benefit or council tax benefit. For these people it is vitally important that the benefits service is run efficiently so that they can receive the benefit help they are entitled to and are paid the money at the right time.

A sample of those benefit claimants now have the opportunity to let AVDC know how they feel about the service and how they think it can be improved in a major survey.

Questionnaires will be sent to more than six hundred residents who have had housing or council tax benefit claims assessed by the council in June or July this year. In January next year, residents whose benefit claims are assessed in November and December will be asked for their views.

On each occasion, some of the questionnaires will go to people whose benefit claims were successful and some will go to people whose claims were unsuccessful.

The government asks councils to survey people who use the benefits service every three years. They ask councils to send out the questionnaires in two stages so that they can see whether people’s perceptions of the service change over a period of months.

Councillor Margaret Morgan-Owen, Cabinet Member for Resources, said: “We carry out a benefits satisfaction survey every three years so that we can get a clear picture of the service from our customers’ point of view. I hope that anyone who receives a survey will complete it and send it back to our consultants as what they say will help us improve our service in the future.”

All the responses received will be treated in the strictest confidence and will only be used to monitor the council’s service. Anonymised responses may be passed on to the Department for Communities and Local Government so that national patterns of service satisfaction can be studied.

All surveys received by the closing date of 11 September will be entered into a prize draw to win High Street shopping vouchers to the value of £100, £50 or £25. Those who are unable to reply to the survey will be sent reminders in September and October.

The survey is being carried out on behalf of the council by BMG Research, an independent research agency. Please call BMG Research on 0800 358 0337 if you have any questions about the survey.