Civil Service Live
Joining up government
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The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), say the taxpayer has reaped the benefits of their joined up thinking.
Leigh Lewis, permanent secretary at the DWP, said on Wednesday that working in partnership with HMRC and other government departments has brought about real improvements in customer service.
“Our 'In and Out' of work pilot scheme is a great hard and fast example of what can emerge when you look not just at your own department, but you reverse the thought process and imagine what it would be like to be the customer,“ Lewis told an audience at Civil Service Live.
In and Out of Work pilot schemes have been set across the country up to help people who lose their jobs, claim benefits more quickly.
Lewis said that the drawn out process that claimants must complete simply to claim benefits were an example of “very poor customer service.“
“The process takes on average 26 working days. It is expensive and time consuming and when people do find work again, many feel reticent to leave the “comfort“ of the benefit system because they know it could take a long time to get back on benefits if they need to,“ the DWP Permanent Secretary explained.
The In and Out of Work pilot system brought together Job Centre Plus centres, Local Authorities, DWP and HMRC.
Lewis said that more than half of those using the scheme said they had benefited from an “improved experience.“
“This is a model that government can learn a lot from,“ he added.
Dave Hartnett, acting chairman at HMRC said his departments close working relationship with the DWP goes back a long way.
“We have been working with the DWP for a very long time now. I really think ours is a harbinger of how public services will develop. We have worked together on our transformational agenda and the personal leadership of Permanent Secretaries has helped drive this work,“ he explained.
In helping people who are out of work, the DWP acknowledges that it plays an important role in helping citizens through what can be a traumatic experience.
But the department says its Customer Insight Programmes are helping people through this difficult period whilst also increasing value for money.
“We focus on people with children, people of working age, disabled people and people approaching retirement age,“ Hartnett explained.
“And the pilots that we have in place show that our new approach is working.“