“The Social Fund provides financial assistance to some
of the most vulnerable in society and, of course, judgments
associated with making discretionary awards are to some degree
subjective. However, the material level of error in these payments
has led me to qualify my opinion.
“I have identified a number of new challenges, as well
as the existing issues, which the Department must address in the
coming year. I will continue to monitor progress made to correct
these problems.”
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, 2
December 2010
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, has qualified
the Social Fund White Paper Account for the seventh consecutive
year. The account has been qualified because of material levels of
error in discretionary awards, which include Budgeting Loans,
Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants, and in Funeral Expense
Payments. He has also qualified his opinion on Sure Start Maternity
Grants, for the first time, because of the level of error found in
these payments.
The C&AG has also limited the scope of his opinion on the
level of debt within the account, owing to concerns around the
adequacy of the evidence to support the debt balance.
The NAO’s best estimate of the total of overpayments in 2009-10
is £106.4 million, approximately 2.6 per cent of total payments (up
from £83.5 million in 2008-09, some 2.2 per cent of payments). The
true level of overpayments, though, may lie in a range from £82
million to £130 million. The estimated most likely level of error
in Sure Start Maternity Expense Payments during 2009-10 totalled
£11.7 million, some 8.5 per cent of payments.
The NAO also identifies missing case papers as a significant
issue in 2009-10, despite the Department having made improvements
in the area in recent years. The problem has been compounded by
229,000 files which were accidentally destroyed by Jobcentre Plus
in a paper reduction exercise during the year. Missing or
incomplete loan agreements and other missing documentation is
another area of concern.
In the absence of sufficient appropriate evidence on the
breakdown of the customer debt balance, the scope of the C&AG’s
opinion on the debt note within the accounts was limited. Jobcentre
Plus acknowledges the severity of these concerns and a Social Fund
Task Force has been established to address the problems.