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The Capita Revenues and Benefits solution had been successfully used at Chester City Council, Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council and Vale Royal Borough Council for many years. The three authorities merged together on 1st April 2009, along with Cheshire County Council, to form the new Cheshire West and Chester unitary authority (CW&C). This new unitary authority saw Capita as the natural choice to advise on and supply its revenues and benefits software.
Jerry Faulkner, Senior Manager, Revenues and Benefits, at Cheshire West and Chester Council, identified key challenges that needed to be addressed in merging the revenues and benefits functions of the authorities. “Three separate teams existed from the old local authorities, each running their own version of Capita Revenues and Benefits software. We wanted to unify this into a single system so that we could run a cost effective and efficient service for our customers. It was essential that any new system had to retain all historical records we had and that the implementation process would take place without interrupting services to our customers.”
CW&C also needed to standardise a new numbering system so that customer account and benefit reference numbers would be unique in the merged system. The parameter settings and system codes that each authority used in the software were not the same therefore needed to be ironed out to ensure the data and work processes could be combined successfully.
“To understand the work processes in place at each of the merging authorities, Capita conducted business process and system set-up workshops. These examined how each of our authorities varied in their use of software and provided the information to create a blueprint for the single system solution we required to move forward,” says Jerry.
Technical consultancy was provided by Capita to procure, build and install all software and hardware at the customer’s site.
CW&C adopted Capita’s Payments module to simplify the payment of housing benefits. This was a crucial test for the data migration, as both current and historical information was required to manage payments effectively.
After three test merges were completed, the system went successfully live on time on 6 April 2009. To help support its introduction, Capita consultants were available to assist new users, should any issues occur after the launch, and floorwalkers were on hand to answer questions as they arose.
The benefits
“The project has already created a more streamlined working environment and the creation of a single system will eventually enable the service to move to a single site,” says Jerry.
- Staff can access the system at any of the three sites so can work on any claim from any area
- With mobile working options, Council Tax and Benefit Officers will be able to check and record information electronically in the field, accessing further efficiencies
- The new common process model has led to a much easier system for both customers and employees, delivering clear, concise and harmonised customer documentation and a standardised service
- Considerable savings in internal ICT support and maintenance are being achieved as there is simply less to maintain
- Increased performance in claimant visits, benefit take up and overpayment recovery has been experienced
- These improvements have been made in conjunction with a reduction in staff, the delivery of an intensive training programme, increased volumes of claims (up to 30%), and a greater number of incoming and outgoing telephone calls.
“The introduction of the new system has seen greater efficiency, cost savings and a single, more responsive service to citizens,” says Jerry. He concludes, “providing top quality services for our many customers and communities is our main priority and we believe Capita Software Services helped us achieve this. Capita overcame substantial challenges to integrate numerous systems. The partnership with Capita was highly successful and they delivered a system that met all our requirements precisely.”