Failure to help people in need

In a report to the Rother Scrutiny Committee on Monday on the operation of the Housing Benefit system, council officers had to confirm that in this area, Rother’s performance is among the lowest of all councils. When dealing with new claims, Rother now takes on average 35 days to process a claim, whereas the national average for similar District councils is only 21 days.

Worse still is the fact it takes Rother 23 days to process a change of circumstances, whereas other councils manage this in nine days. The report does give reasons for this woeful failure to deal with people in real distress and need.