£196m Spent On Delivering NI Benefits

£196m was spent on delivering the benefit system in Northern Ireland in 2012-13, the Northern Ireland Audit Office has said.

A report published today highlights areas in which savings could be made in the administration of benefits in the region.

The Jobs and Benefits Office Project, carried through 2001 - 2011, co-located 27 Social Security Offices and 27 job centres. But the report found that the project closed prematurely in 2011, having completed 27 out of a planned 35 Jobs and Benefits Offices.

The total capital cost for the 27 completed Offices was £60m, amounting to £17m more than the £43m originally estimated to complete all 35 Offices.

The Customer First Project, carried through 2006 - 2013, consolidated back office benefit processing into 16 Benefit Processing Centres. But the report found that fewer processing centres "could have enabled further administrative efficiencies to be achieved through greater economies of scale."

The report also said the implementation of Universal Credit could offer the Social Security Agency a "significant opportunity" to improve efficiency in the administration of benefits, due to a reduction in the numbers of staff required.

Kieran Donnelly, Comptroller and Auditor General, said: "Whilst the Social Security Agency has implemented a number of Welfare Reform and Modernisation Programmes in recent years, the primary focus of these have been meeting the requirements of legislative and policy change, not the efficiency of benefit administration. In the future, it is important that efficiency considerations are to the fore."

(IT/MH)