Department for Work and Pensions
The Adelphi, 1 - 11 John Adam Street, London WC2N 6HT
HB/CTB A32/2003
ADJUDICATION AND OPERATIONS CIRCULAR
WHO SHOULD READ
All Housing Benefit (HB), Council Tax Benefit (CTB) and Fraud
Managers
ACTION
SUBJECT
To enable you to prepare for the new Housing Benefit Matching
Service (HBMS) data-matches and risk-based interventions
The processes and procedures for the new HBMS regime from
October 2003
The information in this circular does not affect the content of the HB/CTB Guidance Manual.
This circular is also being issued to local authority Fraud Managers as HB/CTB Circular
F26/2003.
If you have any queries about the

 content of this circular , contact details are given at the end of the circular distribution of this circular , contact Corporate Document Services Ltd Orderline
Tel: 0113 399 4040
Fax: 0113 399 4205
Email: orderline@cds.co.uk
Recipients may freely reproduce this circular.

HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
Contents page
The processes and procedures for the new HBMS regime from October 2003
Glossary of terms ..................................................................... 5
Introduction .............................................................................. 7
HBMS data extraction and file specification .............................. 7
Data Take-On and Processing Schedule .................................. 8
Data integrity ............................................................................ 8
Data scans ............................................................................... 9
NINO scans .............................................................................. 9
High risk caseload reviews ....................................................... 9
HBMS rules and rule development ......................................... 10
Referral Management ............................................................. 12
Result Management System ................................................... 12
HBMS Contacts ...................................................................... 13
Appendix 1: HBMS Data Flow Diagram .................................. 14
Appendix 2: HBMS production rules ....................................... 15
Appendix 3: What will LAs receive? ........................................ 16
Appendix 3: When will LAs receive it? .................................... 17
Appendix 3: What LAs need to do? ........................................ 17
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
IRRV
IS
IT
JSA (IB)
JWU
LA
MIDAS
MIS
NINO
GRMS
HB
HBCR
HBMS
HBSD
IAD
IIDB
IR
ASCII
BFI
BMT
CIS
COGNOS
CTB
DBML
DCI
DHL
DIT
DPTC
DTOPS
DWP
EBCDIC
EDS SMT
GMS
American Standard Code for Information Interchange
Benefit Fraud Inspectorate
Business Management Team
Construction Industry Scheme
Commercial software to interrogate GRMS
Council Tax Benefit
Dear Benefit Manager Letter
Departmental Central Index
DHL Worldwide Express
Data Integrity Team
Disabled Person’s Tax Credit
Data Take On and Processing Schedule
Department for Work and Pensions
Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code
Electronic Data Systems Service Management Team
Generalised Matching Service
Generic Referral Management System
Housing Benefit
Housing Benefit Central Register
Housing Benefit Matching Service
Housing Benefit Security Division
Information Analysis Division
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
Inland Revenue
Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation
Income Support
Information Technology
Jobseeker’s Allowance (Income Based)
Joint Working Unit
Local Authority
Matching Intelligence and Data Analysis Services
Management Information System
National Insurance Number
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OPSTRAT
PAT
RMS
RDT
RM
SAFE
SRP
SWH
VF
WIB
WFTC
Operational Strategy
Performance Analysis Team
Referral Management System
Rule Development Team
Royal Mail
Security Against Fraud and Error scheme
State Retirement Pension
Software House
Verification Framework
Weekly Incorrect Benefit
Working Families Tax Credit
HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
1 This circular has been issued to provide guidance for Local Authorities (LAs) on the enhanced data matching service and production of high risk caseload reviews by
HBMS commencing 6 October 2003. The changes, and the reasons for making the changes have been advised previously, eg DBML 06/2003, Circular F15/2003,
Circular A21/2003, etc. This circular relates to the procedures and processes behind the new regime. A further circular will be issued detailing the updated requirements of Verification Framework (VF) and Security Against Fraud and Error (SAFE) in respect of the new data matching and caseload review regime.
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LAs utilise a variety of software house (SWH) and in-house programs to deliver payments of HB/CTB. This diversity of systems continues to complicate and at times, restrict the delivery of a data matching service. Our records indicate that approximately 269 LAs use software provided by three suppliers, whilst 38 use inhouse programs. The remaining 101 use a variety of other SWHs.
To standardise the format of HB/CTB data and establish a specification suitable for loading the data, an HBMS Data Specification file was designed and communicated to LAs at project outset. An update was released in response to the introduction of
Inland Revenue Tax Credits in April 2003. A further update has recently been issued, to include Pension Credits from October 2003. The file is available in ASCII and EBCDIC formats and can be obtained from the HBMS Data Integrity Team.
The current specification contains a minimum of 146 fields, with additional sub record fields for each dependant or non-dependant on the HB/CTB award. The file captures personal details relating to each customer (e.g. surname, forename, date of birth, NINO) as well as income from DWP benefits, IR tax credits and private sources. Non customer files are produced for each record, containing basic details relating to partners, dependants, non-dependants, appointees and landlords.
Each field is allocated a priority status. The original specification included 13
‘Mandatory’ fields. Failure to populate these fields with a valid entry causes the record to be rejected and written to a ‘Rejected Records’ file. The record is not forwarded for matching. Non population of other non-mandatory fields generates a warning. A record that reaches 13 warnings is rejected. All other fields were classed as desirable.
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
6 To support the expanded role of HBMS from October 2003, the number of
'mandatory' fields has been increased from 13 to 96. This raises the profile of data quality within data matching and will allow LAs to get the best results from the service. Although the mandatory fields have increased, the data loading process
remains unchanged, thereby preventing records from being rejected unless there are anomalies within the 13 original 'mandatory' fields.
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LAs currently provide data to HBMS three times a year. Each LA is assigned into a designated, regionally grouped week within the Data Take On and Processing
Schedule (DTOPS). The geographical grouping of LAs allows cross-boundary matching between neighbouring LAs using recent data extracts. LAs are informed of
DTOPS details, ie pick-up dates and rules to be run, through the issue of HB Fraud
Circulars.
As part of the HBSD led strategy to replace benefit periods, an increase in data matching from three to four times a year is planned from October 2003. This will mean two scans between October 2003 and April 2004. The third scan commenced on 6 October 2003 and will run for 12 weeks. The fourth scan will commence on
12 January 2004 and run for 12 weeks. From April 2004 data matching will occur 12 times a year.
From October 2003 LAs are expected to handle the referrals exactly as they did previously and return the results in the same way, see Appendix 1 .
LAs will continue to complete the standard result sheet until the revised version is produced in November 2003.
The emphasis from October onwards has to remain on data quality. The visible changes October brings for LAs with regard to HBMS referrals will be minimal, the additional work being the high risk caseload reviews.
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The quality of data forwarded for matching has a direct impact on HBMS referral generation . Problems with SWH extract programs, or LA failure to ‘map’ income codes to the appropriate HBMS field, will prevent the issue of referrals. Data
Integrity Team (DIT) identifies and records data incidents that will impact upon data matching. There are currently 180 high priority incidents, across all LAs, that are preventing the issue of specific HBMS fraud rules. DIT liaises with both LAs and
SWHs to communicate incidents and improve data quality. If you need to check your high priority incidents level contact HBMS.
Data integrity also has a direct impact on the quality of the high risk caseload review scans. Incorrect entries in any of the fields used in the risk scoring formula will result in incorrect scores for individual claimants and consequent incorrect rankings of cases by risk.
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
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LAs will still be able to request HBMS data scans to improve the security and accuracy of their systems. Scan requests from LAs are processed by DIT. All scan requests are authorised by Matching Intelligence and Data Analysis Services
(MIDAS) Business Management Team (BMT) to make sure legal and data protection issues are satisfied.
LAs are encouraged to request data scans to identify discrepancies between data sources not available as production rules, eg HB claims where Income Support (IS) mortgage interest payments are being made). Data scans have also been used to identify HB/CTB interest flags missing from IS claims with the results being forwarded to DWP offices for further action.
16 HBMS Scan Team undertake regular NINO verification scans, matching HB/CTB data against Departmental Central Index (DCI) to establish the accuracy of NINOs held by LAs. Each NINO recorded on HB/CTB is allocated into one of eight accuracy criteria, ranging from a fully matching record to cases where the NINO is missing, invalid or does not relate to the corresponding record on DCI. DIT communicates results to each LA and encourages the take-up of a detailed scan to identify individual cases for investigation and correction. HBMS rules are increasingly being designed to use NINO and date of birth as the key matching criteria.
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These scans use a risk scoring methodology we have developed to identify and prioritise HB/CTB claims that produce a high risk rating. Lists of cases will be issued to LAs for further investigation following the submission of data to HBMS. High risk caseload reviews will be issued alongside data matching referrals. The risk scoring methodology will be provided to LAs with the data pack they receive from HBMS.
The lists of high risk cases in order of priority for review will be issued to LAs on CD
ROM, as the files will be too large to send in paper form. These files can be opened in Microsoft Excel .
LAs will still be required to complete results sheets for data referrals but at present
LAs will not be required to complete result sheets for each high risk caseload review.
This means that HBMS will not be able to respond to queries relating to the effectiveness of high risk caseload reviews. HBMS will arrange to contact 10% of
LAs (4 per week) by telephone to obtain an overview. With effect April 2004 results will be obtained from electronically. For those LAs who are able to implement the software changes required by April 2004 this information will be extracted by a second scan and for those LAs who are unable to implement these changes by April
2004 we will provide a spreadsheet to record and report the results.
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
The percentage of high risk caseload reviews issued to LAs after the first scan is likely to be the top 32% of the total cases scored. This figure will be adjusted as required for subsequent scans depending on the workload and requirements of LAs.
Cases will be listed in decreasing order of risk. Two measures of risk will be included on the list: the raw score and the estimated probability. Ranking cases by either measure will give the same result. The raw score has no intuitive meaning but is included to enable LAs to check scores in cases where data quality problems are suspected. A negative raw score means that there is estimated to be less than 50% chance of the claimant developing an overpayment. This means that most claimants have a negative raw score.
The estimated probability can loosely be interpreted as an estimate of the chances of that claimant having a change of circumstance that results in benefit entitlement reducing during any quarter. If the claimant or DWP have reported such a change on a case in the last three months it is unlikely that a second unreported change has occurred since. Therefore it would not be worthwhile reviewing such cases even if they are highly scored.
High risk caseload reviews will be issued from October and January over two twelve week periods. The list will arrive with the HBMS data matched referrals. Only a small number of LAs will get them in October, with most arriving in November and
December. The process repeats itself through January, February and March.
Populating last recorded review date of less than six months from the date of extract is necessary to prevent recently reviewed cases being referred.
We will continue to monitor the effectiveness of visits and postal checks through VF
MIS and outcomes through the SAFE scheme data.
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HBMS Rule Development Team (RDT) identifies and designs rules that address key risks to the accurate payment of HB/CTB, see Appendix 2 . They also provide ongoing communication with LAs, feedback from HBMS workshops and postal surveys, together with analysis of reports has informed the rule development process.
The introduction of the 1997 Social Security (Fraud) Act, as well as setting out the legal gateway for the exchange of information between DWP and LAs, also gave the necessary legal gateway to extend data matching between other Government
Departments and LAs.
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
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HBMS design rules using available MIDAS data sources. These currently include:
 Income Support
 Job Seekers Allowance
Incapacity Benefit
Retirement Pension
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
Invalid Care Allowance
Departmental Central Index
Inland Revenue (IR) P46
IR Construction Industry Scheme
IR Interest from Savings
Child Benefit
Royal Mail Redirection
Attendance Allowance
Disability Living Allowance
HBMS' expanded role from October 2003 presents challenging opportunities to RDT to improve and develop the suite of HBMS rules. Work is underway to finalise rules identifying undeclared income from the Construction Industry. Negotiations are also in progress to procure access to IR Tax Credits data from the end of 2003. Recent changes to the HBMS data specification file and the availability of new fields have allowed RDT to improve the design of specific rules. Joint Tenancy and Second
Adult Rebate flags are now being incorporated into production rules to improve referral quality.
Royal Mail redirection data is being used to develop rules identifying customers who have gone abroad. RDT are also preparing for the introduction of Pension Credits and the significant impact this will have on current rules.
Rule design involves numerous steps from initial rule specification through to test data and evaluation before a rule can be put forward within the MIDAS Change
Request process and passed into ‘live’. It is only at this stage that a rule can be run on all LAs.
Due to limitations of NINO accuracy on HB/CTB systems the majority of HBMS rules were initially designed to use forename, surname and date of birth as the key matching criteria. A district mapping functionality was built into most rules to ensure
LAs are only matched against their corresponding DWP offices. This prevents wrong identity matches occurring where personal details relate to more than one person, nation-wide. As MIDAS scans show an improvement in the accuracy of NINOs held by LAs, HBMS is moving to NINO matching rules, with a date of birth cross check to prevent mismatches.
The Performance and Analysis Team (PAT) also undertakes ongoing analysis of the performance of production rules. Statistics relating to referral rates, deselection reasons and negative results are used to improve rule efficiency.
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
Rule ID Rule Description
HBCA101
HBDC001
HBIS102
HBRP001
Uses IR P46 data to identify failure to declare income from earnings
Uses DCI data to identify failure to notify HB of a change of address
Uses IS and JSA data to identify failure to declare cessation of a
‘passport’ benefit.
Uses SRP data to identify failure to declare receipt of an occupational pension.
See Appendix 2 for a list of HBMS rules.
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Data matching identifies cases where a discrepancy exists between data sources.
The actual referral rate of matches produced varies according to rule. Data quality, rule design, data source limitations and extract dates impact on referral rates.
To ensure only quality referrals are issued for LA investigation, HBMS Referrals
Team undertake a manual sift of all matches produced. LA data quality is initially considered and rules are deselected where a high impact incident exists.
The Referrals Team has access to a wide range of DWP benefits data. A series of rule-specific checks is carried out to deselect matches unlikely to produce a positive return. Additional information, obtained during these checks is manually inserted onto each referral to assist the LA investigation.
The majority of referrals are issued on paper via secure courier service. Certain fraud management systems contain software that enables LAs to download HBMS referrals from a floppy disc. Approximately 90 LAs receive HBMS matches in this
‘electronic’ format.
38 Referrals issued are allocated a unique Referral Management System (RMS) identification number. A result sheet is included with each referral for LA completion and return. HBMS monitors the return of completed result sheets. These are then analysed and any anomalies queried directly with LAs.
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
Housing Benefit Matching Service
D406, Government Buildings,
Moorland Road
LYTHAM St ANNES
Lancashire
FY8 3ZZ
HBMS Operations Manager
HBMS Enhanced Services Manager :
Data Integrity Team Leader :
Rule Development Team Leaders :
Referrals Team Leaders :
Performance Analysis Team Leader :
C aseload Review Scans:
Performance Reporting System
Development:
Scan Team:
HBMS Fax :
Brian Waldie (01253 335858) (ext 65858)
Brian.Waldie@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Anthea Watson (01253 335858) (ext 64141)
Anthea.Watson@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Chris Fuller (01253 334449) (ext 64449)
Angie Parkinson (01253 339874)(ext 69874)
Ian King (01253 334902) (ext 64902)
Ian.King@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
Michelle Spencer (01253 334544)(ext 64544)
Aileen Hindley (01253 334499) (ext 64499)
Trisha Hale (01253 339736) (ext 69736)
Carl Bullough (01253 334141) (ext 64141)
Maureen Lucas (01253 334141) (ext 64141)
Andrea Blakemore (01253 334141)(ext 64141)
Andrea.Blakemore@jobcentreplus.gsi.gov.uk
01253 339737 (ext 69737)
01253 339934 (ext 69934)
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
Appendix 1
Data loaded and cleansed
Address cleansing
Data Matching at Syntegra
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HBMS user access via GRMS to Syntegra server and matches produced
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Matches sifted
Deselection/Selection criteria applied
Referrals issued via DHL
(paper or disc format)
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Resolution of HBMS referrals
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Results input to produce performance statistics
 Further rule development
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
Appendix 2
CTCA003 (V3) Failure to declare Non Dependant starting work
CTCA101 (V2) Failure to notify customer starting work (using NINO + excluding where IS ind = 'Y')
CTCA102 (V1) Failure to notify partner starting work (using NINO + excluding where IS ind
= 'Y')
CTDB001 (V5) Failure to declare Industrial Injuries Disability Benefit
CTDC001 (V4) Failure to notify change of address
CTIB012 (V2) Incorrect rate of Incapacity Benefit declared
CTIB104 (V1) Failure to declare IB in payment for customer or partner
CTIC101 (V1) Failure of customer or partner to declare receipt of ICA.
CTIS103 (V4) Fraudulent CT claims on the basis that IS or JSA is in payment
CTRM001 (V2) Failure to declare a change of address (USING Royal Mail data)
CTRP001 (V2) Failure to declare Occ Pension (Under 80 GMP £10+)
CTRP002 (V1) Failure to declare Occ Pension (Under 80 GMP £3 - 9.99)
CTRP003 (V3) Failure to declare partner's RP to CT
CTRP005 (V2)
Failure to declare Occ Pen (Over 80 GMP £3+) Also picks up where only one of two occ pens declared
HBCA003 (V2) Failure to declare non-dependants starting work
HBCA101 (V2) Failure to notify customer starting work (using NINO + excluding where IS ind = 'Y')
HBCA102 (V1) Failure to notify partner starting work (using NINO + excluding where IS ind = 'Y')
HBDB001 (V5) Failure to declare Industrial Injuries Disability Benefit
HBDC001 (V4) Failure to notify change of address
HBHB001 (V4) Concurrent claims by the same person
HBHB002 (V1) Concurrent claims by the same person as a claimant and a partner in a separate claim
HBIB012 (V3) Incorrect rate of Incapacity Benefit declared
HBIB104 (V1) Failure to declare IB in payment for customer or partner
HBIC101 (V1) Failure of customer or partner to declare receipt of ICA.
HBIS102 (V2) Fraudulent HB claims made on the basis that IS or JSA is in payment
(NON matching rule)
HBJS001 (V3) Failure to adjust HB when JSA (I) ceases
HBJS002 (V3) Failure to adjust HB when JSA (C) ceases
HBJS202 (V1) Fraudulent HB claim on the basis that JSA (C) is in payment (NON matching rule)
HBRM001 (V2) Failure to declare a change of address
HBRP003 (V3) Failure to declare partner's RP to HB
HBRP007 (V4) Failure to declare Occ Pen (All age groups GMP £3+)
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
Appendix 3
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LAs will receive two data matching scans between October 2003 and April 2004. They will then receive monthly data matching scans from April 2004.
The first scan will commence 6 October 2003 and run for 12 weeks. The second scan will commence on 12 January and run for 12 weeks.
Data matching referrals and High risk caseload reviews will be in the same pack and issued via secure courier.
Most LAs will receive their data matching referrals on paper and can expect to find the following documents contained in the data referral pack:
Master sheet containing list of referrals
Receipt for referrals
Red file for each referral containing full details of case and results sheet
Address labels for HBMS
Update flyers on HBMS rule developments
Result sheet.
A few LAs (approx. 90) with suitable software will receive referrals electronically. The data referral pack will include all the above items except the red file, the result sheet and flyers. The result sheet and flyers will be included on the disk.
LAs will also receive high risk caseload reviews in the pack. These will be issued to every LA on CD ROM and will be in the format of xls (Excel) and csv (Comma
Separation Values) files. Both can be opened in Microsoft Excel. The file will contain the following information:
First name
Surname
Date of Birth
Address
Post Code
National Insurance Number
Housing Benefit Reference number
Risk Score (e.g. 0.6135)/ Estimated probability score, eg 64.87%
Risk Scoring Specification
Last case review date
Receipt for caseload review scan
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HB/CTB Circular A32/2003
Appendix 3
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Details of the schedule for the first scan from 6 October 2003 have already been released by HBMS in circular F20/2003. LAs should expect to receive their referrals and high risk caseload reviews within 2 to 4 weeks of the scan. As the system beds in the time gap between scan and delivery of referrals/Caseload reviews should reduce.
Details of the schedule for the second scan from 12 January 2004 have not yet been published but are likely to follow the previous schedule.
The high risk caseload reviews CD ROMs and data matching referrals will be included in the same pack and delivered at the same time.
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The receipt for HBMS data matching referrals must be completed and returned to
HBMS to acknowledge LAs have received referrals.
LAs will need to sift the referrals to identify whether the inconsistencies found are due to fraud or error, and forward either to the Benefit Section for action or Fraud
Section for investigation. It is important to note that data match referrals identify both administrative and fraud inconsistencies and therefore a close relationship between the benefits administration and the fraud investigation teams is imperative.
On completion of action or investigation each referral result sheet must be completed and returned to HBMS.
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LAs will be expected to use the list of high risk cases to select cases for review. For the period October 2003 to March 2004, the volume of Pensioner reviews and the manner of investigation is left to the discretion of individual LAs. Further guidance will be issued for VF compliant LAs from April 2004 onwards.
At present LAs will not be required to complete a results sheet for high risk caseload reviews, HBMS will be contacting 10% of LAs by phone to complete a simple results sheet.
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