Councils in Greater Lincolnshire are owed more than £25 million in overpayments for housing benefits.
The City of Lincoln Council tops the district council charts with £3.65 million outstanding, while out of the two unitary authorities North Lincolnshire is owed the most with £4.74 million. North East Lincolnshire Council has £4.18 million outstanding.
The district councils are owed a total of £16.51 million, with the least (£1.49 million) being owed to North Kesteven District Council.
Last year, councils wrote off more than £915,403, with Lincoln wiping £238,400 of that off its slate. Meanwhile South Holland District Council only lost out on £273.02.
An overpayment is an amount of housing benefit that the council pays to someone when they are not entitled to it.
Overpayments can occur for a number of reasons from delays in the system, to residents failing to notify the council when there is a change in their benefits.
Authorities can recover the money in a number of ways, including taking it out of future benefits, such as job seekers allowance or universal credit. At worst they can go through the courts.
A North East Lincolnshire Council spokesperson said the amount was “quite low in comparison with other nearby authorities”.
“About 90% of the outstanding figure is being actively collected. The remaining balance is made up of cases where we are attempting to make contact with the claimant, or cases where appeals are underway or the claimant is receiving assistance to pay it off.”
Members at a recent City of Lincoln Council committee meeting were told that at March 31, 2019, the council had £3,650,044 housing benefit overpayments outstanding.
Clare Moses, shared revenue and benefits manager, pointed out that the amount of money clawed back (£548,554 in Lincoln) over the past four months was higher than the debt accrued (£203,832) – the authority last year was owed £4.11 million.
The council wrote off £238,400 of its debt at the end of the last financial year – again the highest figure in the county. The council that wrote off the smallest figure was South Holland with £273.02.
It follows a review of the service carried out by the Department for Work and Pensions last year, which resulted in a new team being set up to tackle the issue.
“Since we’ve had a team in place we’ve had a better view of where overpayments sit. If they are within the window they don’t just sit there outstanding and not being collected,” she said.
When asked for its figures, a spokesman for Boston Borough Council said: “We want to assure residents that every reasonable attempt is made to recover the money owed – often clawed back by a reduction in ongoing benefit paid.”
Here’s what’s owed to who in Lincolnshire:
Lincoln – £3.65m
ELDC – £3.17m
BBC – £2.76m
WLDC – £2.27m
SKDC – £1.62m
SHDC – £1.55m
NKDC – £1.49m
North Lincolnshire – £4.74m
North East Lincolnshire – £4.18m
And here’s the amount councils have written off:
Lincoln – £238,400
NKDC – £115,608
BBC – £113,017
WLDC – £87,498
SKDC – £75,200
ELDC – £22,818
SHDC – £273.02
North East Lincolnshire – £145,748
North Lincolnshire – £116,840
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A 22-year-old man from Scunthorpe has been given a life sentence in prison in connection with the murder of a 20-year-old man.
Peter Balog, 22, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a requirement to serve a minimum of 21 years before he can become eligible for release, after Abdullah Balouchi, 20, was murdered on Peel Street in Hull on October 7, 2020.
Balog initially pleaded not guilty, but changed his plea to guilty after two weeks of the trial.
Abdirahman Aadan, 18, of Pendril Street, Hull, will be kept at her majesty’s pleasure for a minimum of 17 years, due to being 17-years-old at the time of conviction, after also being found guilty of murder.
Two other men, Khalid and Mohamed Aadan, 19 and 20 respectively, both of Pendrill Street, Hull, were found guilty of manslaughter and will serve 10 years detention in a young offenders institute.
Both have a requirement to serve a minimum of two thirds of that period before consideration can be given to the remaining time served in the community under license.
20-year-old Abdullah Balouchi was murdered on Peel Street in Hull on October 7, 2020. | Photo: Humberside Police
The investigation into Abdullah’s murder will continue, as police say there are still outstanding suspects.
Humberside Police have vowed to not rest until all individuals have been brought to justice.
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Superintendent, Robert Clark said: “Whilst these convictions and lengthy sentences will not bring back Abdullah, I hope they will provide the Balouchi family with some sense of closure as they continue to grieve for their loved one.”
“I just, again, want to thank them for their strength, courage and dignity during what has been a very painful and difficult time, one that no family should have to endure.”
“Abdullah’s murder was a senseless act bringing the most violent of crime onto the streets of Hull, effecting not only the Abdullah’s family and friends but also this close knit community.
“We continue to work closely in the area around Spring Bank to unite people and make sure that it is a safe place for everyone to live and work.”
Health and safety teams in Lincoln are currently investigating after an Asian supermarket in the city was seen delivering unrefrigerated meat to its premises.
A van was seen parked up outside Asia Supermarket on St Mark Street on Tuesday, with multiple animal carcasses in the back to be delivered to the shop.
An eyewitness saw the food uncovered in the back of the van before being wheeled into the shop in a trolley.
Questions have been asked about the refrigeration of the goods, and the hygiene of how it was transported to the supermarket.
Asia Supermarket is located on St Mark Street in Lincoln. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
City of Lincoln Council’s inspectors have confirmed that an investigation is now underway after a complaint was issued to them on Tuesday afternoon.
Louise Harding, Food, Health and Safety Team Leader at City of Lincoln Council, said: “We have been made aware of the incident and have begun an investigation.”
The owners of the supermarket have claimed that their original refrigerated van had broken down, and all relevant checks were taken before storing the food in the chiller room.
A spokesperson for Asia Supermarket told The Lincolnite: “Our refrigerator van broke down and we could not leave the meat in that van. Because of this we used another van to bring the meat to the supermarket, as it was not far from the shop.
“All the goods were delivered in a different van, and all the temperature checks were done before being taken into the chiller room.”
A GP surgery in Stamford has responded to concerns of patient care, access to appointments and practice management detailed in a damning report recently published by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Lakeside Healthcare Stamford was given an overall rating of ‘Inadequate’ and placed into special measures after an inspection by CQC on June 7 and 8 this year. Lakeside Healthcare at Stamford was created in 2017 following the merger of St Mary’s Medical Centre, Sheepmarket Surgery and The Little Surgery.
The practice was rated as ‘Inadequate’ in categories of Safe, Effective, Responsive, and Well-led, while it scored ‘Requires Improvement’ under the category of ‘Caring’.
The findings were published in a report on August 2, including that three breaches of regulation were found. Lakeside Stamford issued a response on its website the same day, saying that “swift action is being taken”.
CQC found that the practice was not providing care in a way that kept patients safe and protected them from avoidable harm. Patients were also not always receiving effective care and treatment that met their needs.
It was acknowledged in the report that staff most dealt with patients with kindness and respect, and involved them in decisions about their care. However, patients commented that their care had been impacted upon by poor access to appointments.
The report added that the way the practice was being led and managed did not promote the delivery of high-quality, person-centred care. The practice said it has now appointed a Practice Manager and is recruiting an Operations and Compliance Manager to work alongside the new Patient Services Manager.
Within the report CQC listed a number of things the provider must do, including to establish effective systems and processes to ensure good governance in accordance with the fundamental standards of care, and employees receiving the appropriate support, training, supervision, and appraisal necessary to enable them to carry out the duties.
Regarding placing the service into special measures, CQC said: “Services placed in special measures will be inspected again within six months. If insufficient improvements have been made such that there remains a rating of inadequate for any population group, key question or overall, we will take action in line with our enforcement procedures to begin the process of preventing the provider from operating the service.
“This will lead to cancelling their registration or to varying the terms of their registration within six months if they do not improve.
“Where necessary, another inspection will be conducted within a further six months, and if there is not enough improvement we will move to close the service by adopting our proposal to remove this location or cancel the provider’s registration.”
The practice said: “The GP partners, staff and executive team acknowledge issues around patient care, access to appointments and practice management, which were being addressed prior to the inspection.
“The Stamford team, with considerable input and support from Lakeside Central team, is focusing its efforts on addressing the CQC’s concerns and listening to patient feedback while continuing to provide day-to-day services for the community.”
The GP surgery had previously been rated as ‘Good’ for providing safe services after a focused follow-up inspection back in August 2019, but the most recent visit this year flagged up a number of concerns.
The practice added: “Lakeside Stamford has, and will continue to remain in close contact with the NHS Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group and other partners while these strategies are embedded.
“The new PPG committee is working collaboratively with the Transformation Manager and has been fully informed of the outcome of the inspection at an early stage to ensure that the patient voice is a valued part of any change.
“Lakeside Stamford is very proud of its team, which has worked throughout a very difficult 18 months to provide GP services and ensure that patients received their vaccines in a timely and efficient manner.
“The outcome of the inspection in June, which is one of the first to have taken place since the pandemic, has been devastating for all staff at Lakeside. However we remain positive about working to restore confidence in the quality of care we provide to the community of Stamford and beyond.”
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