Southwark Supplementary Benefit Offices: Statistics

The Lord Bishop of Southwark

asked Her Majesty's Government:For each Supplementary Benefit office in the Diocese of Southwark:

(i) in the past 6 months—

(a) what load of current cases has the office carried;

(b) what percentage of claimants were required to register for work;

(c) what percentage of claimants were pensioners;

(ii) in each month since 2nd June 1987 —

(a) how many claims for supplementary benefit were made; and how many were determined;

(b) how many new claimants were required to be available for work;

(c) how many claims for single payments were made; and how many were determined;

(d) how many claims for urgent needs were made; and how many were determined

(iii) since 30th June 1987, what was the average number of new claims and cases awaiting review which were recorded as outstanding each month.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health and Social Security

(Lord Skelmersdale)

I regret that the information requested is not readily available. I am arranging to have the information collated and placed in the Library as soon as possible, and will inform the right reverend Prelate when this has been done.

asked Her Majesty's Government:For each Supplementary Benefit office in the diocese of Southwark:

(i) broken down by staffing grades—

(a) what is the current staffing complement;

(b) how many permanent staff are currently in post;

(c) how many temporary staff are currently in post;

(d) how many staff members are currently being trained;

(e) how many qualified officers are engaged in training staff;

(f) what is the annual turnover of permanent staff;

(ii) when staffing complements are devised, what percentage of clerical staff are expected to be in training at any one time.

There are 32 local offices with boundaries within the Diocese of Southwark, 28 of which deal with both supplementary benefit and contributory benefit or supplementary benefits only. The staffing levels of each of these 28 offices are contained in tables which I have placed in the Library.I regret that information about the percentage of clerical staff in training at any one time is not available.

Table (a) Current Staffing Complement
Office	PRIN	SEO	HEO	LOI	AO	AA	TYP	SG	MESS	Total
Balham ILO	1	1	8	51	102	36	3	2	1	205
Battersea ILO	1	1	7	42	82	29	2	1	2	167
Bexley ILO	1	1	7	44	93	26	4	1	1	178
Brixton ILO	1	1	8	50	88	31	3	5	1	188
Bromley ILO	1		6	32	67	19	3	2	1	131
Croydon ILO	1	1	10	64	117	29	4	2	1	229
Crystal Palace ILO	1	1	7	41	78	24	2	1	1	156
Epsom ILO		1	5	28	55	18	2	1		110
Greenwich Park ILO	1	1	8	51	101	31	3	1	1	198
Hounslow ILO	1	1	9	58	113	39	4	2	1	228
Kennington Park ILO	1		6	34	68	19	2	2	1	133
Kingston ILO	1	1	7	43	77	24	3	2	1	159
Lwewisham ILO	1	1	8	52	97	32	4	3	2	200
Peckham ILO	1	1	8	39	85	26	4	1	2	167
Redhill ILO	1		6	33	65	19	3			127
Southwark ILO	1	1	7	45	83	29	3	2	2	173
Streatham ILO	1		6	38	76	24	2	1	1	149
Twickenham ILO		1	5	27	48	15	2		1	99
Wandsworth ILO	1		6	38	63	22	3	2	1	136
Woolwich ILO	1	2	11	73	137	46	4	1	2	277
Camberwell AO	1		6	37	72	22	2		2	142
Eltham AO		1	2	9	17	4	1			34
Hither Green AO		1	2	10	24	8	1			46
Oval AO	1	1	5	32	64	26	2	2	1	134
Mitcham AO		1	4	21	37	10	1			74
Surbiton AO		1	2	14	27	9	1			54
Sutton AO		1	3	16	30	9	1			60
Wimbledon AO		1	4	21	37	12	1		1	77

Table (b) Permanent Staff in Post October 1987 (Temporary Staff shown in Brackets)
Office	PRIN	SEO	HEO	LOI	AO	AA	TYP	SG	MESS	Total
Balham ILO	1	1	8	46.5	106	42.5	3	2	(1)	210(1)
Baltersea ILO	1	1	7	43	80	30	3	1	2	168
Bexley ILO	1	1	7	44	102	27.5	3(1)	1	1	187.5(1)
Brixton ILO	1	1	8	51	94.5	36	1.5	5	(1)	198(1)
Bromley ILO	1		6	34	73.5	17(2)	3	2	1	137.5(2)
Croydon ILO	1	1	9.5	61.5	122	34.5	4	2	1	236.5
Crystal Palace ILO	1	1	6	46	81	27	2	1	(1)	165(1)
Epsom ILO		1	5	26	55	13(3)	2			102(3)
Greenwich Park ILO	1	1	8.5	46.5	102.5	35	3.5	1	2	201
Hounslow ILO	1	1	9	56.5	117.5	38.5(1)	3	2	1	229.5(1)
Kennington Park ILO	1		4	33	69	21	2	2	1	133
Kingston ILO	1	1	5	43.5	75	26.5	2	2	1	157
Lewisham ILO	1	1	6	49	99	37	3	3	2	201
Peckham ILO	1	1	8	37	81.5	27(4)	3	(1)	2	160.5(5)
Redhill ILO		1	5	32	58.5	18	2			116.5
Southwark ILO	1	1	7	48.5	83	37	3	1	2	183.5
Streatham ILO	1		6	37.5	74.5	22.5	2	1	1	145.5
Twickenham ILO		1	4	27	53.5	10(2)	2		1	98.5(2)
Wandsworth ILO	1		5	38	64	13(11)	3	2	1	127(11)
Woolwich ILO	1	1	10	65.5	140.5	38.5	4	1	2	263.5
Camberwell AO	1		6	38	69	23	2		2	141
Eltham AO		1	2	9.5	17	5.5	1			36
Hither Green AO		1	2	11	24	7(1)	1			46(1)
Oval AO	1	1	5	33	73	26	2	2	1	144
Mitcham AO		1	4	22	40	12	1			80
Surbiton AO		1	2	12.5	31	8	1			55.5
Sutton AO		1	3	17	23.5	8	1			53.5
Wimbledon AO		1	4	21	36.5	9(2)	1		1	73.5(2)

The complementing system contains a composite absence factor which includes an allowance for training courses not held in local offices. The complement for 1987–88 also included a margin of 500 posts for new entrant training. An additional 1,161 man years in the form of overtime and casual staff were also included to cover ongoing training and training for the new Income Support and Social Fund schemes.

Table (c) Staff under Tutelage and Number of Training Officers on 1st October 1987.
	Staff under Tutelage			Number of Training Officers
Office	LOI	AO	Total	LOI
Balham ILO		19	19	3
Battersea ILO	4	20	24	3
Bexley ILO	6	18	24	4
Brixton ILO	5	18	23	3
Bromley ILO	4	7	11	2
Croydon ILO		7	7	3.5
Crystal Palace ILO	4	20	24	.75
Epsom ILO	1	11	12	3
Greenwich Park ILO	1	12	13	5
Hounslow ILO	1	13	14	4
Kennington Park ILO		6	6	3
Kingston ILO	6	7	13	2
Lewisham ILO	3	12	15	3
Peckham ILO	3	8	11	3.33
Redhill ILO	3	7	10	3
Southwark ILO	4	17	21	5
Streatham ILO	1	17	18	2
Twickenham ILO	5	5	10	3
Wandsworth ILO	3	1	4	3
Woolwich ILO	5	23	28	5
Camberwell AO	3	20	23	3
Eltham AO	1	1	2	2
Hither Green AO	2	2	4	1
Oval AO	1	14	15	3
Mitcham AO	2	8	10	2
Surbiton AO		11	11	2
Sutton AO	1	3	4	1
Wimbledon AO	3	4	7	2

Table (d) Annual Turnover for year ending 30th September 1987
Office	LOI	AO	AA	TYP	OTHERS	Total
Balham ILO	4	42	46		4	96
Battersea ILO	8	16	28			52
Bexley ILO	16	34	4		2	56
Brixton ILO	10	36	26	4	4	80
Bromley ILO	8	16	8	2		34
Croydon ILO	16	36	36			88
Crystal Palace ILO	6	14	16	2		38
Epsom ILO	6	11	6			23
Greenwich Park ILO	6	38	24	4	2	74
Hounslow ILO	4	40	24	2		70
Kennington Park ILO		14	4		2	20

Kingston ILO	10	42	14	2	6	74
Lewisham ILO	10	40	46	2	2	100
Peckham ILO	6	38	18	2	4	68
Redhill ILO	4	20	8	2	2	36
Southwark ILO	4	30	18	2	2	56
Streatham ILO	4	30	16	2	2	54
Twickenham ILO	8	14	22	2	2	48
Wandsworth ILO	6	18	8		2	34
Woolwich ILO	6	32	36	2	6	82
Camberwell AO	6	56	22			84
Eltham AO	2	10	6			18
Hither Green AO	2	10	2			14
Oval AO	4	22	12			38
Mitcham AO	4	32	24			60
Surbiton AO	6	22	10			38
Sutton AO	4	22	4			30
Wimbledon AO	6	8	8		2	24

Notes to Tables

(i) Staff working on contributory benefit work are included.

(ii) Abbreviations:

ILO-Integrated Local Office
AO-Area Office
PRIN-Principal
SEO-Senior Executive Officer
HEO-Higher Executive Officer
LOI-Local Officer 1
AO-Administrative Officer
AA-Administrative Assistant
TYP-Typist
SG-Security Guard
MESS-Messenger

Volume 489: debated on Thursday 5 November 1987