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jobcentreplus is a part of the Department for Work & Pensions. In April 2002, the Employment Service was replaced, which ran Jobcentres and those parts of the Benefits Agency which provided services to people of working age through social security offices. "Working age" means people between the ages of 18 and 65.
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The Jobcentre Plus Belmin programme
Jobcentre Plus has initiated the Programme to automate the Provision process – from referral by Jobcentre Plus personal advisers of customers to provision (currently done via SL2 forms), through to payment to Providers for that provision.
The solution is being introduced because of the significant benefits it will deliver both to Jobcentre Plus and to its providers:
- Improved efficiency in the referral of customers to providers by automating the current clerical system
- Cut down on paperwork
- Overcome errors
- Robust financial monitoring
- Improved payment accuracy
The programme will be delivered in two phases – initially Referrals, which will utilise an eProcurement (electronic procurement) software package enabling Jobcentre Plus to refer its customers to provision electronically rather than clerically.
Then, next year, we will automate the Payment Calculation process, utilising a complementary eProcurement software package to calculate the amount of payment that is owed to providers. This note explains how the new Belmin Referrals process will impact on JCP providers. More detail on the Belmin Payment Calculation will be available in due course.
The basic process flow of the referral to provision business process will remain unchanged (Jobcentre Plus will still use the referral forms that its providers are already familiar with, for example), although it will be carried out electronically rather than clerically. Each contracted provider will be allocated a user identification and password.
Jobcentre Plus Personal Advisers will complete an electronic version of the current clerical form and submit it electronically to a secure site on the internet. Providers will be notified by email that a customer has been referred to them and will be asked to log onto the system, using their user ID and password, to access the customer information.
It should be noted that the electronic form has been trialled very effectively in Dorset since September 2004. JCP will be extending a modified version of the trial across the South West Region in October 2005, to confirm the feasibility of extending the solution, prior to nationwide rollout.
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