Just fill in the form

I picked up the latest publication from the Institute of Fiscal Studies this morning. It is a look at how we might best measure the cost of claiming benefits to help policy makers design a better benefit system (in other words one which helps claimants without giving them vast costs in making the claim in the first place).

But what interested me most were some of the appendices.

Annex 2 is a report by a CAB adviser in 2008 about how to claim a crisis loan if, for example, your only form of household heating breaks down.

In a nutshell, you go to any of the local offices you might think of (Job centre, DWP offices or websites) and they give you an 0800 number to call.

If you persist long enough (the adviser had to call 18 times in succession before getting through and was cut off on the previous 17 calls because there was no-one available to answer the call), you are told that the claim form will be sent to you in the post.

There is a happier end to the story. If you go to http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Customers/WorkingAgeBenefits/Dev_013949.xml.html , you can now download a form directly, without sitting on the phone for days waiting to get through.

I have not tried the other methods to find out if you get help straight away or are still put through this sort of ordeal.

Rules and codes

I am still trying to get my head around the way the Revenue want to deal with the banks.

They are setting up an agreed code of conduct about tax matters, so that banks will not only comply with the tax legislation, but also not do anything which might be considered unconscionable by the public at large.

The recent scandal over MPs expenses has shown how complying with the rules may not be enough to satisfy the public at large, but I cannot see how a "code" can operate for what is a small number of very large businesses. What happens if the code is broken? If the law has been broken, then the Revenue can take them to court, but if it is just the code that is broken, all they can do is complain.

What effect will the complaint have? Some people (possibly the smaller customers) will take their business away in disgust. Others may admire the bank's approach to tax and decide this just the sort of people they want to do business with!

But because there are only a few big banks, it is difficult to see how any code can have a real effect if the banks decide not to comply. There are enough MPs for a few to lose their jobs over the expenses scandals - I do not think there are enough banks for any to lose theirs over a breach of a code.

Prudence

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs are updating their banking arrangements so that, instead of one account with the Bank of England there are now accounts with the Royal Bank of Scotland and CitiBank. The changeover has had its problems - some banks could not transfer the money across properly to start with.

But at least we know where the money is being dealt with. The main offices for looking after the tax money received by the Revenue are in Shipley and Cumbernauld.

There may be some questions about who is better with money, the Yorkshiremen in Bradford (the Shipley office) or the Scots in Glasgow (the Cumbernauld office), but at least we are reasonably sure the money is going to be looked after well.