A scanned application with eleven attachments creates more work than the decision at the end.
The application arrives as a scan from the mail room or through the service portal, with the attachments sitting separately alongside it. Each attachment is opened, named, matched to the required type of evidence and looked at again later when a follow-up query comes back.
1incoming applicationAn application for subsistence benefit arrives as a scan.
11attachmentsEach is opened individually and matched to a type of evidence.
2depths of reviewOne caseworker reads the bank statement in full, another only spot-checks it.
3screening roundsIntake, follow-up query and decision; each round starts the screening from scratch.
60 to 75% of the time per case goes on the screening rounds, which the agent condenses into one.
The 60 to 75% time saving per case is this agent's headline figure. The number of attachments and screening rounds in the chain describe a typical case in a benefits office; they are illustrative, not measured.