The Project and Programme Management Award Shortlist

The Automated Transfers to Local Authority Systems (ATLAS) project, Department for Work and Pensions

The ATLAS project (Automated Transfers to Local Authority Systems) was set up to reduce the level of housing benefit (HB) and council tax benefit (CTB) overpayments. Overpayments can arise when a customer fails to notify or is late in notifying the local authority administering their HB/CTB that they have been awarded tax credit, or when an existing award has changed. ATLAS automatically notifies LAs of awards and changes in a universally accepted format (XML) that feeds directly into LA benefit processing systems, negating the need for re-keying or other clerical intervention and greatly speeding up the re-assessment of benefit entitlement.

ATLAS Phase 1 was implemented 9 May 2011 to 22 early-adopter local authorities and following full end-to-end testing, was rolled out nationally on 4 July 2011 to all remaining authorities. ATLAS has already successfully delivered HMRC Working Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit award changes to LAs.

Phase 2 will follow on 7 November 2011, automatically delivering important information about most DWP benefits. The project will save £130m in the current year, rising to £145m in 2012-13, and is expected to deliver total savings of £540m in the next four years.

ATLAS is a pioneering initiative bringing central and local government closer together to enable secure, quick and accurate data-sharing which could result in further savings across the board.