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TEAM NETSOL LIMITED

BECS Online Housing Benefit Calculator and New Claim system

Part of the BECS suite of online services providing self-service and assisted assessment, and for a customer to claim for Housing Benefit, Local Council Tax Support and welfare benefits. Integrated with back office, risk and portal systems to automatically deliver valid applications for HB and reduce workloads.

Features

  • Secure online data capture using any modern browser
  • Intelligent application process ensures correct entitlement is claimed
  • Optimised question process based on customer circumstances
  • Customer self-service, or authenticated assisted use by trusted representatives
  • Automatic generation of supporting documentation and secure transfer to DMS
  • Automatic secure transfer of data to Revenues and Benefits systems
  • Integrates with Risk Based Verification and identity verification systems
  • Integrates with customer portals, CRM accounts and transaction history
  • Integrates with all main local authority EDMS (Document Management) systems
  • Save and return, change your answers, review information before submission

Benefits

  • Reduce contacts for advice on eligibility and entitlement
  • Reduce not-entitled application processing
  • Eradicate paper forms and reduce follow-on correspondence
  • Increase the quality and consistency of data captured from customers
  • Easy to use for non-technical customers and fully Accessible
  • Keeps pace with changing legislation and local interpretation of rules
  • Channel shift from subject matter experts to Customer Service
  • Reduce the cost per application of processing complex circumstances
  • Speed up processing and aim for same-day service
  • High level of automation for clean, valid claims

Pricing

  • Free trial available

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at damianlewis@teamnetsol.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

1 1 7 1 0 9 2 8 3 0 8 9 5 0 5

Contact

TEAM NETSOL LIMITED Damian Lewis
Telephone: 01618348342
Email: damianlewis@teamnetsol.com

About your service

Service categories

Applications

Production and operations

Service industry and public sector operations

  • Social Security Administration
Multi cloud support
No

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
Private cloud
Service constraints
Planned Maintenance requiring system reboots occurs every 6 weeks outside normal business hours on a weekend.

All weekends outside business hours are reserved for unplanned maintenance.

Each maintenance window timeslot is notified in advance and appropriate service announcement banners displayed to users.

Planned and unplanned maintenance might incur some service downtime during the maintenance window depending on the nature of the maintenance work.
System requirements
  • A recent secure Web browser
  • A PDF viewer
  • An Identity Service if using Single Sign-on for staff
  • Licensed, active API gateway for Document Management System integration
  • Licensed, active API gateway for Revenues and Benefits system integration
  • VPN/reverse-proxy for automated submission of data and documents

User support

Email or online ticketing support
Yes
Support response times
Emergencies during office hours: 1 hour
Emergencies out-of-hours: 8 hours
Standard support during office hours only: 1 day
Change requests during office hours only: 5 days
User can manage status and priority of support tickets
No
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
Team Netsol is committed to providing excellent support for its services. We operate an ITIL-like Kanban issue resolution process that triages issues based upon their scale and impact:

Critical - Service unavailable or many users affected - Resolution within 1 day
High - Parts of service unavailable but still functional - Resolution within 1
week
Medium - Low number of users affected but still functional - Fix available for
UAT within 1 month
Low - Minor issue with available workaround - UAT of fix within 3 months
Cosmetic - UAT of fix within 3 months

Customers log issues with our help desk via a dedicated email address or
phone and are issued with a ‘Support Ticket’ which is visible to Support
engineers.

Outside of standard help desk hours, there is monitoring of support requests and an emergency call tree process in place.

Bug fixes, security patches and issue resolution are included in the annual
price. Customer Change Requests are subject to assessment to identify
whether there is an associated cost that then needs to be approved by the
customer.

We provide technical account management via our Head of Operations, escalated to our Engineering Manager and/or Infrastructure Manager as appropriate.
Support available to third parties
No

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
Installation and implementation are included within the pricing.

The implementation phase is documented and project planned with the buyer. This includes configuration of the system to the buyer's requirements, integration with their back office systems, secure connectivity, local data take-on, customised branding, and localisation of the rulesbase and text content.

A UAT instance of the system is provided to the buyer for further customisation and optimisation prior to deployment to Live production.

Initial onsite or Web-based training is included, depending on the buyer's
preference. Training materials and reference guides are provided to the buyer for reference and wider distribution within their organisation.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • PDF
  • Other
Other documentation formats
  • MS Excel
  • MS Word
End-of-contract data extraction
Data is generally transferred to the buyer's back office systems in real-time or batched within 1 day, depending on preference.

Partially completed data that reaches its data retention lifetime is securely
deleted automatically from production systems.

Any partially completed, un-transferred data or generated documents that exist when the contract ends are transferred securely to the buyer in an encrypted compressed archive prior to secure deletion of all buyer data from our servers.
End-of-contract process
When the contract ends, the secure connection to the buyer's back office
systems is terminated, and certificates and user accounts revoked. Buyer data is securely deleted within 30 days.
Documentation accessibility standard
WCAG 2.2 AA

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
  • Other
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service
There is no functional difference. Responsive and Accessible design enables the service to be used conveniently on mobile devices.
Service interface
Yes
User support accessibility
WCAG 2.2 AAA
Description of service interface
A role-based, secure service administration interface is provided to enable smooth operation of the service and data management.

The interface provides facilities for staff to search, browse and manage incoming applications, work on behalf of customers (including evidence capture) and control integration queues into back office systems.
Accessibility standards
WCAG 2.2 AAA
Accessibility testing
Originally tested by the Disability Team at DWP Newcastle, the system is tested by customers' Accessibility specialists and Web Teams. This includes testing on assistive technology.
API
No
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
BECS services may be customised as follows:

- Styling and branding customised in accordance with corporate guidelines where possible.
- Buyer-specific content may be changed.
- Question-and-answer rulesbase may be modified to match local requirements.
- Council Tax schemes are localisable to the buyer's local scheme.
- Lookup data from local datasources can be imported
- EDMS document indexing is customisable
- Revenues & Benefits system automation is localisable
- Customer portal integration is customisable
- Supporting evidence requirements are localisable, including by RBV risk score
- Custom management reports can be added
- Administrative user accounts can be self-managed by the Buyer

Buyers localise and customise the services during the implementation phase by working through the agreed implementation plan.

After go-live, customisation is handled as part of normal support or as a Change Request, depending on the nature and scale of the customisation.

All customisation is performed by Team Netsol's staff on behalf of the buyer and is released to production systems once UAT has been performed by the buyer and approval given to proceed.

Scaling

Independence of resources
The system is vertically and horizontally scaled with ample capacity for a
significant increase in use by individual or all customers, well above the peak processing periods normally experienced.

Several shared system components, e.g. storage, databases, etc. are
configured for high availability and sized with future demand in mind.

Each system instance is re-sizeable and isolated from the resources of other
instances.

Monitoring and alerting facilitates pre-emptive action by support staff when an instance's available resources fall below the acceptable threshold.

Resource availability is reviewed weekly during Infrastructure Team meetings and planned accordingly.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
A secure online dashboard is provided with a range of reports, generated daily.

Metrics reported include new session starts, completed assessments,
submissions and abandoned sessions. 44 individual data points are collected.

Metrics are reported on daily, weekly, monthly, annual and all-to-date
timeframes.

Standard reports include splits by assessment type, application type, channel, assisting organisation, staff member, application completion status.

The metrics and report types are fully documented and custom reports may be ordered at extra charge via a Change Request.
Reporting types
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request
Resource tagging
No
FOCUS resource tagging
No

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Other security clearance
Government security clearance
Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Asset protection

Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
Yes
Data storage and processing locations
United Kingdom
User control over data storage and processing locations
No
Datacentre security standards
Managed by a third party
Penetration testing frequency
At least once a year
Penetration testing approach
‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CREST-approved service provider
Protecting data at rest
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Scale, obfuscating techniques, or data storage sharding
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Equipment disposal approach
Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v4.0, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001
Data sanitisation type
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed / Cryptographic Erasure
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation / Secure Erase

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
End-users may export their data in PDF or HTML format using the in-built
facilities in the system. Requests under the DPA 2018 for migration of data in other formats will be handled in accordance with, and within the timescales described by, the law.

Authorised buyer staff with the appropriate permissions may use the system's administrative features to export individual records of data in PDF or HTML format. Management information is also available to them for export in PDF, CSV and Excel formats.
Data export formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data export formats
  • PDF
  • XML
Data import formats
CSV

Data-in-transit protection

Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway
Data protection within supplier network
  • TLS (version 1.2 or above)
  • IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability
SLA for service availability is 99.9% and for packet delivery is 99%.

Service Level Credit is calculated as: (Annual Price x Outage Minutes) x SLA% / (365 x 24 x 60)

Service Level Credits must be requested within 5 days of an outage and are
subject to a monthly maximum.
Approach to resilience
Team Netsol's services are designed to be resilient. Further details are
available to interested buyers on request.
Outage reporting
Email, SMS and Microsoft Teams alerts are sent to Team Netsol engineers for any sub-optimal events or incidents.

Outage reporting to customers is performed by email by our support staff to
designated contacts once an event is confirmed by our engineers as an outage or another significant incident that affects customers.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
No
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
End-users, e.g. citizens, are not required to authenticate with the data capture services, but may authenticate via the system or a buyer-supplied customer portal in order to retrieve previously saved information.

Authorised buyer staff may access administrative features via a secure
interface which requires authentication. Access to administrative interfaces is restricted by IP address where required by the buyer.

Authentication complies with NCSC guidelines and is protected against brute-force, dictionary and replay attacks. User activity is logged for audit purposes.

Only designated buyer contacts may request support and administrative
password resets are never performed via email or to unknown callers.
Access restriction testing frequency
At least every 6 months
Management access authentication
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)
  • Dedicated link (for example VPN)
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

Access to user activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long user audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users contact the support team to get audit information
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
At least 12 months

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
No
Security governance approach
Security governance is a top level concern of Team Netsol's Board. We maintain an Information Security Management System that is compliant with ISO 27001 and follow a risk managed approach to security, supplemented with employee training and an active defensive security stance for all necessary controls.

As software developers and distributors, we adhere to a Secure Development Policy and comply with all of the principles of the SSCoP.

We strive to maintain a secure supply chain that has equivalent or better security governance and we avoid third party blackbox systems.
Information security policies and processes
We maintain an ISO 27001-compliant Information Security Management System which includes (but is not limited to) policies for physical and information assets, data handling, environment security, communications, software development, threat management, supply chain and recruitment.

Our Board of Directors is accountable for information security and our Engineering staff are responsible for implementation of controls, training, audits, monitoring and reporting. Both the Head of Operations and Infrastructure Manager report to our CTO who reports to the Board and liaises with external parties.

We conduct risk assessments for all changes (internal configuration or external) that may affect information security, backed by automated and manual security testing and penetration testing.

All security incidents are subject to a formal Incident Reporting process, including dissemination to stakeholders, customers, the general public and regulatory bodies as appropriated to the scale and impact of each incident.

Breaches of security by employees are considered to be misconduct and are dealt with via our formal disciplinary procedures.
Software Security Code of Practice
Yes

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Team Netsol's policies and procedures are compliant with ISO 27001
standards and are available for inspection on request.

Team Netsol implements a risk managed approach to security and any
system changes are assessed for risks, known threats and vulnerabilities.

We implement a Secure Development Policy which includes OWASP
guidelines, and SOLID and DRY principles for code development.

We have firm change management procedures and use a hybrid-Agile approach for new development and Kanban for ongoing support and implementation. These are supported by industry-standard tools for issue tracking, versioning, configuration management and deployment.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
Threats assessment is part of our risk management process.

Threat identification is operated via a mix of automated facilities from our
supply chain vendors, manual research of security bulletins and security researchers, and automated matching of our software components against CVE databases. Emerging threats are assessed according to their likelihood of materialisation, scale and potential impact.

All security patches are deployed within 14 days of notification, in accordance with Cyber Essentials Plus guidelines. Critical vulnerabilities are managed as emergency events.
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
Team Netsol's protective monitoring approach is described in its ISMS policies and procedures, and comprises automated and manual monitoring, especially around configuration changes and new system deployments.

Potential compromises are assessed as a critical priority and any actual
breach will be reported in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the
Information Commissioner's Office guidelines.

Incidents are responded to within the timescales determined by our ISMS
based on their scale and impact.
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
Team Netsol has a formal Incident Management process and procedures defined within its ISMS. This covers different categories of events and the handling required.

Users report incidents via the Support channels which include email and phone. These are then logged as Support tickets, categorised and prioritised according to scale, scope and impact. Emergency incidents are dealt with via our call tree and handled out-of-hours if priority necessitates this.

A draft Incident Report is issued as soon as investigation of the incident has been concluded. This is then finalised once remedial actions have been completed and future mitigations have been identified.
Post-quantum cryptography secure
No

Secure development

Approach to secure software development best practice
Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v4.0)

Public sector networks

Connection to public sector networks
No

Pricing

Discount for educational organisations
No
Free trial available
Yes
Description of free trial
A vanilla, non-localised 30-day Trial version is provided for a limited set of users, authenticated via SSO from our BECS Studio platform. There is no integration with the buyer's back office systems available in the Trial version but test data and documents can be manually exported.

Discount percentage by annual call-off contract value (excluding VAT)

Less than £250,000
5%
Between £250,000 and £500,000
10%
Between £500,001 and £1,000,000
12.5%
Between £1,000,001 and £2,500,000
20%
Between £2,500,001 and £5,000,000
30%
Over £5,000,001
30%

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
No
ISO 28000:2022 certification
No
ISO 9001 certification
No
Quality management systems (QMS)
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
No
Cyber Essentials Alternative
In relation to the services you do not have a current and valid Cyber Essentials certificate which has been awarded by one of the government approved Cyber Essentials accreditation bodies but you are working towards gaining it, and will be in a position to confirm that you have been awarded a current and valid Cyber Essentials certificate by one of the government approved accreditation bodies within 12 months of the date of award.
Cyber essentials plus
No
Cyber Essentials Alternative
In relation to the services you do not have a current and valid Cyber Essentials Plus certificate which has been awarded by one of the government approved Cyber Essentials accreditation bodies but you are working towards gaining it, and will be in a position to confirm that you have been awarded a current and valid Cyber Essentials Plus certificate by one of the government approved accreditation bodies within 12 months of the date of award.
Other security certifications
No

Social value

Section B - Commitment for Future: Delivery
  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority

    • New or retained jobs on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b, 1c and 1d
    • Providing opportunities for, and measuring and monitoring of, staff workforce conditions over time, including employee engagement, involvement in decision-making and satisfaction and adapting to any changes in the results, with clear processes for acting on issues identified
    • Plans to engage the contract workforce in deciding the most important workplace issues to address
    • Ensuring new workers are informed of their right to join a trade union
    • Monitoring of employee engagement rates (by protected characteristic) and, where necessary, the development of actions to ensure all voices are heard across the diversity of the workforce
    • Employment contracts that reflect actual hours worked; steps taken to ensure employees understand their contracts and have the ability to review and adjust them if actual hours regularly exceed contracted hours
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about, and feel empowered to, address their physical wellbeing
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
    • Activities to cascade good practice on fair working conditions throughout the supply chain
    • Offer a pay and leave entitlement to all eligible staff who become kinship carers, ideally equivalent to statutory adoption pay and leave
    • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
    • Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
    • Plans for an appropriate income replacement policy for staff who are required to spend time away from work to care for a sick dependent or close relative
    • Understanding of in-work progression issues affecting the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Measures to support in-work progression to help people in the contract workforce, to move into higher paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Understanding of the modern slavery risks and issues affecting the market, industry, sector or country (of origin or of source) relevant to the contract, and the workforce in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key subcontractors
    • Measures to identify, mitigate and manage modern slavery risks relating to the contract and how these will be implemented
    • Outline policies and practices to be applied to or put in place for the contract to mitigate and manage modern slavery risks, including: Pre-employment checks, recruitment practices. Workplace conditions, safeguarding plans and processes in place and regular monitoring with relevant groups considered, which may include sampling
    • How to ensure business decisions re: price/cost, short lead times, payment timescales do not create modern slavery risks in the supply chain
  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 2: Skills for growth: Supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gaps.

    • Understanding of employment and relevant skills issues, and of the education and training issues relating to the contract. Illustrative examples: demographics, skills shortages, new opportunities in high growth sectors, geographic/local community and skills/employment challenges
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Activities to support relevant sector related skills growth and sustainability in the contract workforce. Illustrative examples: careers talks, curriculum support, literacy support, safety talks and volunteering
  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 3: Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains: Support economic growth through enabling resilient businesses, opportunities for small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises

    • Understanding of the types of businesses in the market and the level of participation by new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
    • Activities to identify opportunities to open up sub-contracts under the prime contract to a diverse range of businesses, including new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
    • Activities that demonstrate a collaborative way to work with a diverse range of businesses as part of the supply chain
    • Ensuring accessibility to contracting and subcontracting opportunities for disabled business owners and employees
    • Structuring of the supply chain selection process to ensure fairness (e.g. anti-corruption) and encourages participation by a diverse range of businesses, including with regard to new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutual
    • Understanding of local demographics, needs and opportunities for the co-design of the goods, services and works to be delivered under the contract
    • Methods for engaging with different parts of the community (including the education system and charities representing the community) and how communities come together to inform decisions, strategy and projects to leave a positive legacy for future generations
  • Mission: Make Britain a clean energy superpower: To cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero

    Policy Outcome 4: Sustainable procurement practices: Reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.

    • Understanding of opportunities for additional environmental benefits delivery in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Collaborative ways of working with the supply chain to deliver additional environmental benefits in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Delivery of additional environmental benefits through the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Understanding of how to influence staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders through the delivery of the contract to support climate and nature protection and improvement
  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 6: Employment and training: For those who face barriers to employment

    • Understanding of the issues affecting the representation of disabled people in the workforce in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Understanding of the issues affecting inequality in employment, skills and pay in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors. Measures to tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce
  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 7: Creating a pipeline of opportunities: For the contract workforce, reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups.

    • Understanding of the issues affecting the development of new skills by target cohort
    • Understanding of the underlying factors affecting improvements to reduce barriers to entry and training schemes for the target cohort(s) related to the contract workforce
    • Understanding of issues relating to entering the contract workforce
  • Mission: Build an NHS fit for the future: That is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.

    Policy Outcome 8: Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: In the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.

    • Understanding of issues relating to health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
    • Understanding barriers to access to health and social care services or employment opportunities e.g. digital inclusion
    • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, development practices and retention policies that support-focused activities including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing which support people with a disability or health condition

Service documents

Request an accessible format
If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at damianlewis@teamnetsol.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.