Quoc Lu

Senior Housing Benefit Audit and Subsidy specialist with 20+ years' experience across London boroughs and local authorities, specialising in Housing Benefit subsidy assurance, HBAP compliance, NEC / Northgate Software suites, audit support, reconciliation, Temporary Accommodation subsidy validation, and operational recovery. Extensive long-term operational experience using NEC /Northgate, including claim-level subsidy analysis, HBAP checking, subsidy balancing, assessment validation, reconciliation, and audit support activities. Strong track record delivering subsidy validation, HBAP cell checking, CAKE testing, financial assurance work, discrepancy investigation, and audit-ready reconciliation within high-volume local authority environments.

Subsidy, Learning and Development Officer at Hackney Council (2023-05 – 2026-04)

Worked across Housing Benefit Subsidy and Temporary Accommodation during post-cyberattack recovery, supporting HBAP activity, subsidy assurance, reconciliation, and financial validation work.

• Supported DWP Housing Benefit Assurance Process (HBAP) activities including CAKE testing, HBAP cell checking, subsidy validation, assessment review, and audit compliance work
• Completed subsidy reconciliation and discrepancy investigation across complex Housing Benefit and Temporary Accommodation cases
• Contributed to subsidy discrepancy corrections exceeding £250k through reconciliation, validation, and corrective review work
• Produced audit-ready datasets, operational MI reporting, and financial assurance outputs
• Built Temporary Accommodation subsidy validation models deriving expected entitlement from LHA, locality, homeless type, subsidy classification, and bedroom entitlement
• Built power BI operational dashboards covering subsidy, overpayments, and audit activity

Senior / Casework / Project Interim Roles at Various Local Authorities (2005 – 2023)

Extensive interim experience across multiple councils delivering operational, technical, subsidy, audit support, and service improvement work.

• Processed Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, and Discretionary Housing Payment claims including complex reassessments and changes in circumstance
• Delivered HBAP support, subsidy reconciliation, QA checking, financial validation, and assessment review work
• Completed appeals, disputes, overpayment reviews, complaints investigations, and complex case handling
• Supported NEC subsidy balancing, manual adjustments, landlord casework, and technical assessment validation
• Produced SHBE/statutory reporting and operational performance reporting
• Supported systems testing, migration validation, process improvement, and operational troubleshooting activities
• Undertook systems support, workflow management, supplier liaison, and operational recovery work across Revenues & Benefits environments

Systems, Overpayments & Project Lead at Liberata UK (2003 – 2005)

Led Systems, Overpayments, Appeals, and Special Projects functions managing three operational teams.

• Delivered workflow redesign, systems improvement, Lean Six Sigma, and operational efficiency initiatives
• Supported systems control, supplier liaison, batch monitoring, testing, and operational troubleshooting
• Produced statutory reporting, subsidy analysis, and operational performance reporting
• Led project work including VICTER implementation with the VOA
• Supported operational compliance, business improvement, and e-government transformation activities

BSc (Hons) in Computing Mathematics – University of Glamorgan (2002)