Agenda item

This report summarises the counter fraud activity undertaken in 2023/24, up to 30^th September 2023.

Darren Armstrong, Head of Audit and Investigations introduced the report which summarised the counter fraud activity that the Council had undertaken in 2023-24, up to 30th September 2023.

In considering the report the Committee noted:

·                 That the report covered multiple fraud types that included internal fraud and whistleblowing, external fraud, tenancy and social housing fraud, and the proactive activity undertaken to identify and reduce fraud.

·                 The details provided in relation to internal fraud which, whilst typically having the fewest referrals, were often more complex in nature as detailed in Table A within Section 3.3 of the report.

·                 The update provided in relation to Tenancy & Social Housing Fraud with the recovery of social housing properties by the Counter Fraud team demonstrating a notional saving of £42,000 per property. Work had also been undertaken in respect of fraudulent Succession and Right to Buy applications.

·                 The increase in External Fraud cases (162) compared to (127) for the same period last year, with Blue Badge allegations accounting for the majority of new referrals. Further details of the figures related to external fraud were detailed within Table C Section 3.5 of the report.

·                 There had been an increase in successful prosecutions for Blue Badge fraud, however the resources that had been required to support cases through to prosecution had limited the team’s capacity to deal with other counter fraud activity.

·                 The team continued to undertake a broad range of proactive activity including National Fraud Initiative (NFI) data matching, fraud workshops and targeted operations to support the identification, investigation and reduction in fraud.

The Committee was then invited to raise questions and comments on the report which have been summarised below:

·                 Following a Committee query in relation to the amount of resourcing applied to managing Blue Badge Fraud, the Committee was advised due to the high number of referrals received in relation this type of fraud, it had been a priority to heavily resource this area. In order to manage the number of referrals, the team had worked closely with colleagues in Parking Services to pursue case resolution. It was noted that a number of options were being looked in to in order to reduce this type of fraud in the future, including the use of virtual badges.

·                 The Committee felt it would be useful to receive a breakdown of the resourcing allocations applied to other external fraud cases, as it was noted that Blue Badge Fraud had taken 50% of resources to date this municipal year.

·                 The Committee was pleased to note the notional savings made in relation to Single Person Council Tax claims and were keen to see further savings made in relation to fraudulent claims of Housing and Council Tax benefits. The Committee was reminded that these were notional savings as opposed to being able to recover funds, however their comments would be shared with the Council Tax team.

As no further issues were raised the Chair thanked officers for their hard work and efforts in relation to the ongoing delivery of counter fraud activity and it was RESOLVED to note the contents of the report and counter fraud activity undertaken from April – September 2023.