Agenda item

This report presents the Council’s Interim Counter Fraud Report for the financial year 2024-25.

Darren Armstrong (Deputy Director Organisational Assurance and Resilience) introduced a report which summarised the counter fraud activity that the Council had undertaken in 2024-25, up to 31 October 2024.

In considering the report the Committee noted:

·             That the report was intended to support the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee in obtaining assurance that the Council had robust and sound counter-fraud arrangements in place,  which included a summary of the activity undertaken by the Counter Fraud team across multiple fraud types (including internal fraud, housing tenancy fraud, external fraud and proactive work undertaken to identify and reduce fraud). The report also fulfilled the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2015, which required local authorities to publish details of their counter-fraud activity.

·             The report followed a format similar to previous versions, and officers noted that the team continued to deliver a robust counter-fraud plan and preventative measures across the fraud types outlined.

·             The details provided in relation to internal fraud which, whilst typically having the fewest referrals, were often more complex in nature as detailed within the “Proactive” section of Appendix 1 of the report.

·             The update provided in relation to Tenancy & Social Housing Fraud (as detailed within section 3.4 and Section 2 of Appendix 1 in the report) with the recovery of social housing properties by the Counter Fraud team demonstrating a notional saving of £42,000 per property and positive impact on the temporary accommodation budget as a high-priority fraud risk for the Council.

·             The update provided in relation to External Fraud activity cases as detailed within Section 3 of Appendix 1 within the report.  This activity included (but was not limited to) fraud cases involving Blue Badge, Direct Payments, Council Tax, Business Rates, insurance, finance, concessionary travel and grant applications.

·             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 other fraud risk activity across all service areas with further details having been summarised in section 4 of Appendix 1 within the report.

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

·             Reporting on developments in relation to Blue Badge fraud, Councillor Chain (as Vice-Chair) took the opportunity to update members on the introduction of the new digital Blue Badge initiative, which it was felt would assist in addressing ongoing concerns regarding their fraudulent.  Thanks were extended to Councillors Long, Councillor Chaudry and other Committee members who had continued to highlight concerns regarding operation of the scheme with further clarification to be sought on roll out of the digital scheme and whether the virtual badges would work on a borough wide basis.

·             Further details were sought on the changes in relation to the discounts available under the Right To Buy scheme and whether this had impacted on the activity being undertaken in relation to Tenancy and Social Housing Fraud.  In response, Darren Armstrong confirmed that this had been subject to review given the potential enhanced fraud risk identified with work being focussed around the use of preventative measures.  These included support being provided on the introduction of an enhanced screening and verification process and identification of high risk applications working with closely with the Housing Team with a further update to be included as part of the Annual Counter Fraud Report.  The Chair added that any proactive action was valued, solving problems before they occur and showing effective counter-fraud results.

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 – October 2024.