Decision details

The Shared Anti-Fraud Manager presented a report detailing the work of the Council and Shared Anti-Fraud Service (SAFS) in delivering the Anti-Fraud Action Plan 2017/18.

The Shared Anti-Fraud Manager drew attention to an interesting CIPFA document on all reported fraud in Local Government in the UK.  He undertook to circulate this document to all Members of the Committee.

It was noted that all of the SAFS 2017/18 Key Performance Indicators had been met, with the exception of the one relating to “Success rate for cases investigated”, which had achieved a 44% outcome against a target of 50%.

In response to a series of Members’ questions, the Shared Anti-Fraud Manager replied as follows:

·      Sometimes it was difficult to place a value on identified fraud, and so some of the figures in the report referred to irrecoverable losses to SBC as a result of fraudulent activity;

·      Staff who reported fraud were provided feedback on the outcome (success or otherwise) of the case;

·      Blue Badges – where these were removed from individuals due to fraudulent use, the costs attributed to this were recorded as savings (ie. the additional revenue gained by the individual using a regular parking space rather than a Blue Badge space);

·      The majority of the type of Local Government fraud had not changed over the past 5 years (mostly Council Tax and Housing Benefit fraud), although certain areas of fraud had become much more sophisticated, especially due to the rise in “fake” companies, many of them based overseas; and

·      Where no action had been taken on fraud allegations this was often due to the quality of the report; the fact that it did not fit into the SAFS remit (in which case it was referred to others organisations, such as the Department for Work & Pensions); or the value of the alleged fraud could be dealt with administratively, without the need for further investigation.

It was RESOLVED that the work of the Council and Shared Anti-Fraud Service (SAFS) in delivering the Anti-Fraud Action Plan 2017/18 be noted.