Agenda item

To consider progress on the SAFS Anti-Fraud Plan 2025/26.

The Committee received a report covering the period from April to December 2025. The report was noted as a summary of relevant updates.

Prevention and Policy Work
Members noted that a review of fraud and associated policies, supported by SAFS, had been ongoing in liaison with the Assistant Director of Finance, with completion anticipated by the end of the financial year.

It was reported that four fraud alerts relating to ID document and email spoofing risks had been circulated since the last update, bringing the total number of fraud threat reports issued during the year to 25. These had been shared with all relevant partners.

The Committee noted that training sessions had been delivered across all levels of the Council up to December 2025. These covered fraud prevention and awareness, ID documents, recruitment fraud, and updates on the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCTA), including the introduction of the failure to prevent fraud offence in September 2025.

An ECCTA briefing had been provided to senior management, and discussions had taken place regarding compliance and associated risks. In December 2025, a gap analysis and action plan had been implemented alongside a review of the Council’s Anti-Fraud Policy.

Investigations and Internal Control Improvements
Members noted that three executive reports had been issued to senior management and Internal Audit following investigations. Two related to procurement processes and one to declarations of interest. These reports identified system weaknesses and included recommendations to mitigate ongoing fraud risks.

Reactive Work and Investigations
The Committee was informed that 128 referrals had been received during the period, covering areas including housing, council tax, procurement, and blue badge misuse. Of these, 56 referrals had been made by Council officers.

As of December 2025, 37 cases remained under investigation and 17 were at the referral stage, with an estimated total loss of £840,000.

A total of 19 investigations had been closed during the year, with fraud identified in 13 cases.

Council tax discount reviews had identified additional revenue of £48,000. Joint work with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had identified £29,000 in losses relating to national benefit claims, with recovery pending, and several cases had been referred for consideration of criminal prosecution.

Work with Housing Services had resulted in the recovery of three properties that had been misused, which were returned to housing stock and re-let to applicants on the waiting list.

Proactive Work
Members noted that all Right to Buy applications had been subject to a 100% review, with 27 completed during the period. In addition, 38 succession applications had been reviewed to ensure no fraud or money laundering concerns.

At the end of December, three Right to Buy applications required further investigation and one application had been withdrawn, resulting in a saving of £102,000 in discount value.

The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) exercise had concluded. Although some areas received less focus than planned, two cases of fraud were identified, resulting in savings of £6,000.

Following this, work had commenced on the Hertfordshire Fraud Hub (NFI Lite), with 534 matches received and 59 reviewed to date; no fraud or error had been identified.

A business rates fraud framework had been applied, with 16 reviews completed and three businesses having small business rate relief removed.

A council tax review framework reported the removal of 724 incorrectly claimed single-person discounts in Quarter 2, generating an additional £306,000 in council tax for the financial year.

Performance Monitoring
The Committee noted progress against key performance indicators (KPIs), which were reported as met, on target, or partially met, reflecting the fact that the financial year had not yet concluded.