Agenda item

Officers introduced the Counter Fraud Progress report for quarter 1 of 2023-24.

The team had picked up from where it had left off in the previous year and had achieved another £1.8 in savings during quarter 1. The team had mainly focused its efforts on fraud risks within housing and had recovered 27 properties due to tenancy fraud, which was the highest figure achieved to date during one quarter. The risk of tenancy fraud would remain high for some time which was demonstrated by the team’s current caseload of 127 live investigations. There had been unprecedented demand on housing due to homelessness which had led to an increase in the need for emergency accommodation and the team had been working closely with the Housing Service to check all emergency accommodations to ensure they were being used appropriately. The team had closed four cases so far worth £33,000 and this project was ongoing.

In Social Care, officers had identified financial savings totalling £106,000 across a variety of service areas including financial assessments, section 17 and special guardianship orders (SGOs).

Officers also took part in the first National Blue Bade Day of Action. 82 Councils attended and tackled misuse. 10 blue badges were seized due to misuse. Officers had prosecuted a resident for using a blue badge that had belonged to a deceased resident, and during the court case the offender received a fine, a victim surcharge and full costs to the Council of £2,900.

It was noted that there had been an increased risk of fraud over the last 18 months, particularly due to COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis. This had had a vast impact on the service and its workload. Officers had reviewed the structure and resourcing of the service moving forward and a new structure had been agreed with the Corporate Management Team. This included posts of a Counter Fraud Manager, Counter Fraud Investigator and two apprentices. Recruitment was progressing well and officers expected to be fully staffed by the end of August 2023.

The Chairman noted the £5m financial target, and that officers had already delivered £1.8m of this during quarter 1. This was evidence of the increasing levels of fraud. The Chairman also noted the 127 live cases of tenancy fraud and asked how many team members were dedicated to this area of Counter Fraud. Officers noted that officially there were four officers dedicated to this, but in reality, the service was deploying more resources into this area, and it was high on the agenda with the Corporate Management Team. On the new appointments to the team, officers clarified that a structure chart would be included within the agenda for the next Audit Committee meeting.

The Chairman asked, on Social Care, whether the types of Social Care fraud were as expected. Officers noted that there was a yes and no answer to this. There had been positive engagement from the Social Care service which had been very beneficial, and so there were areas that officers had not expected to go into. There was lots of reference to special guardianship order payments in the report, which was unusual. Conversely, the financial assessments, direct payments and section 17 work were more expected areas and this was similar for other Local Authorities. It was noted that there were some regulatory issues of processing Social Care data for the purposes of fraud. The Cabinet Office were leading on this.

The Chairman referred to the investigation into special guardianship orders. Officers noted that the criminal process was still live. This type of case was unusual and was one of two cases. Discussions with the Social Care service had led officers to believe that these were one-off cases and not evidence of a larger issue. The sensitive nature of these types of cases was noted.

Members asked how officers were informed of new cases of housing fraud. Officers noted that a lot of reports came from members of the public, and more so in the aftermath of COVID-19. Reports also came from staff in the Housing service, both Housing Management and the Homelessness service.

Members noted that the majority of the team’s efforts were currently on housing fraud, and asked how long this may continue before officers were better able to focus on other areas. Officers noted that their work was based on risk, and so focus was on wherever the highest risk was to the organisation. Currently this was housing fraud risk and so in terms of value for money and what was required for the organisation to function, it was best to keep the majority of efforts there. Officers were still working on other areas such as revenues and social care, and if the fraud risk of housing were to reduce, officers could re-prioritise.

Members noted that types of fraud were constantly evolving, and asked officers how they kept up with emerging types of fraud, noting the National Fraud Initiative (NFI). Officers advised that when the risks within a service were understood, this allowed identification of where fraud could take place. The London Boroughs' Fraud Investigators' Group was highlighted, whereby representative from London Boroughs came together to share knowledge about emerging risks.

RESOLVED: That the Audit Committee:

1. Noted the Counter Fraud Progress Report for 2023/24 Quarter 1; and

2. Suggested any comments/ amendments.