Agenda item

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The Senior Internal Auditor presented the Half Year Fraud and Error Progress Report to the Committee. He advised Section 1 of the report provided a current overview nationally and purpose of the report, and this related to the period April to September 2024. He highlighted to the Committee that there had been recent surge in scams for Council Tax refunds and vulnerable members of our communities who use Careline support services had been targeted by scammers.

He referred to section 4 of the report and outlined the progress made against the KPI targets of 5000 fraud and corruption case investigations and 3,163 cases have been completed. He highlighted figure 4 in section 4 of the report which identified the number of outstanding cases and new cases received. He added, figure 5 showed a comparison against the previous 2 years to date. He brought to the Committee’s attention 4.3 of the report which included the SPD Canvass Review Project for the 5^th Year.

Councillor Bearshaw thanked Officers for their work and exceeding the KPI.  He referred to figures 3,4 and 5 and questioned why the amount which was being recovered was not as much as we previously had.

The Senior Internal Auditor explained figure 5 showed a full year for the previous 2 years against the first half year for this year. He added there would be additional value in the second half of the year which would exceed previous results.

Councillor de Winton referred to page 83, figure 1 and 2 and questioned why the number of cases investigates was 0 however figure 1 suggested conflicting information.

The Senior Internal Auditor explained a high volume of the work carried out was from the SPD Canvass review and a penalty procedure had been created. He added penalties would be given to negligence cases and Council Tax Support fraud.

Councillor de Winton sought clarification on Council Tax on second homes doubling being included in the fraud and error statistics. He asked if there were mechanisms in place to determine fraudulent cases.

The Senior Internal Auditor confirmed the National Fraud Initiative provides information on empty void properties within the Borough and a review exercise was being considered. He added the Council Tax team were working through the changes being made to the legislation.

The Assistant Director for Resources and Section 151 Officer advised the Committee, the work being carried out was to establish the baseline which included working with the Valuation Office as the second home will either fall within Council Tax or Business Rates listing dependant on the evidence and criteria.

The Senior Internal Auditor added further there was a National Fraud Initiative meeting recently which an additional data matching exercise was discussed in preparation for the premium on Council Tax for second homes.

The Chair, Councillor Ryves sought clarification on anti- corruption and fraud being the correct terminology.

The Senior Internal Auditor explained the fraud was different levels of negligence and the majority of the fraud identified was through the SPD Canvass review as the Borough Council as data was shared as part of the project.

The Chair, Councillor Ryves asked if value for money was being achieved.

The Senior Internal Auditor confirmed identified values based on the share for the Council and income from funding for 2021/22 was £137,500 compared to £25,000 expenses. He added a positive return for 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Councillor Long commented identifying cases where incorrect discount was being received was important work and added enforcing rules and recovery Council Tax and Business Rates needed to be done. He thanked Officers for their work.

RESOLVED: The Audit Committee noted the details of the report, taking into account the Council’s Anti-Fraud & Anti-Corruption Policy and reviewed the effectiveness of the anti-fraud & anti-corruption work in preventing and detecting fraud and corruption.