Agenda item

The Committee are invited to note the report.

The Audit Manager tabled an amended table as set out in section 3.4 of the report.

In presenting the report, the Audit Manager explained that the Benefit Investigations Unit undertook work to prevent and detect benefit fraud, and Internal Audit co-ordinated the investigation of matches returned by the National Fraud Initiative exercises.  The report provided Members with information regarding the work undertaken in both areas during the 2014/2015 financial year.

The Audit Manager informed the Committee that as from 1 April 2015 the investigation of Housing Benefit Fraud transferred to the Department of work and Pensions (DWP).  The Investigations Manager and one of the Investigations Officers chose to transfer with the work.  The report was therefore intended to advise the Committee of the work undertaken by the Benefits Investigations Unit up to the point of transfer and would be the last report of this kind, although there may be some residual cases to report.

The Committee was advised that the remaining Investigations Officer had taken up a new post within the Audit and Fraud Team as an Investigations Officer/Internal Auditor.  The Audit Manager explained that the post holder would be providing the investigation support for Council Tax Support fraud and corporate fraud, as well as exploring the possibility of undertaking such work for external bodies.

The Audit Manager explained that the Council’s Internal Audit Team would continue to co-ordinate the data matching exercise run by the National Fraud Initiative.

The Audit Manager provided an overview of the work undertaken by the Benefits Investigations Unit in the year 2014/2015. 

Members were informed that of the 440 cases that were formally investigated, 19 resulted in fraud being proven where formal action was taken, as the evidence gained was considered ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’.  Details of the action taken were outlined as set out in the report.

It was explained that in the past, the work of the Investigations Unit was directly funded by the government with rewards for achievements of targets.  Costs towards fraud prevention and detection were now all included within the Administration Subsidy that the Council received to administer the Housing Benefit Scheme.  The Audit Manager advised that the Investigations Unit did still generate income up to 31 March 2015, in addition to the government funding through the costs awarded against proven cases and the repayment of overpayments of benefit.

The Committee noted the work completed on the National Fraud Initiative exercise as detailed at section 5 of the report.

Councillor Devereux asked how in the future will the Council protect itself against fraud and gain intelligence in a timely manner to provide timely stakeholder assurance of the risks involved.  In response, the Audit Manager explained that prior to Borough Council staff being transferred to the DWP, the level of employees had been as follows:

·        2 Investigations Officer.

·        1 Line Manager.

At the present time, there remained 1 Investigations Officer who would continue to work on fraud detection.

Councillor Blunt asked how the Borough Council compared to other authorities with the detection of fraud. 

The Chairman, Councillor Humphrey referred to paragraph 4.3 and asked how successful the Borough Council was in recovering the overpayments and at what debts were written off.  In response, the Investigations Officer explained that the Council continued to recover overpayments on an annual basis which also included previous debts.  The Investigations Officer advised that in some cases debts were written off but where possible every effort was made to recover the debt.

In response to questions from the Chairman, Councillor Humphrey regarding the data matching exercise and progress to date, the Investigations Officer informed Members that he had commenced work on this area of work on 1 April 2015 and that there were over 3,000 data matches contained in the report.

Following questions from Councillor Collop on fraud relating to student loans, the Investigations Officer explained that students could claim benefit which was considered as income and could live on the benefit during their period of study.

In response to questions from Councillor Devereux regarding the recovery of fraud, the Investigations Officer explained that the Council had a duty to investigate.

RESOLVED:  The Committee noted the report.