Agenda item

The Board considered a report which detailed the performance of the Benefits Services Fraud Investigation service for the period 1st January 2014 to 31st March 2014, Quarter 4.

As agreed at the Audit Board meeting held on 20th March 2014, information on the new benefit system and the potential for increased fraud was included in the report, along with temporal data as requested by Members.

The Head of Customer Access and Financial Support introduced the report and in doing so informed the Board that as detailed in the report, during the three month period overpayments of £189,046.77 in Housing Benefit were identified.  Council Tax Reduction caused by claimant error was no longer measured.   

Fraud investigation could impact upon other areas of benefit administration. The biggest impact was upon the identification of overpaid Housing Benefit and excess payments of Council Tax Benefit/Reduction.  Some of these overpayments could be large and could distort the apparent recovery rate of overpayments.  Overpayments on the files closed during quarter 4 totalled £8,730.38 in Housing Benefit and £4,926.07 in Council Tax Benefit/Reduction.

During Quarter 4, 39 fraud referrals were received and considered for investigation by the team.  The report highlighted where the referrals had been received from, data-matching, official sources and members of the public.  17 of the 20 referrals from members of the public were allegations relating to undeclared partners.

Many fraud referrals related to benefits paid by both Bromsgrove District Council and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).  In these cases a joint approach was taken to ensure that the full extent of offending was uncovered and the appropriate action was taken by both bodies. This also maximised staffing resources by preventing duplicate investigation work and depending on workloads either body could take the lead.

Appendix 3 to the report detailed the numbers of referrals and subsequent outcomes for 2013/14, compared with the two previous years.  The trend indicated a reduction in referrals but this was largely due to changes in the way some were recorded and also the automation of a large number of changes which had reduced the likelihood of changes not being picked up.

Quite a large number of the referrals would not be taken up.  This could be for a variety of reasons such as duplicate referrals where an investigation was already taking place; no benefit in payment, the information in the allegation was already correctly declared alleged or would have no effect on the claim.

Cases where the allegation would have no effect on the Housing Benefit / Council Tax Support claim but could impact on DWP benefits or Tax Credits were referred to the appropriate organisation to investigate.

The timescale for the implementation of the Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS), as announced as part of the Government’s Welfare reform plans had now been released and despite the rest of the county joining in November this year, Bromsgrove and Redditch would not join the organisation until February 2016.  Staff were being kept fully informed and work would commence six months prior to the start date of February 2016.

The Head of Customer Access and Financial Support highlighted that it was important to note that the local authority would not be responsible for monitoring fraud in the Universal Credit system. This would transfer to the Single Fraud Investigation Service.  However we would retain responsibility to manage non-welfare fraud such as the Council Tax Support Scheme.  Readiness planning was taking place and the team were looking at how we could help our customers, digital by default, there would be a need for support to be in place for those who absolutely needed help.  The team would look at on-line offerings, voluntary sector groups and budget helping assistance.

RESOLVED that the Benefits Services Fraud Investigations update for 1st January 2014 to 31st March 2014, quarter 4 be noted