Agenda item

To receive a written report on the performance of the Benefits Services Fraud Investigation Service during the period 1st September 2013 to 30th November 2013.

Also, to receive any additional Officer and/or Lead Fraud Member (Councillors Fisher and Hill) oral updates in relation to fraud monitoring activity which has taken place since the last meeting of the Committee.

(Report attached and oral reports)

The Committee received a report which advised on the performance of the Benefits Services Fraud Investigation Service from 1st September 2013 to 30th November 2013.

The issues highlighted in the report in relation to the limited amount of information received by the Council on changes to Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits and Tax Credits, which provided for a risk of fraud and error entering the system, were noted.  Officers advised that the Chief Executive was due to write to central government to explain the extra work which was required on the part of authorities in obtaining the required information.  Whilst both the DWP and the authority shared legally required information on claimants, there was no statutory requirement for the DWP to provide particular information which the Council would find helpful when dealing with its claimants.

As both Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support were means tested there was potential for claimants to under-declare.  Data-matching was a key tool to identifying fraud and approximately 26% of fraud referrals received during the period came from members of the public.

Members queried whether the £32m in Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit paid in the financial year 2012/13 was a rising figure.  Officers confirmed that this was not the case, with projected claims for 2013/14 being £32.2m.  It was further noted that recent changes to the benefits system would make it difficult to make any similar comparisons in the future.

Members also queried whether information was available showing how well the service was performing in comparison with neighbouring authorities’ services.  Officers responded that whilst certain information was shared between authorities it was difficult to benchmark such data given the varying circumstances involved.  The forthcoming Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS) which was to be introduced as part of the government’s welfare reform plans also impacted on how the authority evaluated its performance against other authorities.  Officers agreed to look into whether it was possible to obtain any relevant comparison data for future reporting to Members.

In response to a Member request, Officers went on to explain the background to Administrative Penalties and how and when these were applied.

Members queried how likely it was that the £36k overpaid in Housing Benefit would be recovered.  Officers responded that there was a reasonable likelihood of this being recovered, although this would be over a significant period of time as the authority did not want to put families in crisis when clawing back overpayments as this would only serve to make matters worse.     

The update provided in the report in relation to the SFIS was noted, with current implementation due to take place on a phased basis between October 2014 and March 2016.  Alongside the roll out of the SFIS, the Department for Communities and Local Government and DWP were also investigating local government’s capacity to tackle non-welfare fraud, which would include extra funding for local authorities for 2014/15 and 2015/16. 

The Independent Member queried whether the 225 fraud referrals received during the period of the report was an increasing figure, and whether there had been a year-on-year increase in referral numbers.  Officers were unsure on this and agreed the report back to the Committee at the next meeting under the Action List item on past referral numbers.  Future benefits investigations reports would also include relevant comparison figures.

RESOLVED that

subject to the required follow-up actions by Officers, as detailed in the preamble above, the report be noted.