The Benefits and Financial Assessments Manager presented a report, the purpose of which, was to inform the Committee of the activities that have been undertaken in the first six months of this financial year with regard to Housing and Council Tax Benefit fraud investigations,  compared with the position during the same period in 2013/14. In addition, the report also summarised the activities undertaken and the results achieved during 2013/14.

Following some background information, she explained that the fraud referrals were summarised in Table 1 of the report. This shows that overall during the first half of 2014/15 there has been a slight decrease in the number of referrals received overall. There has been a significant decrease in the number of cases referred via benefit staff, this was primarily due to an inflated 2013/2014 figure as an intervention exercise, where unreported increases in wages were highlighted, resulting in an influx of referrals.  There were no National Fraud Initiative (NFI) referrals for the first 6 months of 2014 as this exercise is only run on alternate years whilst the Housing Benefit Matching Service has returned to its normal level.

Fraud awareness training sessions are undertaken for Benefit, Homelessness, Council Tax and Customer Service staff and with outside agencies on a cyclical basis. Fraud awareness also forms part of the induction process for all new benefits staff.

The Benefits and Financial Assessments Manager confirmed that investigations are undertaken based upon information received as a data match or in the form of a specific allegation regarding either the claimant’s circumstances or the claimant's landlord. As well as new cases there are also cases ongoing from previous years.

She then referred to Table 2 in the report which illustrated a breakdown of the types of cases that have been investigated in specific periods, covering categories of living together, contrived tenancy, non-dependant, non-occupation, undeclared income and working and claiming..

She emphasised that investigations into alleged living together situations remain a major element of Benefit Fraud investigation within the county borough for the reasons given in paragraph 4.3 of the report.

The Benefits and Financial Assessments Manager confirmed that during 2013/14, 368 cases were closed and the closure categories were detailed below in Table 3 in paragraph 4.4 of the report.

She explained that the percentage of fraud proven cases for April to Sept 2014 has decreased from that of April to Sept 2013. This was partly due to a small decrease in the number of staff within the fraud team and also because the quality of information received in referrals from the public is typically not as reliable as those generated via housing benefit assessment staff or from external agencies.

Table 4 in the report then illustrated the sanction action taken in the relevant periods, i.e. April - Sept 2014, together with comparable information for the period April - September 2013.

The overall number of sanctions achieved during the first six months of 2013/2014 was down on that of the previous year, but this was in part due to the overall decrease in staff within the section and also the lack of targeted referrals (for example, an earned income intervention campaign) which generally provide less complex investigations and ‘quick hits’ for sanctions.

Finally, the Benefits and Financial Assessments Manager confirmed that investigation staff from all local authorities will become civil servants within SFIS as part of a phased programme which will run until 2016.   The first phase of local authority investigators being absorbed into the new service (SFIS) began in June of this year; in Wales investigation staff from Blaenau Gwent, Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan were included in this first phase. In scope investigation staff from Bridgend are scheduled to join SFIS in November 2015, when all Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit investigation work transfers to SFIS. Prosecutions will then be dealt with by the Crown Prosecution Service. The financial impact on the Council of this change is not yet known.

A Member asked if the grant allocated by the Welsh Government covered the costs of staffing in the Fraud Investigating Team.

The Benefits and Financial Assessments Manager advised that part of the grant to cover administration came from the DWP, though this was worked out by way of a very complex calculation.  Though, some of this grant would be lost as part of the changes proposed as part of the staff transfer, some staff would also be lost to compensate for this.

A Member felt that steps should be taken for a higher profile to be given to the Fraud Team, for example by publishing successfully prosecutions made as a result of investigations.

RESOLVED:   That the Committee is recommended to note the report.