Council’s fraud team unearths nearly £300k in overpayments
FRAUD officers in Swansea helped save nearly £300,000 of over-claimed housing benefit, council tax reduction and other state payments last year.
They also investigated reports of in-house fraud involving 35 council employees in 2017/18, with a further 15 brought forward from the previous year.
The council officers’ work has had an “invaluable” effect on deterring fraudulent activities, according to a report before the audit committee.
Some of their work is with the Department of Work and Pensions as part of a two-year pilot, which is now being rolled out to several other councils in Wales.
Speaking after the committee meeting, deputy council leader Clive Lloyd said: “Housing benefit, council tax relief and other payments are there to assist people on low incomes, those who are struggling to get by and some of the most vulnerable in society, and Swansea Council does everything it can to encourage them to take up benefits that are rightfully theirs.
“The work of the fraud section is to make sure that payments do not exceed what people are entitled to.”
He added: “In some cases overpayments are down to genuine error but there are other cases where people are deliberately attempting to defraud the authorities.”
Committee members heard that the value of overpayments unearthed was £297,869, mainly as the result of two prosecutions.
This compared to overpayments of £184,599 in 2016/17.
Meanwhile, the 35 employees in the spotlight were under investigation for reasons including theft, abuse of position and working on sick leave.
Five of them resigned before disciplinary hearings, five were investigated but no further action was taken, five faced other sanctions, two were not investigated as it wasn’t deemed appropriate, and investigations are ongoing for the remaining 18.
Despite the success of the fraud officers’ work, one of the three officers took early redundancy due to council budget pressures and there are no plans to recruit extra staff.
Councillor Lloyd added: “The aim of the pilot was to bring together the combined expertise of officers from the DWP and local councils.
“It is very pleasing to note that Swansea has been commended on a number of occasions for its work in leading this pilot and shaping how it will work when rolled out across England and Wales.”