The Committee considered the report of the Director of Regeneration and Communities setting out details of the performance of the Benefit Fraud Team during 2011/12.  The report included an explanation of the background to the implementation of the shared service arrangements for the delivery of the counter fraud function in relation to Housing and Council Tax Benefit together with details of the staffing structure of the Benefit Fraud and Visiting Team; how benefit fraud was detected and the results from 2011/12; the sanctions applied depending on the offence committed and the circumstances of the case; the costs to the Council of delivering the service and the total monetary value of fraud found; the publicity given to successful prosecutions; and the implications of the Welfare Reform Act and the introduction of Universal Credit.  It was noted that:-

·  Referrals were received from various sources, including Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data matching and the National Fraud Initiative.  305 of the 540 referrals were raised as investigations and the remainder were passed to the Compliance Officer for informal action or the DWP Counter Fraud Service. 

·  In 2011/12 there were 11 prosecutions, 11 administrative penalties and 4 cautions.  The cost to the Council of delivering the service was £197,129 with a total benefit saving of £705,468.94.

·  The Council had robust procedures to recover any overpayments of benefit and administrative penalties and the overall in year collection rate for benefit overpayments in 2011/12 was 84%.

·    The provisions of the Welfare Reform Act and the introduction of Universal Credit would impact on the Fraud Investigation Team from 2013.  The DWP would be responsible for the administration of the new Universal Credit and the investigation of fraud would transfer from the Council to a new Single Fraud Investigation Service that would also be operated by the DWP.  Following an earlier consultation exercise the DWP had stated that its intention was for staff to initially continue to be employed by the Council whilst undertaking work in line with DWP policies and procedures.  This represented an interim measure with the longer term intention being the full transfer of staff and unification of a single team within the DWP.

·    Given that the Council would have an ongoing responsibility to investigate Council Tax Benefit Fraud, Single Person Discount Fraud and other forms of corporate fraud, the Head of Internal Audit and the Head of Revenues and Benefits were currently exploring how the specialist investigation skills held within the Benefit Fraud Team could be retained and used to provide a wider corporate saving.

In response to questions by Members, the Head of Revenues and Benefits confirmed that the highest number of referrals came from front line staff.  The Head of Audit Partnership explained that the future transfer and loss of trained and experienced staff to the DWP created a risk that the Council would not have the skills and resources necessary to investigate the significant threat that would remain in relation to Council Tax Benefit, discounts and other forms of corporate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12