Agenda item

REPORT OF THE SHARED ANTI-FRAUD SERVICE

This report provides details of the work undertaken to protect the Council against the threat of fraud and the Council’s 2023/24 Anti-Fraud plan.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the work of the Council and the Shared Anti-Fraud Service in delivering the 2023/24 Anti-Fraud Plan.

Audio recording 3 minutes 40 seconds

The Head of Service, Shared Anti-Fraud Service, presented the ‘SAFS Progress Update on 2023-24 Anti-Fraud Plan’, and highlighted that:

·       The 2023-24 Anti-Fraud report was approved by this Committee in March 2023.

·       The report progress and KPIs were shown in appendix B, with a more detailed report on page 29 covering the period 1 April to 31 October 2023.

·       KPI 2a highlighted that 36% of allocated fraud days had been completed this has improved in quarter 3 (Q3).

·       A persistent error with the new case management system had been identified and was being addressed, which had affected the reporting of time spent on cases.

·       Work had been completed in accordance with the service plan and since Q3 the agreed number of days had occurred.

·       The Council took part in the International Fraud Awareness week in November 2023.

·       Work was ongoing with HR regarding the I-learning training with changes expected next year.

·       A table highlighting all the referrals received from staff and members of the public to SAFS and the categories of these fraud allegations was shown on page 15 of the report.

·       The estimated value of live fraud cases was £318K as highlight in section 15 of the report.

·       The outcome of the recent grant fraud investigation resulted in a two year suspended sentence and 200 hours of unpaid work, with the matter being referred to the proceeds of crime team to investigate the recovery of any funds.

·       The Fraud Advisory Panel reported in April about the Lost Homes Lost Hope risk from social housing which highlighted the importance of working closely with housing partners to prevent fraud.

·       Work was ongoing with other agencies to ensure that SAFS was informed of any new fraud initiatives or threats.

·       The County Council undertook an investigation of the Council Tax Framework and from a sample of 3500 cases selected for review, they found that 625 discounts could be removed which would generate an extra £264K of Council Tax funding.

·       Work was ongoing with the National Fraud Initiative and the use of data and data analytics to identify and prevent fraud.

·       NHDC had a lower number of data matches compared to other districts and these data matches had identified fraudulent claims that had generated a saving of £69K.

·       SAFS were working with the Hertfordshire Fraud Hub to ensure that data was submitted on a regular basis, enabling the early identification of fraud.

·       Polygamous workers were highlighted as a new risk, this was the result of remote working where employees worked at more than one authority.

·       Specific reports regarding grant processes and recruitment risks had been produced.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Terry Hone

·       Councillor Tom Plater

·       Independent Person John Cannon

In response to questions the Head of Service stated that:

·       The case management system had been incorrectly recording time spent working on NHDC accounts and the reporting systems showed a shortfall. This meant that the 285 recorded days would not be met, however assurances could be given that the work had taken place.

·       The work undertaken for the Council had been met and they were satisfied that any risk to the Council had been dealt with.

·       There were still issues with the case management system and work was ongoing to rectify this.

·       Urgent referrals were still being actioned and the team were meeting the two day target.

·       The case management system was now recording accurate time spent and a weekly report was being produced detailing the time spent by each authority and Officer.

·       They were unable to confirm if historical data would be updated.

·       The workload was being completed and high risk cases were being identified and actioned appropriately.

·       The case management system was used by 120 different organisations, meetings were ongoing with the provider and a request had been made for a system update.

·       Ideally this situation would get rectified, alternatively an additional process would be instigated to mitigate and identify the high risk cases.

·       The grant fraud perpetrator worked for the Business Improvement District (BID), they were identified by Council officers undertaking post payment assurance work and measures were put into place to prevent this type of fraud reoccurring.

·       The person concerned abused their work position, and this was discovered post payment, recommendations had been given to Officers to prevent this type of fraud occurring again.

·       There was a typographical error on section 17 of the report, and it should read Letchworth Garden City.

·       The value of the fraud was £64K and the fraud occurred over several months.

N.B Councillor Tom Plater left the Council Chamber at 19:48

N.B Councillors Tamsin Thomas and Tom Plater entered the Council Chamber at 19:51.

Councillor Tom Plater proposed and Councillor Terry Hone seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the work of the Council and the Shared Anti-Fraud Service in delivering the 2023/24 Anti-Fraud Plan.