Agenda item

REPORT OF THE SHARED ANTI-FRAUD SERVICE (SAFS)

To review the progress and delivery of the Anti-Fraud plan 2025/26.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the progress by officers and the Shared Anti-Fraud Service to deliver the Anti-Fraud Plan for the Council.

Audio recording – 25 minutes 14 seconds

The Counter Fraud Manager presented the report entitled ‘External Audit - Auditors Annual Report 2024-25’ and highlighted that:

·       The report provided data from the whole period of April to September, however a Progress Report had been provided in September, providing data to the end of July 2025.

·       Three Fraud Alerts had been raised in this period, including around identify documents and email spoofing, which were prevalent threats. Fifteen Fraud Threat reports had been circulated to all partners.

·       Three training sessions had been delivered, including to the Housing and Revenue and Benefits teams at the Council, and a session provided to all Officers at the November staff briefing.

·       A total of 54 referrals had been received, including 14 from Officers. SAFS currently had 26 cases under investigation, or at referral stage, with estimated losses of £759,000 recorded in this caseload.

·       5 of the 6 investigations closed in this period resulted in fraud being identified, with £5,000 in fraud loss identified for recovery.

·       16 low level reviews of council tax discounts/benefits cases had been conducted, and this has identified savings of around £3,000.

·       Five social housing properties had been recovered across the district which were fraudulently used by residents on the housing waiting list of North Herts Council. 

·       Following a data matching exercise from the National Fraud Initiative, 13 potential frauds had been identified, with savings of £52k reported so far.

·       The most recent matches from the Hertfordshire Fraud Hub, identified 166 matches which could be process, with 6 frauds identified and a further identified savings of £26k reported.

·       All KPIs for SAFS were being met, on target or part met as outlined in the table at page 78 of the reports pack.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Paul Ward

·       Councillor Matt Barnes

·       Councillor Vijaiya Poopalasingham

In response to questions, the Counter Fraud Manager stated that:

·       Under the new Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, the Council would have a duty toto prevent fraud with proper safeguards in place, especially in relation to dealing with private companies.

·       The briefing was currently high-level and a briefing note would be provided to the Leadership Team at the Council, and a GAP analysis would be done to show if there are weaknesses.

·       The 26 cases under investigation and associated losses were higher than previously. For some situations, the value in terms of money was easy to identify, however in other cases it is more difficult to come to an amount. Estimated amounts were included in these circumstances to assist with the monitoring of risks.

·       Trends were always highlighted in the Annual Report, however it was difficult to provide this in the interim reports, but this could be explored for provision in future reports.

·       The ‘provide an investigation service’ KPI was slightly below the expected level to date.  This was due to other members of the partnership needing extra support and therefore this KPI would vary year on year. Previously additional support had been provided to NHDC, and there was no additional charge for additional work required.

·       Quarterly meetings were required, and monitored through KPI, to ensure that the required work was being delivered by SAFS as required, and as directed by the Council as to identified areas of risk.

·       All S151 Officers met regularly to ensure the delivery of work provided by SAFS was implemented effectively.

·       All information around International Fraud Week would be shared on SAFS social media and was already with the Communication team at the Council to be shared by them as well.

In response to questions, the Director - Resources stated that:

·       Once the GAP analysis findings have been reviewed by the Senior Management Team, it would be shared with Members, alongside the briefing paper.

·       The quarterly meetings with SAFS did take place and the detail of these meetings was accurately reflected in the responses from the Counter Fraud Manager.

Councillor Vijaiya Poopalasingham proposed and Councillor Paul Ward seconded.

As part of the debate, Councillor Poopalasingham noted:

·       That the important work done by SAFS to prevent fraud should be recognised.

·       That an action should be added to the Action Plan regarding the communications around the International Fraud Week.

·       That any future successes of the service should be promoted through communication channels.

Having been proposed and seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the progress by officers and the Shared Anti-Fraud Service to deliver the Anti-Fraud Plan for the Council.