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Agenda item

SAFS ANTI-FRAUD PLAN PROGRESS UPDATE 2025/26

REPORT OF THE SHARED ANTI-FRAUD SERVICE (SAFS)

 

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

 

Decision:

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

 

REASON FOR DECISION: A final report covering all anti-fraud work in 2025/26 will be provided to this Committee in the summer of 2026.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 4 minutes 17 seconds

 

The Counter Fraud Manager presented the report entitled ‘SAFS Anti-Fraud Plan Progress Update 2025/26’ and highlighted that:

 

·         The progress report covered the period until December 2025 and the reference within the report should be to ‘Q3’ not ‘Q1’ as referenced in page 4 of the document.

·         There was a review of fraud policies on going which should have been completed in quarter four.

·         SAFS had circulated 4 fraud threat alerts in this quarter taking the total to 20

·         Training sessions had been set and five training sessions were complete in Q3 including one at the staff briefing to all officers.

·         An update on Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) was given to the Senior Managers Group.

·         ECCTA affected all Local Authorities from September 2025 in respect to the offence failure to prevent fraud. The way in which the legislation created this new offence meant that Local Authorities and similar organisations had been vicariously captured.

·         The benefits of the Council complying with ECCTA were the help large corporations operating internationally, help drive international governance and improve internal controls, and will discourage economic crime.

·         A total of 116 referrals had now been received, which was an increase, but in line with awareness campaigns SAFS was running.

·         39 cases were currently live for investigation and 31 were at referral stage, with the estimated loss on all these cases being approximately £150,000

·         There had been 31 reviews of council tax discounts which had identified savings of £17,000 and eight social houses had been recovered and given to appropriate families.

·         The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) data matching exercise had formally closed with 15 potential fraud errors and savings of £55,000.

·         Following the closure of the NFI, work had started on the Hertfordshire Fraud Hub and since quarter three there had been 439 matches which had been processed, with 6 frauds identifying £26,000 worth of savings.

·         Key Performance Indicators were either met, on target or part met and this was shown in the table on pages 4 and 5.

 

The following Members asked questions:

 

·         Councillor Daniel Wright-Mason

·         Councillor Ruth Brown

·         Councillor Stewart Willoughby

 

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

 

·         The 116 allegations of fraud had been received affecting service areas such as housing – which was mainly housing application fraud, council tax – was usually related to single person discount, 1 incident of procurement, and Blue Badge misuse – including 25 referrals were made by Council officers. These levels of allegations were what was expected for a District Council.

·         Formally there were no favourable partners, a fair comparison with North Herts would be East Herts but it was difficult because different areas have different resident demographics so have different types and levels of fraud. North Herts District Council was definitely not an outlier when it came to levels of fraud.

·         Allegations were received from different sources, 50% from the public 45% from staff reports, and 5% other organisations such as the police. More details will be available within the end of year report.

 

Councillor Stewart Willoughby proposed and Councillor Ruth Brown 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.

 

REASON FOR DECISION: A final report covering all anti-fraud work in 2025/26 will be provided to this Committee in the summer of 2026.

Supporting documents: