Issue - meetings

The Shared Anti-Fraud Service (SAFS) Officer gave a brief summary of the report. He also updated Members on the recent work of SAFS, which included National Fraud Initiative data matching regarding council tax and the housing register, as well as providing assurance on grant payments. SAFS had received ten new referrals this year, with 19 live cases with a value of around £127,000. SAFS had also agreed to provide an anti-money laundering (AML) service to the Council.

The Chairman asked if the Council had an AML Officer.

The SAFS Officer said that the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) suggested that local authorities comply with the spirit of AML legislation, but were not bound by it. As the Council did not often receive large payments, AML regulations would generally not be relevant. However, SAFS had the expertise to support the Council where necessary.

Councillor Fernando asked what losses would be recoverable from the current caseload. The SAFS Officer said around 90% of the work would be recoverable council tax or housing benefit cases. One case related to a business grant.

Councillor Alder asked what type of referrals SAFS received from the public.

The SAFS Officer said that public reporting was positive as it showed trust from the public in the organisation. However, SAFS also had to ensure these referrals were not malicious and unwarranted. Most of the public referrals related to council tax or housing benefit cases.

Councillor Stowe asked about the £130,000 recovered by the removal of 284 discounts.

The SAFS Officer said that these invalid discounts had been discovered by data-matching. Many of the cases were genuine errors rather than fraud, but in any case the Council was entitled to bill for backdated payments.

The Chairman asked whether the SAFS Officer was still confident that there were few fraudulent payments made under the COVID grant scheme. He also asked whether the 20 cases that remained open at year end last year had now been closed.

The SAFS Officer said that assurance on grants was good, although still ongoing, and more fraud might be discovered. One fraudulent payment had been made but this was recovered. Overall, the Shared Revenue and Benefits Service performed very well. All of the previously open cases had now been closed, with recovery possible on some.

RESOLVED – that the report be received and considered.