Issue - meetings

Report of Assistant Director of Finance (Section 151 Officer)

Purpose of report

This report presents an update on counter fraud work undertaken so far in 2024/25.

Recommendations

The Accounts, Audit and Risk Committee resolves to:

1.1       Note the counter fraud progress report.

Resolved

(1)      That the update on the counter fraud work undertaken so far in 2024/25 be noted.

The Assistant Director of Finance (Section 151 Officer) submitted a report which provided an update on counter fraud work undertaken so far in 2024/25 (covering the period 1 May 2024 to 26 February 2025).

In introducing the report, Sarah Butler, Corporate Fraud Manager at Veritau gave an update on the work that had taken place over the last few months, which  included training sessions with the Customer Services and Housing teams alongside ongoing work  with Revenues and Benefits. The Committee was advised that the Counter Fraud Team had received 124 referred since 1 May 2024. As at the 26 February 2025, there were fourteen cases under active investigation. Since 1 May 2024, twelve investigations had been completed.

In response to a question regarding data matching between electoral registration data and council tax records, the Committee was advised that this information proved useful as it helped to flag issues that required further investigation.

In response to questions regarding the origins of the referrals  and whether any patterns could be established, the Committee was advised that the referrals came from three main sources: members of the public, data matching and council officers. The unsuccessful referrals generally related to issues that did not affect the Council directly such as work undertaken by Oxfordshire County Council and the Department of Work and Pension, which were sent to the most appropriate organisation. There was not an obvious trend of unsuccessful referrals coming from any particular channel.

In response to a question regarding the process of dealing with referrals, the Committee was advised that the first stage was to triage each case and to undertake basic checks. Cases were then evaluated as to the risk they represented with the highest risk cases given the highest priority.

In response to a question regarding a bounced cheque, the Committee was advised that the details would be circulated following the meeting.

Resolved

(1)      That the update on the counter fraud work undertaken so far in 2024/25 be noted.