Fraud

We are committed to detecting and preventing benefit fraud.

The types of fraud we deal with include:

not declaring earnings or other income
not declaring a property or capital
not declaring a partner you live with
not declaring a change of address
not living at a property
making a false application for housing
subletting a council property
falsely claiming a Council Tax discount or exemption

Report benefit fraud

To report benefit fraud, use our online form below.

To report benefit fraud anonymously, you can call 0800 854 440.

If you are suspected of fraud

If enquiries about you do not match the information we hold, officers may visit or ask you to attend an interview to discuss the matter.

If officers believe there may be serious fraud, officers will investigate your claim in more detail. They may gather information about you and may contact other organisations that hold your details. These may include:

banks and building societies
the Department of Work and Pensions
HMRC (the tax office)
your utility providers

Options available to the council

Where the investigation leads to an overpayment, you will have to pay it back in full.

Where the fraud is considered serious, we may:

issue a penalty
issue an Administrative Penalty
prosecute in the courts

Counter-fraud work

We have used our powers under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud (Power to Require Information) (England) Regulations 2014 for three investigations.

We have an accredited Corporate Fraud and Compliance Officer (0.75 FTE) who investigates all cases of fraud following a referral to the Council. For 2023/24, a summary of our investigations can be found below.

there were 87 fraud referrals received relating to Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Council Tax, Housing and Planning, and we also received referrals from the DWP
following the investigations, we identified a total of £33,888 in Council Tax Reduction non-entitlement and £67,155 in Housing Benefit overpayments.
as a result of the investigations we have recovered 3 council properties
We have used our powers under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud (Power to Require Information) Regulations 2014 twice
approximately £35,000 was spent by the council on the investigation and prosecution of fraud