Thursday 14th November, 2013

Councils in England are still struggling to identify and limit the level of fraud within their systems as a new report by the Audit Commission highlights fraud worth £178m last year. And, although the total number of fraud cases dropped by about 15%, the average value of each case rose.

The report highlights a disparity between councils, with 76% of all the fraud being discovered within only 25% of the councils. The fact that 79 councils failed to uncover any fraud, including any benefit fraud within their systems is likely to raise concerns over the detection capabilities.

Commission Chairman, Jeremy Newman said ""I would urge all councils to review their local policies to ensure they are doing all they can to detect and record fraud cases. However, he added "There is no doubt our findings show councils increasingly out-smarting the housing tenancy fraudsters. This shows what councils can achieve by working effectively together in partnership, sharing and adopting best practice.