From a fairly low initial investment to counter fraud (on average, just over £250,000 each per council), councils made over £142m of savings in the first two years alone, representing nearly a ten-fold return on the funding provided by central government, according to a report.
In a foreword, Peter Fleming, Chair of the Improvement and Innovation Board at the Local Government Association, said: “The financial returns alone demonstrate the value of the initiative, but the benefits are so much more than that, showing how well councils and other public bodies can work together when there is a shared commitment and the impetus to make this happen. Identifying and stopping fraud means that our scarce resources can be directed as intended: to provide key public services to those that depend on them.”
The Counter-Fraud Fund was set up by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Councils could bid in the autumn of 2014, for cash to support councils during the coming in of the Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS); and to increase the capacity of local government to tackle losses from non-benefit fraud – whether blue badge fraud, health tourism, sham marriages, tenancy fraud, council tax fraud or procurement fraud (such as preventing the insider threat of leaking confidential information before award of contracts). The LGA worked with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) to capture the learning from the 60 successful bids from 52 lead authorities to see how the fund was managed at the local level.
Some councils have been sharing data, systems and training; and analytics in ‘hubs’. Besides partnership working between councils (such as between five London boroughs, Wandsworth, Merton, Richmond, Sutton, and Kingston), the report points to work with Registered Social Landlords, the Department for Work and Pensions, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the police as well as private sector suppliers. The report offers case studies, such as Thurrock Council which launched the Counter Fraud and Investigation Directorate (CFID), a new function. The scheme received £594,000 in funding from the MHCLG and delivered savings of £24.4m; and Hertfordshire, Greenwich, Enfield, Eastbourne; and the Lincolnshire Counter Fraud Partnership (LCFP).
Four of the schemes funded included Home Office sponsored pilots looking at the potential threat from serious and organised crime to publicly procured services in local government. More case studies along with tools and template statements are on the LGA’s dedicated counter fraud hub, www.local.gov.uk/counter-fraud-hub.
The report recommends: “To be most effective, fraud detection, investigation and recovery shouldn’t be considered as a ‘side-line’ or ‘niche’, but an essential tool to be integrated into systems and processes from the outset, with the willing engagement of senior management and key partners.”
For the 28-page document visit the LGA website.
