Agenda item

This report details the work undertaken by the in-house resources in the Audit and Risk team and communicates a second update on completion of the work plan for 2024/25.

Ms Vanessa Bateman, Deputy Head of Audit and Risk, introduced the report.

The meeting heard:

·         The approximate 60% of cases that result in no further action after fixed penalty notices had been issued did not necessarily mean that an error had occurred. The extent of the evidence involved meant that prioritising resources to most serious or repeat offenders would be ones most readily pursued.

·         The risk assessment was used to drive the activity of the team. This activity and the the financial sanctions being applied was bringing an income stream into the team which would be used to bolster resources. The Council had an experienced Fraud team, but needed a succession plan.

·         The Council had to take a step back from the housing fraud work while the Housing Improvement Program works progressed. As a team of six investigators, the team would have to come back together and focus on housing fraud. This would be a priority next year. However, cooperation from other teams across the Council was needed to make sure that substantial outcomes could be sought.

·         The team had looked at all of the right buy applications from both the fraud and the money laundering regulations perspectives. This was expected to decrease. The team had two or three employee investigations, but once those investigations got to a certain point, the investigators could come back and take on a greater housing caseload.

·         There were quite a lot of cases where the fraud team would focus on the seriousness or the criminality of a fraud, but would separate out any contractual breaches that fell under the disciplinary policy. Investigations would be done under the fraud strategy, but some matters needed to move through the disciplinary process quickly so the employee would have left the Council, but this did not mean that a fraud investigation would not continue. The case mentioned in the report referred to the team shortly before the person had left. The issue was around the person having a conflict of interest. The issue related most closely as a breach of employment contract, not a fraud matter. HR and the service had been informed about the lessons learnt. The declaration of interest had not been made by the officer and the the potential conflict of interest was reasonably well recognised by other staff.

·         The figures outlined on page 50 of the agenda papers were notional figures, not actual money. About two years ago, a case was prosecuted where someone had got a Council property, but were not using it as their main residential unit and the misuse had been going on for a number of years - five or six years. It was possible to get the notional figures quite high. For example, the current rent in London alone was around £15,000 to £18,000 a year.

·         The Tenancy Management service was currently restructuring to reduce patch sizes so that the officers had more manageable workloads. Although fraud was a priority in Housing, there were a lot of other priorities which kept the team occupied. A new Head of Tenancy Management had been appointed and the progress of the team had been positive.

RESOLVED:

To note the activities of the team during quarter two of 2024/25.