Council counter-fraud team doubles clawback of overpayments

A Welsh council’s counter-fraud officers clawed back more than £400,000 in things like overpaid housing and welfare benefits and wrongly claimed council tax reductions last year.

The £417,002 recouped in 2024-25 was more than double the £206,692 figure the previous year.

The team at Swansea Council also looked into suspected cases of council houses being used as short-term holiday accommodation and stopped nine such cases. This brought further savings to the public purse although a council report defined them as “notional” rather than actual savings.

Potential misuse of Blue Badges was also investigated, and one person was successfully prosecuted. There was other work too – 13 staff-related investigations, of which 10 were concluded with one of those 10 resulting in a dismissal.

Fraud team manager Jonathon Rogers told members of the council’s audit and governance committee: “Are we looking for work? No, we’re not looking for work. Are we turning down work? No, we’re not turning down work.”

Public reporting

He said a lot of potential cases were also coming in via an online public reporting tool following a post-Covid lull.

A committee report, referring to the team’s overall caseload, said: “It should be noted that not all of these reports resulted in full fraud investigations. Often cases are rejected due to insufficient information being provided or reports being more appropriate to another service area or body.”

The team also liaises with groups such as the Department for Work and Pensions and receives alerts from various agencies. Fraud awareness training is available to council staff and elected members.

Cllr Lesley Walton said the team’s results were positive. “I’m very pleased that you’re able now to do more proactive as well as reactive work,” she said.

More resources

Lay committee member David Roberts said he felt the team should have more resources.

Cllr Jeff Jones wanted to know if overpayments could be due to an error by staff. Mr Rogers said this wasn’t the case. “If it was an error we would not get involved,” he said.

Lay member Julie Davies queried one of the notional payment figures in the report, which Mr Rogers clarified. “Nothing gets past you, does it?” he said with a grin.

Ben Smith, the council’s director of finance, said: “I’m pleased that the team continues to have a significant impact, as the committee acknowledges.”