Report highlights successes of council’s counter-fraud work

Unpaid council tax, fraud by a builder, and misappropriation of school funds by a teacher were all rumbled by a council’s teams, a meeting heard.

Carmarthenshire Council’s revenues and financial compliance service deals with fraud and corruption referrals, while its consumer and business affairs service tackles fraud arising from inappropriate trading.

A report before the council’s governance and audit committee said the work of the consumer and business affairs service resulted in 15 convictions in 2024-25 and prevented an estimated £8.6m of fraudulent activity.

An example of the work carried out by the authority followed a tip-off that council tax wasn’t being paid by the owner of two cottages. A visit was made and, as a result, the owner was billed £5,376.76.

Fraud

Another investigation resulted in the director of a construction and plastering company pleading guilty to two counts of fraudulent trading having defrauded customers of more than £30,000. He was given a 32-month jail sentence taking into account credit for his guilty plea.

The committee report also said a teacher was dismissed in 2024-25 for misappropriation of funds and equipment – namely sewing machines and a digital camera – while a council employee was sacked for falsifying timesheets and undertaking excessive and unnecessary travel during work hours.

Helen Pugh, head of revenues and financial compliance, said the council had a zero-tolerance approach to fraud, irrespective of the value, but policies and processes could not be “completely fraud-proof”.

Counter-fraud staff work with government agencies, police, and other third parties such as banks to clamp down on illegal activity.

Guilty

Ms Pugh cited a case this month in which a Carmarthenshire woman was sentenced for claiming nearly £94,000 to which she wasn’t entitled in income support, child tax credit, carer’s allowance, and housing benefit over a five-year period.

The 44-year-old defendant, who had pleaded guilty to four counts of dishonestly failing to notify a change of circumstances, was sentenced to 10 months in prison suspended for two years with one-third discount for her guilty plea.

Cllr Kim Broom said it was important that a similar offence over a long period could be prevented. Referring to the sentencing of the 44-year-old she said: “The probability of reclaiming that money is probably fairly low.”

Ms Pugh said the council’s systems were robust but that it was down to individuals to notify the council of a change in circumstances.

The committee also heard that mandatory fraud awareness training had been launched in May 2024 and 67% of staff had completed it by mid-July this year. The module was rolled out to school staff eight months ago.

Election fraud information is currently being developed by the council, said Ms Pugh, and could be available on its website by the end of 2025.