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Why investigate benefit fraud?
The true cost of benefit fraud to
the tax payer is not known-all figures quoted are estimates.
Although current estimates put the cost at over £700m, in reality
the true cost is probably much higher.
Benefit fraud is theft, and we are all victims. It is taking money
away from the more vulnerable members of the community, those who
need it most, as well as adding to the national tax bill that we
all contribute towards.
What does fraud cost the borough?
In
Telford, we paid out approximately £42 million in benefits. During
2007/2008, we established over £500,000 in wrongly claimed
benefits; money which could be spent on local projects to help the
local community.
People commit fraud in many different ways.
The types of fraud we encounter are widespread and varied:
Working and claiming
Non-disclosure of property, capital or income
Non-disclosure of partner, non dependants or sub
tenants
False tenancies
Failing to declare a change of address
Landlord fraud
Fictitious tenancies
How many cases do we investigate?
We have over 16,000
benefit recipients. In 2007/2008, we received reports of alleged
benefit fraud in over 1,100 of our claims.
We promise that we will look at every
single allegation that we receive to consider whether there is a
potential fraud to investigate.
How do we investigate allegations of benefit
fraud?
There many legal powers available to us to
investigate whether a fraud has been committed.
These include
- Electronically matching our records with the data held by a
range of different organisations, including Department for Work and
Pensions, private pension providers, company payroll systems,
working tax credit, child tax credit.
- We have the power to carry our covert surveillance on suspected
fraudsters, which can be used to establish where someone may be
living or working.
- If we have evidence to suggest that a fraud has been committed
we will interview the claimant, partner, or anyone else who we
think may have contributed to the offence, in an official tape
recorded Interview Under Caution.
What do we do with people we catch committing benefit
fraud?
In every case where we establish that fraud
has been committed, the customer will have to pay the money back to
us. If any resulting overpayment of benefit is not repaid, the
Council may pursue recovery through the courts.
In addition, in the most serious of cases, we can further
penalise the fraudster by applying one of three different
sanctions.
- Formal Caution - This means that the Council
considers it has grounds to prosecute, but has decided to offer the
opportunity to accept a Formal Caution. The Council can only offer
this if an offence has been admitted at the interview. If you
accept a Formal Caution, the Council will not pursue the case to
court. The Formal Caution is recorded with the Council and the
Department for Work and Pensions and should an offence occur within
5 years this would be considered in any further recommendation or
proceedings.
- Administrative Penalty - This means that the
Council considers it has grounds to prosecute, but has decided to
offer the opportunity to accept an Administrative Penalty in
respect of the offence. An Administrative Penalty is a fixed 30%
addition of the benefit that has been overpaid. This has to be
repaid in addition to the overpayment. The Administrative Penalty
is recorded with the Council and the Department for Work and
Pensions and should an offence occur in the future this would be
considered in any further recommendation or proceedings.
- Prosecution - This means that the Council
considers the case serious enough to instigate legal proceedings
from the outset and proceed to Court by way of a summons. You will
receive a summons to attend court and will need to obtain legal
representation when you attend court.
- Cases will initially be heard in the
Magistrates Court, however depending on the nature of charge or
circumstances, it may be considered so serious as to be heard in
Crown Court. Proceedings in court taken by the Council are usually
under Sections 11A or 112 of the Social Security Administration Act
1992 (Amended 1997), however other charges may be used where
appropriate.
In 2007/2008, we prosecuted 49 people for benefit fraud.
Sentences imposed range from fines, to community service/punishment
orders, or conditional discharges.
However, we also formally cautioned 37, and gave administrative
penalties to 20 more. The administrative penalties resulted in
almost £7,000 in fines being imposed.
We endeavor to publicise all our successful cases by issuing press
releases to the local press and radio stations.
What can you do to help?
IF YOU SUSPECT SOMEONE IS CLAIMING BENEFITS TO
WHICH THEY MAY BE NOT ENTITLED, TELL US ABOUT IT:
You can do this in a number of ways, and you do not have to
give your name.
By phone: 01952
383839:
During normal office hours you can speak
to one of the investigation team. They will ask you a number of
questions about the person you are reporting. Outside of office
hours, there is a 24 hour answering machine. If you call out of
hours, please give as much detail as possible, no matter how
trivial you think it may be. If you follow this link you will see a
list of the types of
information
we require. The more information we have, the better chance of
a successful investigation.
In person: You can call at Civic Offices
during normal opening hours (08:15 to 17:15), and speak to a member
of the investigation team in person.
By letter: If you choose this method,
please address your letter to the Housing Benefit Investigation
Team
By email: to
investigations@telford.gov.uk
By this link;
http://www.telford.gov.uk/apps/forms/FraudReferralForm.aspx
If you are receiving benefit yourself, please remember that it is
your responsibility to notify the local authority of any change in
your circumstances that may affect your entitlement to benefit. You
cannot assume that others (like the Department for Work and
Pensions) will notify us on your behalf.
Telford & Wrekin Council has been inspected by the
Benefits Fraud Inspectorate (the "BFI"). You can find out more
about the work of the BFI, and read the reports of their findings
of our benefit work at Telford and Wrekin, by clicking on the BFI
link below.
Benefits Fraud
Inspectorate (BFI) Website
For further information on how the government is targeting
benefit fraud please click on the following link
http://www.targetingbenefitfraud.gov.uk/ |