Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fraud investigators net six-figure Angus haul

Post Thumbnail

Council investigators have recovered over £350,000 in counter fraud operations across Angus.

The sums include housing benefit and council tax overpayments, with inquiries also extending to illegal use of blue badges for disabled parking.

A successful data matching programme to weed out people falsely claiming single person council tax discount also reaped dividends.

Council chiefs have pledged to keep the pressure on fraudulent claimants after a transition year which saw the local authority alter the role of its in-house counter fraud squad.

The scrutiny and audit committee heard almost 600 fraud referrals were received leading to 588 case closures.

Housing and council tax overpayments totalling £189,116 were identified as well as Department for Work and Pensions overpayments of £34,214.

Corporate fraud inquiries also led to the recovery of two tenancies in 2014/15 compared to one the previous year and the surrender of a blue badge for parking, leading to the dismissal of an employee, according to the council.

Governance and security officer Janet Hutchison reported: “The Single Fraud Investigation Service was set up in 2014 to bring together welfare benefit fraud investigations previously undertaken by the DWP, local authorities and HMRC.

“Responsibility for investigating allegations of housing benefit fraud in Angus also transferred to the DWP in May this year and the changes led the local authority to retain a counter fraud team in-house.

“Its remit also extends to non-benefit fraud areas such as council tax reduction, discounts and exemptions and tenancy irregularities.”

The council team also collaborates with other local authorities and the National Anti Fraud Network.

The officer also revealed the success of the data matching programme which connects single person council tax discount to the electoral roll.

“The Audit Commission estimate that 4-6% of all single person discount claims are fraudulent,” added the report.

“The CFT carried out a pro-active initiative in order to identify council tax fraud and incorrectness and also to improve the integrity of the council’s records.”