Council loses £503,000 to fraudsters

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WARRINGTON Borough Council suffered losses of £503,000 as a result of fraud during 2013-14 – a low figure when compared to the national figures, councillors have been told.
The largest amount related to housing and council tax benefits – £478,000 – while frauds relating to council tax discounts totalled £25,000.
Nationally, for the same period, reported losses to local government through fraud were £188 million, according to a report to be considered by the council’s audit and corporate governance committee.
It is estimated, however, that fraud costs local government more than £2 billion each year.
Warrington has a zero tolerance approach to fraud and work is carried out across a number of departments to identify, investigate and prevent fraud.
As in previous years, the number of cases – 282 – and the amount lost in Warrington is low compared to national figures, the report states.
There are a number of possible explanations for this. Audit reviews and other assessments indicate there are effective arrangement in place at Warrington to detect and deter fraud in the payment of housing and council tax benefits and council tax support.
Other areas identified as fraud risks nationally have also been shown to have appropriate measures in place at Warrington. For example, no cash payments are made under the Local Welfare Support scheme. Regular checks are carried out to compare Direct Payments recipients with death lists and schools are regularly briefed on potential scams and other fraud risks.
Some councils record all instances of blue badge misuse as fraud but Warrington does not. The council took the view that it was difficult to make a distinction between deliberate fraud and error.
But earlier last year an exercise was carried out to match blue badge holders to deceased lists and a number of badges were cancelled.
The council is currently taking part in a whistleblowing project in conjunction with Public Concern at Work, a national whistleblowing charity. This aims to encourage staff to raise concerns at the earliest opportunity.
Trading Standards have received 351 scam related complaints in 2014-15 to date, mainly relating to unsolicited communications via email, letters, phone calls and text messages offering prize draws, slimming products, computer repairs, etc.
There were also 100 complaints about door step crime relating to roofing, tarmac, paving, gardening, etc. Estimated losses to residents are £46,367 – but this does not include the cost of putting right sub-standard work.
Trading Standards have to date this year received 3,274 complaints across a broad range of issues including illegal supply of counterfeit goods.
However, overall, anti-fraud work carried out by the council provides assurance that measures are in place to protect the council’s assets, the report concludes.


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Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.

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