The annual Social Security spend is £100 billion, out of this Local Authorities pay over £15 billion to 5.3 million households as Housing or Council Tax Benefit.
Social Security fraud is a threefold evil:
Countering fraud is the responsibility of everyone working in or having management responsibilities for Housing and Council Tax benefit administration.
We have a dedicated team of Investigation Officers experienced in the prevention and detection of benefit fraud. All Investigation Officers are Authorised Officers, in accordance with section110A of the Social Security Administration Act 1992. This means we can enter premises where a trade or business is being conducted. We are allowed to question any person on the premises and remove any necessary documentation. We also have an Authorised Officer to obtain information from organisations such as Banks, Building Societies, Utility Companies, Pension and Insurance Providers. All the Investigation Officers are Accredited Counter Fraud Officers through the University of Portsmouth.
We are fully committed to the Governments national campaign of targeting benefit thieves. In 2006-07 benefit thieves stole an estimated £700 million from public funds. Over the past two years we have so far prosecuted 32 people and has another 18 cases going through the Court process. As well as this, we have imposed over 100 Administration Penalties and Cautions as an alternative to prosecution. In all this we have identified £1.7 million in benefit overpayments, all of which is recoverable.
There are many types of benefit theft, some of which are mentioned below. If you know of anyone who is a benefit thief, please use the telephone numbers or the email address at the bottom of the page to tell us about it.
Some examples of benefit theft:
You can report a fraud by calling the Fraud Hotline on 0800 328 6340, your call will be treated in confidence and is free or you can call the Investigation Team directly on 020 8871 7067. Our email address is, hbctbfraud@wandsworth.gov.uk
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