Sheffield council action to combat fraud includes tackling fake Blue Badge bids

The council’s audit and standards committee on Thursday (July 27) will hear about an internal audit that led to a total of 31 fraud investigations in 2022/23.

A report to the committee said that some fraud is committed by staff: “As the council has such a large workforce covering many services there will always be a range of issues. These cases were from all directorates and included theft of cash or assets, falsification of timesheets, financial abuse of service user, excessive use of internet during work time and behaviour breaching standards within the code of conduct.”

Police were involved where appropriate, and some staff resigned or lost their jobs. Others faced disciplinary cases and in some cases, there was no or insufficient evidence of fraud discovered for action to be taken.The council also has to deal with online attacks by criminal gangs using various types of phishing exercise which are often aimed at committing bank mandate fraud.

The Parking Services department acts to remove Blue Badges used for parking by disabled people where they are being abused. The report said: “A recent change to the Blue Badge penalty system means that cautions can now be offered to the offender, as an alternative to prosecution.

“The option to offer a caution has enabled a more cost-effective penalty which stays on record and can be used as evidence should the offender misuse a Blue Badge in the future and a prosecution (is) pursued.”

No prosecutions have yet taken place this year but the service is currently preparing for a number of cases to move forward.

The report said it is difficult to fully determine the number of fraudulent tenancy cases as often the tenants give up their home when they are aware of an investigation taking place. “This means that lengthy and costly legal action is avoided and the houses are once more available to be used by the citizens of Sheffield who need them.”

The report added that the council will always take the appropriate legal action if fraud can be proven, even if the tenancy has been given up.

Cases are investigated by a small housing fraud team whose work includes investigating Right to Buy cases.

The report says: “The service had 92 active cases at the start of the year, down by 30% on the previous year, as the Covid backlog was cleared and they started an additional 80 cases and were able to close 103 cases throughout the year.”

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A total of 21 properties were returned as tenants quit while under investigation. Another four abandoned the property during an investigation. Those homes could then all be relet.

The estimated saving for false Right to Buy property sales which were stopped was £181,383.

One case went to court and the council gained immediate possession of the property and was awarded £1,380 in costs. The individual was excluded from the council rehousing register.

Four more cases are ongoing.

Council staff have mandatory online training to keep them up to date on fraud. However, by the beginning of this month only 1,684 or 19.3% of all staff had undertaken the training.

The internal audit team looked at fraud controls in small business rates relief, council tax exemptions and councillors’ declarations of interest but nothing was discovered.