Agenda item

Report of the Hertfordshire Shared Anti-Fraud Service on the Anti-Fraud Plan 2023/23 for the council.

Report of the Hertfordshire Shared Anti-Fraud Service on the Anti-Fraud Plan 2023/24 for the council.

The Hertfordshire Shared Anti-Fraud Service (SAFS), is a partnership of councils primarily across Hertfordshire that was established in 2015 to provide an anti-fraud function which also includes anti-corruption, anti-bribery and anti-money laundering functions for councils. The partnership includes Broxbourne Borough Council, East Herts Council, North Herts Council, Stevenage Borough Council, Hertsmere Borough Council and is hosted by Hertfordshire County Council.

The Shared Anti-Fraud Service provides a recognised centre of excellence for counter fraud in local and central government. SAFS work in partnership with a number of agencies and departments, including the Cabinet Office, Home Office, the Hertfordshire Constabulary, the Public Sector Counter-Fraud Authority for the Advisory Panel and others. Through membership of the Shared Anti-Fraud service, partners have access to specialist services and forums such as the national anti-fraud network.

SAFS provides a variety of functions for the Council from helping to develop policies and processes to prevent fraud, fraud awareness training for staff and members around fraud risks within the authority so that everyone knows what fraud looks like in their service area and how they can report this. The use of data and data analytics to help identify fraud quickly, and public and internal communications to help to deter fraud and finally the investigation and prosecution of fraud when all those other defences fail.

The following points were raised and discussed:

·         It was noted that recent reports make it clear that fraud is the most frequently committed crime in the UK and local authorities are as much a risk to fraud as any other business or individual, possibly more so as a result of their duty to provide services to some of the most vulnerable local residents. The services the council provides are essential and the impact of fraud is to divert funds and resources away from those key services. Bodies such as the Department for levelling up housing and communities. The National Audit Office, CIPFA,  Local Government Association, all require local authorities to have plans to mitigate, manage and reduce their fraud, risks and appropriate resources to investigate, prosecute and seek recovery where fraud occurs.

·         It was noted the anti-fraud plan for 2023/24 uses a template developed across all partners over the last seven years and SAFS has a well-established arrangement in place to ensure that fraud is considered as part of the business as usual for service areas across the Council.

·         It was noted SAFS continue to follow closely the pillars within the Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally Strategy 2020, which was developed and delivered in partnership with the LGA, CIPFA and Solace. All staff working for the Shared Anti-Fraud Service are appropriately trained and professionally accredited and to undertake their work, whether that be frontline, awareness and training, civil criminal disciplinary investigations, data analytics, fraud risk assessments or fraud loss measurement.

·         It was noted that the workplan highlights some areas of particular focus for 2023/24 as the new service is embedded into the council. Looking to prevent fraud through awareness training, internal and external communication to make the council an unattractive or hard target for both opportunist criminals as well as organised crime groups.

·         Appendix B shows key performance indicators.  This is to ensure that the partnership delivers value for money and a return on investment for the council, both in terms of financial savings and added value through membership of organisations such as the National Anti-Fraud Network, the CIPFA Counter Fraud Centre and the Hertfordshire Multi Agency forum hosted by the Police Constabulary.

·         Appendix A shows the action plan for 2023/24. The plan provides a breakdown of all the activity planned for the council for 2023/24 which details the activities to be undertaken at the service areas affected, which officers will be involved with supporting activity and includes the role of senior officers and the Chair of the Audit Committee.

·         Further reports will be provided to the committee throughout 2023/24. Updating members on the progress with delivering the plan and a full report will be provided in the summer of 2024 on all anti-fraud activity undertaken across the Council for the following year.

·         Members asked for examples of fraud that had been prevented or been attempted across a range of activities.  SAFS stated the typical types of fraud you would expect to see in an authority such as Welwyn Hatfield council will be around council tax or housing benefits and in those cases SAFS are not permitted as a local authority to investigate housing benefit fraud any more, and is dealt with by the Department for Work and Pensions. There is also fraud within housing tenancy, for example falsifying housing applications, money laundering as part of the right-to-buy scheme. Also interdiction of communications between council officers and suppliers by organised crime, where they will attempt to change the content of payment mechanism. There is also staff fraud where people steal data from their employer and attempt to change timesheets.

·         Members stated there was a 24/7 fraud helpline. Members asked between midnight and 6am, how many fraud calls are received and was the helpline like a whistleblowing reporter for the public?  SAFS stated they get a few. It is manned during office hours but out of office hours it is automated.  The vast majority of referrals that come into the service come via online reporting tools and they were working with officers to make sure from early next week that this will be deployed on the council’s web page so members of the public will be able to report fraud directly to the service and is the most common way received for reporting fraud.

·         Members asked what stage of implementation the plan was at present and if it is at the proposal stage and ready to be implemented?  SAFS stated the plan is to go live on Monday 3 April 2023. SAFS have been working closely with officers across the authority to make sure staff are aware of the new service. 

·         Members asked about the KPI for return on investment and how it is measured and whether it has been successful?  SAFS stated it is very difficult to measure. SAFS agree with the management board every year how they will measure prevention because the board need to ensure that all of the partners within the SAFS service have been receiving that return on investment.  Fraud is measured in two ways, what the cost would have been if that fraud had been successful and then measure what the actual losses were when a fraud happens, then look at how long that fraud might have lasted then can put an estimate at the end of that so that is a saving.

·         Members asked where fraud was successfully investigated, is there any data on what percentage of the amount is actually recovered?  SAFS stated that usually less money is recovered. It also depends on the type of fraud and the type of fraudster. SAFS tend to prosecute people where they think they have the ability to recover the cost of a prosecution, because it is not just the money lost, it is the cost of prosecuting somebody which can be expensive.  The requirements of the authority must meet the requirements of the evidential and public interest tests and have to ensure that the authority wants to risk that additional expenditure recovery which is really important. With the grant schemes SAFS have been able to freeze money in bank accounts, recover that money back for local authorities, so SAFS do seek to recover, but it is often problematic so quite often have to take a pragmatic view with them.

·         Members asked how Anti-Fraud was covered in the past.  Officers stated there have been a couple of different approaches in the past. There was an officer within the governance team that looked at corporate fraud but the post went away a few years ago. The council have posts within specific services such as Revenue and Benefits but this post will be moving into SAFS.  With the new Anti-Fraud Plan, the council are hoping for a more holistic approach across the council and SAFS will be able to support teams across council and provide training to those teams.

·         Members asked if the council were to publicise that they have a new Anti-Fraud Plan, would that stop fraud from happening or make it less likely for the council to be a target?  SAFS stated that the authority, does not want fraud committed against Welwyn Hatfield Council and to make the council a hard target for fraud. The council will be quite robust in the messages that are communicated and want the support of residents.

RESOLVED:

(unanimous)

(1)  Members noted the Councils membership of the Shared Anti-Fraud Service.

(2)  Members reviewed and approved the Anti-Fraud Plan 2023/24.