• Home
  • About
  • Newsletters
  • Conference
  • TMS Links
  • Calendar
  • Log In
  • Register

Room 151

  • 151 BRIEF

    What's New?

  • London CIV launches sustainable equity fund

    April 19, 2018

  • Council funding boost for stadium for Cornwall

    April 18, 2018

  • Herts creates development joint venture

    April 18, 2018

  • Half of councils ‘draw down on reserves’

    April 18, 2018

  • Northants completes HQ sale

    April 18, 2018

  • Ashford adopts commercial property strategy

    April 18, 2018

  • Treasury
  • Technical
  • Funding
  • Resources
  • LGPS
  • Development
  • 151 News
  • Blogs
    • Agent 151
    • James Bevan
    • Steve Bishop
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • David Green
    • Richard Harbord
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O’Donnell
    • Jackie Shute
    • Stephen Sheen
  • Interviews
  • Jobs

Ian O’Donnell: Counter fraud update

0
  • by Ian O'Donnell
  • in Resources
  • — 2 Jan, 2015

Ian O’Donnell is executive director of corporate resources at Ealing Council and chair of the Fighting Fraud Locally Strategy Board.

The counter fraud landscape continues to change dramatically, with new fraud risks emerging and central government policy changes impacting upon councils.

As the rollout of the DWP’s Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS) continues across the country and council benefit fraud investigators transfer to DWP, the picture emerging is a mixed one. Some councils have taken the opportunity to create shared services with their neighbours, ensuring that the remaining counter fraud team has enough critical mass to deliver the service needed; some have decided to make do with whatever counter fraud resource they have left; some have been left with no counter fraud resource, and some have increased their counter fraud resource by successfully bidding for funds or by making an invest-to-save business case.  Councils have generally found that the transfer has progressed smoothly. However, many have reported that there is still a heavy residual workload in referring cases and providing information, and that the implementation of Real Time Information (RTI) data matching with tax credits has led to a very significant increase in the number of cases requiring attention. It will be important to monitor the impact of SFIS and understand where gaps in the counter fraud response emerge so that these can be addressed.

DCLG announced the successful bids to its Counter Fraud Fund of £16m in December. The total value of all bids received was £36m. There is a wide spread of fraud types addressed in the successful bids, with some emerging fraud risks (such as sham marriages, health tourism, and business rates) being explored. Many of the bids involve joint working through sharing staff or data. The list of successful bids is available here.

CIPFA launched its new Counter Fraud Centre in July 2014. Since then the Centre has developed two new qualifications accredited by the University of Portsmouth: the CIPFA Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist (CACFS), which offers CIPFA affiliate membership, and the CIPFA Accredited Counter Fraud Technician (CACFT). CIPFA reports that early take up of the training has been strong. The Centre offers a wide range of tools and resources for counter fraud practitioners, and can be found here.

CIPFA’s Counter Fraud Centre also hosts Fighting Fraud Locally, the counter fraud strategy for local government. The strategy is now three years old and is being revised to take into account the significant changes that have taken place to the counter fraud landscape and the types of fraud risk that councils face. The new strategy is being developed by the Counter Fraud Centre on behalf of the FFL Board and has the support of the LGA and DCLG. A conference will be held to launch the new strategy in the Spring.

The Audit Commission continues to wind down its counter fraud work. The National Fraud Initiative (NFI), the Commission’s successful data matching service, is due to transfer to Cabinet Office when the Audit Commission closes in 2015. It is not yet clear how the service will fit with the Cabinet Office’s other operations.

The Fighting Fraud Awards, now in their third year, recognise the efforts of individuals and bodies within the public sector who have done the most to combat and prevent fraud. There are nine categories in all. Nominations closed on 28 November 2014. The winners will be announced at an evening ceremony in London on 10 February 2015. You can find the Fighting Fraud Awards website here.

Share

You may also like...

  • Richard Harbord Richard Harbord: 2017, a miracle or just horrible? 4 Jan, 2018
  • Power station rates appeal deals heavy blow to council’s reserves 6 Aug, 2015
  • Room151 Opinion: DCLG’s drift to the sidelines 11 Jun, 2015
  • Chancellor’s funding figures challenged as Revenue Support Grant tapers away 26 Nov, 2015

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • Register for the Room 151 Weekly Email Digest

  • Latest tweets

    Room 151 7 hours ago

    Herts agrees JV with Morgan Sindall to develop 500 homes: Hertfordshire County Council has signed a deal to create a 50/50 development joint venture with construction firm Morgan Sindall. The council will use its standalone company, Herts Living Ltd… dlvr.it/QQ5ZZg

    Room 151 12 hours ago

    #localgov @JRolfe67 #housing #regeneration twitter.com/SHJFitzgerald/…

    Room 151 13 hours ago

    London CIV launches sustainable equity fund room151.co.uk/brief/#london-… #localgov #lgps

    Room 151 13 hours ago

    #localgov twitter.com/Rebecca_DTZi/s…

    Room 151 14 hours ago

    Newham in danger of missing deadline to publish accounts: The London Borough of Newham is in danger of missing its deadline to publish audited financial statements due to a lack of capacity in its finance team, according to auditors.[...] dlvr.it/QQ3RFn pic.twitter.com/S35NTpUMSJ

    Room 151 17 hours ago

    Enfield funds new housing association with right to buy receipts: The London Borough of Enfield has agreed to fund the creation of a new housing association in which it will take a minority stake, in order to spend £50m of[...] dlvr.it/QQ2hqH pic.twitter.com/Q8Dc5eQuyY

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Council funding boost for stadium for Cornwall room151.co.uk/brief/#council… #infrastructure #development

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Herts creates #development joint venture room151.co.uk/brief/#herts-c… #housing #property

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Half of councils ‘draw down on reserves’ room151.co.uk/brief/#half-of… #localgov #lgps #treasury

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Northants completes HQ sale room151.co.uk/brief/#northam… #localgov

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Ashford adopts commercial #property strategy room151.co.uk/brief/#ashford… #localgov #lgps #housing #treasury

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Government's terms for #businessrates review published room151.co.uk/brief/#terms-f… #localgov #mhclg

    Room 151 2 days ago

    Good chat with LPP's Chris Rule about #LGPS investment in #housing and #regeneration @LPFA1 room151.co.uk/interviews/lgp… #localgov

    Room 151 2 days ago

    #localgov #lgps twitter.com/kshackleton1/s…

    Room 151 3 days ago

    LGPS Pools Roundup: Access appoints Link, CIO for Border to Coast, Central launches funds, new chair for Northern Pool: ACCESS Link wins pooling contract ACCESS  has appointed Link Fund Solutions Ltd to establish and operate its authorised contractual… dlvr.it/QPq8BJ

    Room 151 3 days ago

    Five LGPS funds invest £100m in the private rented sector: Five pension funds agreed last year to commit £100m to a fund aimed at building and managing housing in the private rented sector. Room151 reveals how it came about. The[...] dlvr.it/QPq00D pic.twitter.com/MHjD2vWny2

    Room 151 3 days ago

    Changing the Guard: New Fed leadership and what’s ahead for the world’s most important central bank: Sponsored Article: A change in leadership often sparks intrigue from investors—particularly when the leader is the chair of the world’s most important… dlvr.it/QPpzwx pic.twitter.com/9JWmWJXLzq

    Room 151 3 days ago

    LGPS Q&A: Chris Rule of Local Pensions Partnership on housing and regeneration: Interest in housing and regeneration among institutional investors is growing. In an exclusive interview for Room151, Chris Rule discusses the Local Pensions Partnership’s… dlvr.it/QPpqBS pic.twitter.com/CwuKp8m2ur

    Room 151 3 days ago

    Jeff Houston: LGPS and investment cost transparency: The LGPS Advisory Board has been the first to sign up to a new disclosure template for investment costs. Jeff Houston explains what’s happening and why. It seems a very[...] dlvr.it/QPpq0Y pic.twitter.com/gxW8PinJpX

    Room 151 3 days ago

    Karen Shackleton: The cost conundrum of active managers: LGPS is in a better position to assess the cost of active managers, even if it remains difficult. It is common sense to take costs into account when judging the[...] dlvr.it/QPpfZ1 pic.twitter.com/gfVirgWcy2

  • Categories

    • 151 News
    • Agent 151
    • Blogs
    • Cllr John Clancy
    • David Crum
    • David Green
    • Development
    • Forum
    • Funding
    • Graham Liddell
    • Ian O'Donnell
    • Interviews
    • Jackie Shute
    • James Bevan
    • Jobs
    • LGPSi
    • Mark Finnegan
    • Recent Posts
    • Resources
    • Richard Harbord
    • Stephen Sheen
    • Steve Bishop
    • Technical
    • Treasury
  • Archives

    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
    • 2011
  • Previous story Councils to pare back to core services as late settlement bites again
  • Next story James Bevan: China the big risk to growth in 2015

© Copyright 2018 Room 151. Typegrid Theme by WPBandit.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies from this website.OK