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Fighting Fraud Locally Progress this year
Ian O’Donnell Chair Fighting Fraud Locally Board and
Rachael Tiffen FFL Board
The NFA Annual Fraud Indicator 2012
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
Fighting Fraud Together
• Published 12 October 2011, it is a shared strategic plan setting out the context for the national fraud response
• 37 organisations initially signed up, from across all sectors – Public – Private – Voluntary – Regulators – Law enforcement
• By 2015 our country will be demonstrably more resilient to and less damaged by
fraud through:
– Individuals, businesses, public and voluntary bodies detecting and preventing more fraud
– Law enforcement and other partners increasing risk of disruption and punishment to organised and opportunistic fraudsters, thus deterring potential criminal offenders
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
The Response to Public Sector Fraud
• £20 billion is estimated to be lost to fraud in the public sector every year
• Cabinet Office Counter Fraud Taskforce, established in October 2010 to tackle fraud, error and debt in public services
• Lessons being learned from private sector best practice
• Pilots using data analytics to tackle fraud and error show some phenomenal results
– £12 million of savings delivered in the first six months
– Estimated savings, once rolled out, of £1.5 billion by 2014/15
• Eliminating Public Sector Fraud, June 2011
• Reducing Fraud and Error in Government February 2012, programme of activity to reduce fraud against government revenue and spend
• Recommendation that lessons of task force extend to local government
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
Annual Fraud Indicator 2012: Fraud Loss
Fraud Type Fraud Loss
Housing tenancy fraud £900 million Procurement fraud £890 million ( £855m) Payroll fraud £153 million ( £152m) Council tax fraud £131 million (£90m) Blue Badge Scheme misuse £46 million Grant fraud £41 million (£43m) Pension fraud £5.9 million
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA / Board Slides
Why we need to tackle fraud and error
Local government could be suffering over £2.2 billion fraud annually:
• Over £900 million from housing tenancy fraud – enough to build 6000 council homes
• In context its around one third of the £6 billion savings that councils need to find
• Council Tax fraud figures have increased from £90m to £130m
Local government can save money by tackling fraud and error:
• Ealing Council project savings of £7 million from SPD fraud work
• West Berkshire yielded £4m over four years by reviewing
discounts and penalties for Council Tax
Government has a responsibility to tackle fraud and error to:
• Increase public confidence that taxpayers money is protected
• Protect from reputational damage
7 Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA / Board Slides
Fighting Fraud Locally
• First sector-led strategy developed under Fighting Fraud Together
• Role of NFA has been to coordinate and catalyse action and bring partners together
• Content arises from practitioners and ‘experts’ in the sector
• Needs to be ‘owned’ and implemented by local government
• Supported by central government and with collaboration from the private sector
• NFA will provide tools to help local authorities address fraud risks
• Work on FFL needs to be ‘fit for purpose’
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
Why Fighting Fraud Locally and Why Now?
The Context
• Changes in the way services are
delivered
• The need to make savings
• Changes to the regulatory landscape
• More motivated offenders
A New Partnership
• Between local authorities
• Between local authorities and central government
• Between local authorities and law enforcement
A New Approach
• Acknowledging fraud and the savings that can be made
• A new emphasis on prevention
• Strengthening the enforcement response
Collaboration
• Adopting and implementing good practice
• Sharing data and information
• Sharing services
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
A Strategy by Local Government for Local Government
Oversight board members 2011:
• Stephen Hughes, CEO, Birmingham City Council
• Katherine Kerswell, CEO, Kent County Council
• Ian O’Donnell, Exec Director, London Borough Ealing
• Stephen Jones & Andrew Hughes, Local Government Association
• Andrew Hyatt, Head of Fraud, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea
• Kevin Stewart, Institute of Revenues Rating & Valuation
• Debbie Gibbons, Rushmoor Council and LAIOG
• David Clayton, Chartered Institute of Housing
• Greg Marks, CIPFA
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
A Strategy by Local Government for Local Government
Widespread engagement
• Over 400 LA stakeholders
• 11 workshops
• Working-level advisory board
Free Support from the Private Sector
• Deloitte, research
• Grant Thornton, research
• RSM Tenon, Powers & Penalties
• PKF , Resilience tool
• Chris Corney, Solicitor, Powers& Penalties
• Prof. Alan Doig, research
• BDO, resources
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
Fighting Fraud Locally Board 2012-2015
The Board Members Chair : Ian O’Donnell, Executive Director of Corporate
Resources and representing Local Authority Treasurers Local Authorities: Colin Sharpe, Director of Finance and representing Local
Authority Treasurers Stephen Hughes, Advisor and representing Chief Executives LGA : Warren Leigh, Policy Manager NFA: Rachael Tiffen, Deputy Director DCLG: Shela Hussein, Deputy Director RSM Tenon John Baker Deloitte Mike Clarkson Grant Thornton Les Dobie Secretariat: The NFA will provide a secretariat, day to day support and act
as a contact point
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
Governance
• Fighting Fraud Locally Strategic Board was established in February 2012 to co-ordinate and drive delivery of programme to fight fraud locally.
• The Board consists of members from local and central government, engaging closely with stakeholders from local government, central government and the private sector
• The Board meets every 2 months to review:
– Delivery Plan and progress on recommendations
– Allocate recommendations
– Review communications and engagement
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
Advice and Support
The Board has requested a number of individuals and organisations provide support to the Board as and when requested on specific matters.
Cliff Dalton – CIPFA
Kevin Stewart – IRRV
John Rosenbloom – Manchester CC and Chair of Accreditation Board
Howard Shaw – ICFS
Andy Hyatt – Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
James Flannery – Gravesham Council
Simon Lane – London Borough of Brent
John Baker – RSM Tenon
Les Dobie – Grant Thornton
LBFIG and LAIOG
The Audit Commission
Stephen Hughes – remains on the Board as CE Advisor
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
Pursue
Being stronger in punishing
fraud and recovering losses
•Assessing and understanding
fraud risks
•Committing support and
resource to tackling fraud
•Maintaining a robust anti-fraud
response
Prevent
Preventing and detecting more
fraud
Acknowledge
Acknowledging and
understanding fraud risks
Local government will be better able to protect itself from fraud and will
provide a more effective fraud response.
•Making better use of
information and technology
•Enhancing fraud controls and
processes
•Developing a more effective
anti-fraud culture
•Prioritising fraud recovery and
the use of civil sanctions
•Developing capability and
capacity to punish fraudsters
•Collaborating with law
enforcement
A Strategy to Tackle Fraud Locally
Fighting Fraud Locally- official NFA /
Board Slides
The Fraud Loss Profile
Tools: Compendium and others
Tools: NFA Good practice
Free E-learning
• NFA and Deloitte e learning
tool, basic module
• Disk to every CE in July 2012
CIPFA Benchmarking
NFA Toolkit : Publicity
• “Spot It – Stop It” The internal toolkit is based upon the NFA’s current Central government campaign,
• ‘Spot the Cheater’. the external toolkit has been tailored from a successful campaign at City of Stoke-on-Trent Council
• These have been tailored for use by other authorities and the campaign packs include a number of materials from which to pick and choose what they want to use.
NFA Toolkit
In the toolkits are:
– Templates for Committee Reports on the campaign
– Letter templates to portfolio holders explaining the campaign
– Briefings for CEOs
– Posters, leaflets and other publicity (The tri-borough may be using some of the imagery to produce magnetic notices for housing vans)
– A training pack with Powerpoint slides and speaking notes
– A staff induction pack with slides
– Template briefings
– Intranet advice
– Campaign summary for stakeholders and owners
– A campaign project plan
– A senior staff bulletin
Insider Fraud
• 1st guidance on LA insider fraud
• Key part of Fighting Fraud Locally
• An essential part of a robust counter fraud culture
The Achievements
Stoke City Council
• A joint-working initiative by Stoke City Council has seen a return of 54 recovered properties, 3 prosecutions and £250,000 of fraudulently claimed benefits in its first 12 months alone.
• SPOT THE CHEATER
The Achievements
• Kent County Council provides
a nationally accessible
framework agreement for the
supply and delivery of Credit
Referencing and Fraud
Investigation Services.
• The Agreement is divided into 4 Lots: • • Lot 1 - Company Credit Checks • Lot 2 – Person Checks • Lot 3 – Employee Checks • Lot 4 – Debt Prioritisation and Collection Services
• This Agreement will be accessible until 16th September
2016. For a copy of the User Guide and to gain access to this framework contact Commercial Services at [email protected] or telephone 01622 605794 and quote the Reference Number C12077.
The Achievements
Grant Thornton:
• The Fighting Fraud Locally Checklist
• Expenses Fraud Top Ten
The Achievements
NFA Pathfinder: Ealing SNAP Internal matching
• 1563 accounts have had the single person discount removed.
• 1851 accounts where the discount is currently undergoing challenge
• Backdated account adjustments of £1,196,309
• Annual value of discounts removed £484,855
Additional Untaxed Properties
• 213 additional previously untaxed properties
• 48 more currently awaiting inspection
• Backdated account billing of £120,949
• Annual charge list increase of £104,192
Total Additional Income Generated (To Date)
• Backdated Adjustments £1,317,258
• Additional Annual Income £589,047
The Achievements
• NFA/FFL Pathfinder
• West London Track a Fraudster/ the London Hub.
• Early individual results
The Achievements
London Borough of Croydon
Joint investigation with UKBA Mr Mayomi and Ms Ubiribo
• 10 Theft Act offences, 4 Fraud Act offences and 2 immigration offences. On 13/08/10
she was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for 2 years, she had to
complete 200 hours
• 9 Theft Act offences, 1 Fraud Act offence, 2 immigration offences, 2 offences under
the Criminal Justice Act and 1 perjury offence. On 13/08/10 he was sentenced to 30
months in prison.
• Mayomi has to pay £1,197,743.54 in a confiscation order. This is to be paid by him by
14/03/13. If he fails to pay he goes to prison for 6 years. While he is in prison interest
is accumulating on his debt. Once he is released he still has to pay the confiscation
order plus interest.
• On 20/07/12 Ubiribo was told to pay £9,357.42 in a confiscation order.
• Eventually Croydon Council should receive around £400,000 as a share of this
confiscation.
The Achievements
Slough Borough
• RTB fraud : The purchase price was given as £185,000 with an RTB discount of £38,000.
• Savings in excess of 30k, fraudulently obtained mortgage
1. Nasim Tariq
• a. Confiscation Order: £6,276.95p.
• b. Compensation payable £5,058.48p. c. Costs awarded of £3,500.
• d. 3 months default sentence and 28 days TTP. Consent transfers to HMCS signed to the value of £6,276.95.
• e. £3,500 costs award.
2. Mohammed Tariq
• a. Confiscation Order: £34,802.35
• b. Compensation payable £34,802.35
• c. No costs
• d. 15 months default sentence and 6 months TTP. Consent transfers to HMCS signed to the value of £19, 279.15.
• e. Outstanding: £15,523.32
The total compensation through confiscation payable to SBC is £39860.83
The Achievements
The Tri-Borough Pilot: • On 8th November, the TriBorough (the Royal
Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
Hammersmith and Fulham, and
Westminster) launched a fraud awareness
campaign which covers all areas of fraud,
but with a specific Housing Fraud element
and involved Registered Providers including
Peabody Housing Association.
• The speakers at the event included:
Baroness Hanham, Sir Merrick Cockell,
Stephen Harrison, Ian O’Donnell, Joe
Joseph and Councillor Lindsay Hall.
The Achievements
NFA Pathfinder:
• A collaboration between Enfield
Council’s Counter Fraud Team
and Enfield Police Payback Team
resulted in several sanctions,
including the prosecution and
jailing of a person for benefit fraud
in Enfield and Waltham Forest
resulting in a confiscation order for
£543,000, of which Enfield
received £48,000.
FFL Conference 2012
Whats to come?
• West London ‘Track a Fraudster’ – the London Hub
• Whistleblowing pilot
• NFA has around pilots Counties and surrounding Districts looking at
hubs/sharing counter fraud expertise
• Working with one London LA to implement Fighting Fraud Locally
• New risks: Business Rates, Schools, Council Tax Support, Procurement
,Social Fund, Grants and Personal Budgets
• Powers and Penalties 2
Any questions?