Download pdf - Fighting Fraud Locally - CIPFA west...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 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


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


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’


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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.

http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

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.

mailto:[email protected]

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?