Agenda item

One of the key areas for Governance and Audit Committee, as part of its terms of reference, is to monitor and review the counter fraud arrangements in place and the activities that are being undertaken to mitigate those risks. 

The Cabinet Member for Corporate Governance and Licensing presented the report that covered years 2022-2023. The Committee was requested to approve the contents of the report, including the proposed action plan for 2023/24.

Section 3 of the report provided details of the whistleblowing referrals received by the confidential reporting line, which had been managed by Assurance Lincolnshire on behalf of the Lincolnshire Counter Fraud Partnership and acted as a central point of contact.

Section 3.4 of the report detailed the number of whistleblowing referrals received by Lincolnshire Authorities. Section 3.7 included the categories of those allegations. Section 5 reported on the details of the arrangements the Council had in place for housing benefit and council tax support. It also provided a summary of the housing benefit overpayment recovery for 2022/23. Section 6 provided details of arrangements in place for single person discount fraud.

The Council’s primary approach for checking single person discount entitlement was tested via a countywide counter fraud review, which was likely to take place in 2023.

Section 7 of the report provided information regarding the process the Council followed in 2022/23 to ensure that eligible businesses had retail discount applied to their business rates account.

One Member raised concern of the Council’s high whistleblowing figures compared to other Authorities.

It was queried as to how housing benefit overpayments were made and what measures could be put into place to refrain the overpayments.

Clarification was sought around the process of business rate relief and the assurance of businesses receiving the correct level of relief or possible overpayments.

The Assistant Director of Finance (Deputy S151 Officer) clarified that the high number of whistleblowing referrals may be due to the Council being a housing authority. The Council primarily utilised the confidential reporting line for all whistleblowing, whereas other authorities may have different ways of reporting council tax fraud and housing benefit fraud.

A breakdown in the report highlighted that nine were related to potential tenancy fraud, eight for benefit and council tax fraud, one relating to business rates and four relating to anti-social behaviour.

It was clarified that housing benefit fraud was primarily due to tenants not informing the Council of their claims requiring a reassessment. If housing benefit and council tax support had been overpaid, the Council would make an arrangement with the individuals to repay the monies back to the Council.

The business rate relief was automatically applied to accounts ready for bills to be issued for April each year. Businesses were requested to complete an application form to state their eligibility for the relief. If the application form was not received, the relief was removed from the account in May of each year. The businesses could reapply for the relief if necessary, which would mean the businesses was not given relief that they would then be required to pay back to the Council.

It was queried as to what level of publicity was given to business rate relief for businesses. Concern was raised that certain businesses may not be aware of their eligibility.

The Council sent out letters to businesses in the District to encourage businesses to apply and claim for business rate relief or suggest why they may not be eligible.

The Cabinet Member suggested that the whistleblowing policy remained as it was. The Auditor had stated that the policy was fit for purpose and did not require reviewing.

It was proposed, seconded and AGREED to approve the contents of the report including the proposed action plan for 2023/24.