Fraud team's crackdown saves taxpayers millions

The figure includes the prevention of fraudulent benefit applications

Taxpayers have been saved about £3m over two years by council investigators "preventing fraud and identifying those who should be paying more".

Swindon Borough Council's head of internal audit, Nick Hobbs, confirmed the new figures at a meeting on Tuesday.

Council officials stopped 12 illegitimate right-to-buy applications, which saved £1.03m. They also halted seven fraudulent housing applications.

Councillor Neil Hopkins said: "The work is of great importance and it is bringing in great results.”

Billable income

The recovery of eight houses in 2023 to 2024 from fraudulent tenants saved £744,000, the audit committee was told.

Debt recovery brought in £4,000, and the prevention of fraudulent applications for housing benefit, council tax reductions, and student exemptions saved £16,000.

About £1.83m was saved last year, compared to £1.5m in the previous financial year of 2022 to 2023.

Mr Hobbs added: "An exercise was carried out through the National Fraud Initiative where Council Tax Single Person discount was matched to electoral roll and credit agencies.

“This identified an additional billable income of £272,723, and work on empty homes identified 219 properties to be occupied, resulting in an additional £452,235 in empty homes bonus."

The overall figure for savings and additional billable income for 2024 to 2025 was £2,559,525, he added.

The council have managed to save money by recovering houses from fraudulent tenants

Councillor Matt Lodge asked whether these figures suggested a case for recruiting one more investigator, adding "the money and savings would outweigh the extra costs".

Mr Hobbs said: "Before two years ago, maybe you get a big win, but then you’ve picked off most of them when you repeat the exercise. So it’s hard to say what we would identify in future years."