Guildford Borough Council alerts police to alleged housing fraud

Guildford Borough Council has instructed an anti-fraud unit and alerted police

A council investigating alleged fraud in its housing maintenance department has alerted police to its concerns.

Guildford Borough Council said an investigation had begun in September but did not give further details.

The authority has now revealed there have been suggestions of fraudulent activity with one contractor.

Surrey Police said it was working with the council to understand the circumstances and could not comment further.

The council said it appointed an external investigation team to make initial inquiries, an accredited anti-fraud investigation unit had been instructed, and it had contacted police to advise them of concerns within housing maintenance.

Home repairs delayed

The council did not give further details because the investigation is still ongoing, but said it was likely there had been non-compliance issues within housing, which led to a lack of governance around contract management, people management and financial controls.

Work had begun on a review to look at how failings arose and an action plan to provide assurances going forwards, it said.

The council also revealed some home repairs had been delayed and it had started a plan to deal with outstanding work. It said it was working hard to continue providing services with limited disruption and its priority remained the safety and wellbeing of tenants.

Council leader and lead councillor for housing, Julia McShane, said: "I understand that this has been a concerning time for our tenants. I want to reassure our tenants that their welfare continues to be our absolute focus."

A police statement said: "We are working with the borough council to understand the nature and scale of the circumstances involved and cannot comment any further at this time."

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