The Cabinet Office has admitted it is disappointed with the decreasing amount of fraud related to social housing that its pan-public sector National Fraud Initiative has identified over the past two years.
Its just-published report on outcomes from the initiative’s data matching exercises noted a 37% drop in the number of council and housing association homes taken back from tenants who had no right to live in them, compared with the 2012-14 period.
The NFI is overseen by the Cabinet Office’s fraud, error and debt team, and draws on a variety of work, benefits and credit data to identify potential wrong payments with the aim of chipping away at some of the £20bn-£49bn estimated to be lost to the public sector each year.
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The latest data indicate that in 2014-16 just £6m in social-housing fraud was spotted, compared to £27m during 2012-14.
According to the figures, NFI matches resulted in 54 homes being reallocated to deserving tenants over the period, down from the previous figure of 84. The number is a further decline from 2010/11 when 235 properties were recovered for reasons that can include illegal subletting, or having been gained through deception.
The report said: “In this context it is disappointing that, since our report in June 2014, there has been a decrease of 37 per cent and a continuation of the position we reported last time.
“It should be noted, however, that the decrease in properties recovered goes beyond the NFI.”
The Cabinet Office said decreasing recoveries of fraudulently let social housing had been recorded by other organisations, but at significantly slower rate of decline.
“The TEICAFF Protecting the English Public Purse 2015 report outlined a 1.2% decrease in the number of social homes recovered from tenancy fraudsters in 2014/15 in the UK, with London councils recovering 10.5% fewer,” it said.
“We will work with our key stakeholders in this area to better understand the reasons behind the decrease in properties recovered so we can enhance our data matching to better help tackle tenancy fraud.”
The latest NFI report identifies £222m of fraud either recovered or stopped across the UK over the two-year period. The figure is a £7m decline on the previous period — however the Cabinet Office said the differences in the “estimation methodologies” meant a like-for-like comparison could not be made between the two datasets.
The largest single area of fraud uncovered was £85m relating to pension payments, often continuing payments made in relation to people no-longer living. That figure was up from £76m during the previous period.
Cabinet Office minister Chris Skidmore said the NFI had a role to play in allowing public sector organisations to pool their resources to and overcome limited capacity to investigate overpayments and fraudulent claims.
“I would like to see councils and other public sector organisations take full advantage of the National Fraud Initiative,” he said.
“By working together and maximising the benefits of the exercise we could save the taxpayer millions more over the coming years.
“We must identify fraudulent individuals, safeguard taxpayers’ money and protect vital public services.”