Checkered progress on single person fraud

Tonbridge & Malling Council received a total of 29 reports containing 2,342 matches as a result of the National Fraud Initiative (NFI). The number of matches increased this year to include single person allowance, concessionary bus passes, licences, right to buy and insurance claims.

2,146 matches have been investigated and closed. Of the remaining 87 cases open, 48 relate to single person discount where additional investigation is required.

There were nine cases where a single person allowance was not applicable and the allowance was cancelled. As a result there was an overall increase of Council Tax due of £2364.79.

There were also cases where a single person allowance was claimed on a property but additional persons were identified as being associated with it. 22 cases of single person discount have been cancelled with additional Council Tax of £12,566 being added to bills.

Following discussions with the Principal Revenue Officer it was decided that any cases found where there was a single person allowance being claimed incorrectly it would treated as an error. So no penalties - and no backdating?

We've already discussed action against blue badge fraud at Barking and Dagenham. The anti-fraud operation there has uncovered 216 people who were wrongly claiming council tax discounts - leading to a much greater saving for the taxpayer, of £60,000.

The council's anti-fraud and council tax teams worked with the Audit Commission to check electronic data shared between different public bodies. The findings enabled them to weed out people suspected of claiming the discount but not living alone. Letters were sent to these claimants asking them if they were still living alone. If they replied that they were, a second letter was sent listing the other people believed to be living there and asking them to explain the discrepancy. If no satisfactory explanation was received the council tax team carried out home visits to find out how many people actually lived there. If there was no response to the letters, or if more than one adult was found to be living in the property, the discount was removed and a new bill issued.

In neither case is there any sense that people are being penalised or pursued for evasion - which could go back several years. No penalty, no publicity ... where's the deterrent here? Why are the councils not doing their best for their taxpayers at large?