Six months' benefit fraud in Coventry

The Coventry City Council fraud unit reports that it received 645 referrals between April and September 2009, and conducted 216 investigations, 59 of which resulted in a formal sanction (a caution, administrative penalty or prosecution).

Results from the National Fraud initiative, combined with the results from the 'living together' project mentioned below, have contributed towards the £482k of fraudulently claimed benefit which the fraud unit have identified since 1 April 2009.

Coventry continues to work jointly with the DWP to investigate cases where it is suspected that people are living together and claiming benefit as a single person. This 'living together' project continues to yield successful sanctions and represents valuable anti-fraud activity against a type of offence which is notoriously difficult and laborious to investigate. Two recent cases identified total overpaid benefits in excess of £180k, £80k of which was overpaid housing/council tax benefit. One of the cases took more than 12 months to investigate and included many hours of surveillance to bring about a successful prosecution.

In May 2009 the fraud unit participated in a joint operation with the police targeting taxis in the city. During the operation the details of 29 drivers were cross-matched with the benefits and council tax database to identify discrepancies. Ten cases required further investigation, including two cases where Single Person Discounts had been awarded for the past several years and the information provided during the exercise suggested that the relevant properties were occupied by more than one adult.

The fraud unit continue to undertake targeted fraud drives, including a recent intelligence-led exercise involving staff at a large city centre retailer. The details of approximately 250 employees were cross-referenced with the benefits and council tax database and 20 cases require further investigation.

The fraud unit are close to completing all of the referrals resulting from the National Fraud Initiative. Over £80k in overpaid benefit has been identified as a result of the initiative and this figure is likely to rise further. More than 885 cases have been looked at as part of the initiative from a sample of 3,682 cases.

Coventry's accredited financial investigator has already established a significant caseload, including two housing benefit fraud cases and eight cases with Trading Standards. In a recent housing benefit fraud case, the Crown Court ordered the confiscation of £7,225 against a housing benefit overpayment of £12,455.

The final stages of the Voice Risk Analysis (VRA) pilot are drawing to a close nationally and results from the pilot so far suggest that the software is an effective and reliable tool which both improves claims administration whilst also helping to eradicate fraud and error from the benefit system.

Nearly 3,000 claims have now been processed using VRA technology in the Coventry pilot. In 91% of these cases no risk was indentified during the initial VRA process and the claim was therefore expedited into payment. Of the 9% of cases where risk has been identified during the initial VRA call, 21% of claims have either been deemed unsuccessful by assessment staff or withdrawn by the customer.