Oxford council counter fraud squad saves over £5 million

The findings of the council’s annual investigation report for between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, were presented to the Audit and Governance Committee on Wednesday (July 26), and these showed the fraud team had “delivered value for money”.

The team tackles fraud and financial irregularity across the council.

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The counter fraud team has been successful in preventing losses in the millions

The report’s main findings were that the team was successful in preventing a loss of £3,662,400 through irregular Right to Buy applications and £271,630 was raked in from thoroughly checking discounts and exemptions to council tax.

The city council’s counter fraud manager, Scott Warner, said the results marked “another great year for the team” as the total value of prevented fraud loss and additional revenue came to £5,112,153.

City councillor and cabinet member for housing Linda Smith said: “The council’s fraud investigation team does a thorough job checking each application for Right-to-Buy to make sure fraudulent applications are detected and stopped.”

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Ms Smith said fraudulent applications could cost the council millions, but the work of the fraud team meant that “properties will remain as part of our stock of affordable housing”.

Cabinet member for housing Linda Smith (Image: Oxford Mail)

City councillor Alex Hollingsworth asked Mr Warner at Wednesday’s meeting whether he found people were just “being overly ambitious with their interpretation of what a question may be asking” when submitting applications or if there was a "criminal" intention to "de-fraud".

Mr Warner said a lot of his team’s work in relation to vetting Right to Buy applications was “preventive” and he said their job involved asking “intrusive questions”.

He said: “In terms of Right to Buy applications already in the system, because they have gone through such a vigorous process, we are happy to say that the detection rate is very low.

“We found nothing suitable to progress to prosecution.”

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The report found that 42 Right to Buy applications were prevented out of a total of 81 and this represents an increase of 180 per cent in false or irregular applications being sent in when compared to last year.

One of the fraud team’s main triumphs was preventing £148,045 of Covid business grants being paid to personal bank accounts as opposed to business accounts.

The counter fraud team costed the council £577,279 to run last year, meaning that it made a return of 885 per cent in their investment.

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In addition to its own services, the council provides counter fraud services and data matching expertise for other councils and public bodies including Warwick District Council and Slough Borough Council.

Anyone who wants to report a suspected fraud against the city council should contact the Counter Fraud Team on 01865 252333 or email fraud@oxford.gov.uk. 

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Ed specialises in writing political stories for the Oxford Mail and The Oxford Times. 

He joined in the team in February 2023, after completing a History undergraduate degree at the University of York and studying for his NCTJ diploma in London.

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