Fraud Investigation

Winchester City Council has a legal duty to administer a benefits service to all those who qualify. At the same time, there is a responsibility to ensure that benefit payments are only made to those who have a genuine entitlement. Therefore, the Council's role is to try and stop fraud from taking place, catch those who are making false claims and reduce the number of fraudulent claims made each year.

Winchester City Council has trained Investigation Officers who are responsible for:

• Prevention and detection of fraud and error
• Prosecution of those people found to have defrauded the system

Types of Housing and Council Tax Benefit Fraud
The Investigation Officers investigate a wide variety of types of Benefit Fraud and also work closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, as a number of allegations involve both Housing/Council Tax Benefits and Social Security administered benefits, for example, Income Support and Job Seekers Allowance.

Here are a few examples of the types of fraud that occur:

• People on benefit who have an undeclared partner or other person living with them.
• People on benefit who have an undeclared job or other income.
• Persons claiming benefit from an address they have never or no longer live at.
• Landlords who are committing benefit fraud, for example, false tenancy agreements and continuing to receive benefit for a tenant who has left the address.
• Persons claiming benefit who own property or have sums of money they have not declared.

Reporting Fraud
Every year, benefit fraud costs millions of pounds and it's those who are in real need that are most affected. This fraudulently claimed, taxpayers money, could be used to support vital community services such as schools, hospitals and crime reduction.

If you think someone is getting benefits from Winchester City Council they are not entitled to, LET US KNOW!! You can remain completely anonymous and any information given will be treated with total confidence.

The benefit fraud HOTLINE is a telephone line set up within the Benefits Investigation Section. If you call 01962 848 173 during normal office hours someone will be available to take the information from you. Alternatively you can ring 01962 848 306 at any time and leave an anonymous message.

Alternatively, you can complete an electronic anonymous benefit fraud referral form or write to the address below.

We will investigate any reported fraud and if we have sufficient evidence, we will take legal action against the person.

It should be stressed however, that the majority of Housing and Council Tax Benefit claims are genuine and that most claimants are honest.

What happens once an allegation of fraud has been received by the Benefits Investigation Section?
Once an allegation of fraud has been received by the Investigation Officer, he/she will firstly, look at the content of the allegation, make some initial enquiries and then decide upon a course of action. This may involve a home visit to see the person or in certain situations, where we have reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence may have been committed, the person claiming benefit will be invited to attend an interview at the Council Offices.

This interview may be a formal interview under caution and tape recorded and held in accordance with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. The purpose of the interview is to establish the facts and allow the person involved to provide an explanation for the events that have occurred. However, if evidence of a criminal offence emerges during the interview, the person may be subject to one of the three following forms of legal penalty:

• A Formal Caution - this is similar to a Police Caution and is recorded on The Department for Work and Pensions and Local Authority database
• An Administrative Penalty - this is a fine of 30% of the overpayment of benefit arising from the offence and is recorded on The Department for Work and Pensions and Local Authority database
• A Prosecution - this is when a case is heard before a criminal court for example Magistrates or Crown Court, this is recorded on the Police National database as well as The Department for Work and Pensions and Local Authority database

In all cases all overpayments of Housing and Council Tax Benefit will be recovered in full from the person who claimed the benefit.

For the financial year 2006/2007 the Benefits investigation Section issued the following sanctions.

For the financial year 2007/2008 the Benefits investigation Section issued the following sanctions.

For the financial year 2008/2009 the Benefits investigation Section issued the following sanctions.

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