Sandwell fraud crackdown saves council £38 million

False applications to join the housing register, council tenancy fraud and right-to-buy cons have all been targeted by the counter-fraud team at the local authority – saving £38.4m.

Chiefs said the biggest saving came from work that led to the withdrawal of 428 right-to-buy applications – nearly two-thirds of the 693 total received in the period 2015-16.

The savings follow the introduction of anti-money laundering forms being issued to all applicants.

Based on calculations provided by the Cabinet Office, the potential savings to the council of right-to-buy sales not going through works out as an estimated £65,000 per property – or £27.82 million in total.

A further three right-to-buy applications, which appeared fraudulent, were refused – saving the council another £195,000.

Sandwell Council leader Steve Eling, said: "Tenancy fraud and right-to-buy fraud is extremely lucrative because of the value of properties in today's market and the two are very often linked – a tenancy fraud becomes a right-to-buy-fraud.

"We are now far more robust with our right-to-buy processes.

"During the year 2015-16 we received just under 700 right-to-buy applications.

"After anti-money laundering forms were sent to applicants nearly two-thirds of those applications were not pursued any further.

"It's also important to remember that every tenancy and right-to-buy fraud removes a property from the council's housing stock and deprives a genuine tenant of a home."

Further investigations also uncovered 109 instances of council tenancy fraud, where properties had been abandoned, sub-let or misused in other ways – saving the council a further £10.14m.

Other council housing-related fraud investigations using data matching – when comparing tenancy records with other Midland councils and housing associations – prevented seven false applications to join up to the council's housing register.

The cost to the council is estimated at £36,000 per property, saving a further £252,000.

Another success for the council's counter-fraud team included identifying 833 cases where the council tax single person discount was no longer payable – increasing council tax revenue by £201,000.

The counter-fraud team also investigated various cases of fraud in the other areas such as claims for benefits, council tax, supported accommodation, personal budgets/direct payments, blue badges and insurance.