Ayrshire local authority recoups £31,000 in council tax fraud
More than 300 corporate fraud incidents were investigated by North Ayrshire Council in 2024-25, bringing in more than £50,000 to the authority.
The team received 331 referrals for investigation during 2024-25 (compared to 398 in 2023-24), the Audit and Scrutiny Committee heard on Thursday.
Some 359 cases were closed during 2024/25 (2023/24: 385 cases).
These can be categorised as follows: Outcome - Number of Cases Closed with no issues identified - 170; referred to another agency (including SFIS) or Council Service for investigation 76; closed with results achieved (fraud, error or other recovery/action) - 11.
TOTAL 359.
Fraud and error totalling £57,000 were identified and are categorised in the table below: Category Value Housing Benefit £9000; Council Tax (including CTR, Single Person Discount and other recoveries) 31,000; Housing Other (including arrears now recoverable) 4,000; Payments to Employees (e.g. salary, time, travel etc.) £13,000. TOTAL 57,000.
In addition to the financial outcomes noted above, other outcomes/benefits were noted as follows:
Fifty-eight tenancies were recovered by Housing with some assistance from the Corporate Fraud Team.
Sixty-three referrals were made to the Single Fraud Investigation Service.
Nineteen referrals were made to other services, local authorities or agencies. In respect of blue badge cases investigated:
Fifteen cases concluded with a warning letter to the badge holder (2023-24: 2 warning letters), 13 warning letters were issued to third parties (2023-24: 2 warning letters), and 7 expired badges were recovered (2023-24: 1 badge recovery).
Nine investigations resulted in updates and corrections to records.
Four internal investigation reports have been taken forward with recommended actions for control improvement. International Fraud Awareness Week took place from November 17 to 23. It was promoted throughout North Ayrshire Council by social media campaign.
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