Skip to main content

Agenda item

Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit Update Report

Purpose

To provide the Committee with assurance over the counter fraud activities of the Council and to update the Committee in relation to the areas of fraud risk mitigation.  Direct updates will continue to be provided biannually.

To present the Committee with an updated Fraud Risk Strategy 2025, Fraud Compliance Report and Fraud Response Plan, so that they may consider the approach taken by the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit Partnership as the body charged with governance in this area. To provide assurance to the Committee that the risks of fraud committed against the Council are recognised, managed and mitigated in accordance with Council priorities, and changing fraud trends.

 

Recommendation

That the Committee resolves to:

1.    Note the report and attachments; Fraud Risk Strategy 2025, Fraud Compliance Report and Fraud Response Plan are appended at Annex A, B and C respectively.

Minutes:

The Chair introduced the report, noting that there were three items, and requested the officer explain how each link to the others. The Head of Service for the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit thanked the Chair and explained that while the Committee would have traditionally been provided with a mid-year update at this time, this process had changed to provide a full year report in April and this half-year report was now to be focused on high-risk areas and ongoing or actions completed by officers. This included reviewing and updating several documents including the 2022 Fraud Risk Strategy, of which the updated version had been provided to members – this document provided an overview of what risks the Council was exposed to, how these were mitigated, what motivations had been identified for individuals committing fraud, and other pertinent details.

The officer also noted that when the original Fraud Risk Strategy document was submitted for approval, the team also committed to measuring their progress against a ‘checklist’ of standards provided by the Local Government Association; this was the Fraud Compliance Report provided to the Committee which listed each action as fully, partially, or noncompliant. The officer was pleased to report that for most items the Council was fully compliant, with remaining gaps including data protection – though this only related to a specific software used for data matching that the Council did not currently license or use, rather than any outstanding vulnerabilities in data management within Council systems.

The officer continued and introduced the Fraud Response Plan, also included in the report, which was a ‘quickfire’ response document for officers and external bodies on how to respond to a potential fraud, focused on maintaining the integrity of any potential investigations by ensuring staff were aware of appropriate actions and parties to report to.

The officer noted that the report also included a number of updates on how high-risk areas were being managed, including council grant schemes which were subject to a new management policy that would be submitted to the Committee or to Cabinet in the near future, as well as ‘polygamous working’; that is, working multiple, undeclared jobs, of which there had been a recent case. This also contained a new report to be submitted but this would be a longer-term project, which the officer thanked the HR team for their assistance in developing.

  • The Committee queried page 114 part 2.23: the launch of a new website/portal for public access to services such as victim support, Crimestoppers, police reporting and other important information, and when this was expected to go live. The officer clarified that the current expectation as listed in the report was October 2025 but that once the draft website formatting was approved this could go live immediately, and that the meeting to review it was scheduled for 6 October 2025.
  • The Committee queried how the team prioritised items in their checklist that required further consideration. The officer clarified that many of the partially compliant items were related to updating councillors and designating a portfolio holder for counter fraud provision, however the officer considered this a matter to be discussed by all members due to its universal applicability. This being the case, there was a proposed process in which an audit committee report was provided to an informal member’s meeting to review the high-risk areas being targeted and what actions were being taken; to which the Chair thanked the officer and suggested that the likely portfolio holder for this area would be Councillor Patrick Coleman.
  • The Committee questioned if they were to enter the Council’s offices and pick an officer at random, whether they would have a good understanding of the Council’s whistleblowing process. The officer responded that this was explained to all new staff members as part of their induction process, as well as there being an annual refresher issued to all staff, but that the officer hoped to foster an environment wherein Council staff felt comfortable contacting their manager or a member of the internal audit team directly if they were unsure or had specific concerns.
  • The Committee noted the reference to third parties on page 141, asking what power the Council possessed to hold them accountable to any agreements. The officer agreed that this was a complicated matter due to the nature of contracting and licensing between agencies and individuals, but that all written contracts were being reviewed and a process for improved paperwork for all future contracts was in place, including the previously mentioned whistleblowing policy.
  • The Committee commented that it was reassuring that the checklist provided was mostly green and that the Council seemingly was ‘in a good place’ on compliance. The Committee queried what would happen at the next meeting, and whether the formatting would change to indicate what progress had been made without simply duplicating the entire checklist. The officer agreed that this would be a good idea – to provide updates focusing on the relevant progress of actions or areas of significant concern.
  • The Committee queried how the risk register was applied to each area of the Council’s work, as they considered it a complicated proposal. The officer explained that a member of her team reviewed each service and calculated a specific risk register for them, with the higher risk areas being focused on first, supported by the managers of the teams being reviewed.

RESOLVED: The Committee noted the report.

 

Supporting documents:

 

Related Pages