Success in war on benefits cheats

It is predicted there has been an increase of more than 20 per cent of people trying to make fraudulent council tax and housing benefit claims to councils across North Yorkshire since the recession.

But thanks to a pioneering anti-fraud agency in North Yorkshire, one of the first schemes of its kind in Britain, councils have been able to cope with the huge increase in demand.

Now the agency, Veritau Ltd – a shared initiative comprising internal audit, counter fraud and information governance teams from York Council and North Yorkshire County Council – is set to take on the workload of overstretched councils across North Yorkshire.

The executive member for corporate services at York Council, Richard Moore, whose authority last year saw a seven per cent increase in benefits claims alone, said: "There has been a considerable increase in claims made since the recession and Veritau Ltd has proved to be a considerable success.

"We have always had a shortage of resources and in the past one fraud investigation would take up the time of several officers who could not be replaced.

"But now we can address this shortage. Despite the extra work we seem to be dealing with it very successfully at the minute.

"It is fortuitous that it was set up when it was, and has been able to address the considerable shortfall we had."

Veritau Ltd was created in April last year and is owned by both York and the county council, with each having a 50 per cent share.

Director Max Thompson said: "Since the recession we have seen a significant increase in the number of people claiming benefits and while a lot of the cases are still working their way through the system we expect around 20 per cent of these to be fraudulent.

"The figures are ever increasing and the number of benefit fraud cases is going up but we are coping very well.

Councils getting together to share their resources is the right way to go and we are looking to start working with district councils across North Yorkshire.

"We are delighted at the success, this sends out a strong message across the county that benefit cheats will not get away with it."

Ryedale District Council is the latest local authority to enlist Veritau Ltd's services to help tackle benefit cheats.

Its corporate director of resources, Paul Cresswell, said: "There has been an increase in the number of claimants.

"For us it was not on the scale of other areas of North Yorkshire but we only had one person working in the anti-fraud department before and she has gone on maternity leave – this has been a huge help.

"Otherwise we would have been too overstretched and would have had to go shopping around to other councils asking for help."

The agency is also set to undertake a review of both York Council and Ryedale District Council to improve their counter-fraud and corruption prosecution policies.

Last year fraud investigators renewed appeals for residents to report fraudsters after a York man who fiddled 1,750 in housing benefit was given a six month conditional discharge and ordered to pay 80 in costs by city magistrates.

Anyone who suspects fraud is urged to call York Council's fraud hotline, 01904 552935, or report it via e-mail to [email protected].

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