17 to 23 November is International Fraud Awareness Week. Nationally, fraud costs the public sector £50 billion annually – that’s around £1,000 per household. And of all crimes committed in the UK, fraud is estimated to account for 40% of them.
Fraud is a real and persistent threat to our public services. It takes taxpayers’ money and resources from where they are needed the most. Buckinghamshire Council has a zero-tolerance approach to fraud.
Combating fraud
Blue Badges, council tax and housing
For Fraud Week this year, we’re focusing on fraud relating to Blue Badges, Council Tax, and housing, as well as the work we do with the National Fraud Initiative to prevent fraud against the council.
Council Tax fraud
Council tax fraud is when a person deliberately gives incorrect or misleading information in order to pay less or no council tax. Council tax fraud could be when a person claims to live in a single-person household when more than one person lives there, or they might claim to be a student when they are not.
The council regularly checks discount claims. We recently identified 80 homes where dependents had turned 18 but had failed to let the council know of a change in circumstances. This led to over £24,000 of Single Person Discounts being recouped.
Those found guilty of Council Tax fraud will be required to pay it back, plus for serious cases may receive a financial penalty or a criminal conviction.
Help us target fraudsters by letting us know if your circumstances change, such as a dependent turning 18, even if they’re studying and continue to be exempt, or report suspected Council Tax fraud.
Housing fraud
Housing fraud includes not telling the truth when applying for social housing - for example claiming to have children when you do not, sub-letting a property without permission, and living in a property after someone has died without the right to do so.
The council works closely with the homeless and housing teams within the council, and registered social landlords to investigate fraudulent housing applications and tenancy fraud.
Since April, the council has investigated 40 cases of possible fraud and recovered 7 properties. Temporary accommodation is set to cost Buckinghamshire Council nearly £4.5 million this year (2024 to 25). Every property recovered can be given to someone on the waiting list and reduce the number of people in temporary accommodation and save the council money.
We also work with the Tenancy Fraud Forum to support social landlords in identifying and combating tenancy fraud.
Case study
A suspicious housing application was flagged by our Housing team. On investigation it was discovered that the applicant already owned a property in Kent and had fraudulently claimed the right to continue living in social housing after someone had died, subletting this property to relatives.
Due to the investigation, the property was given up, which meant no court costs to the council or the landlord, and the applicant who applied for social housing had their application refused.
National Fraud Initiative
The NFI is one element of Buckinghamshire Council’s anti-fraud strategy. The council has a strong anti-fraud culture and effective counter-fraud policies and procedures that emphasise that fraud is unacceptable.
The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is an exercise that matches electronic data within and between over a thousand public and private sector bodies to prevent and detect fraud.
This preventative service allows organisations to stop fraud at the point of application, reducing administration and future investigation costs.
The NFI data matching plays an important role in protecting Buckinghamshire Council against fraud risks and during 2022 to 2023 the council recovered £118,000 in fraudulent claims by using NFI’s data matching services.
Blue Badge amnesty
The Blue Badge scheme is designed to ensure that parking spaces are available for disabled people and the badges must only be used when the disabled person is present.
Blue Badge misuse is not only fraud, but also a serious problem for our most vulnerable residents who rely on the scheme to access essential services and facilities. By parking in disabled bays without a valid badge, offenders are taking away spaces from those who really need them, causing them unnecessary inconvenience and stress.
Following a recent joint operation to catch people misusing Blue Badges, the council is allowing people who are holding onto no longer needed Blue Badges to anonymously return them during the awareness week (18 to 22 November), no questions asked.
There will be boxes in reception areas at council offices at:
- Walton Street Offices, Walton St, Aylesbury HP20 1UA
- Council Offices, Queen Victoria Rd, High Wycombe HP11 1BB
Or you can post them to:
- Blue Badge Amnesty, 5th Floor, Buckinghamshire Council, Walton Street, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP20 1UA
You can report suspected abuses of the Blue Badge scheme via our website.
Report fraud and scams
There are some frauds and scams that the council does not investigate. Find details below of how to report scams and fraud.
Report fraud
You can report frauds including:
- banking fraud
- business fraud
- buying and investment scams
- charity and competition frauds
- advance fee fraud
- identity fraud and theft
- online fraud
Report a fraud to Action Fraud
Find out more on the Action Fraud website.
Report benefit fraud
The Department for Work and Pensions investigates benefit fraud including Housing Benefit fraud.
Report benefit fraud to the Department for Work and Pensions or call the National Benefit Fraud Hotline on 0800 854 440.
Report a scam
A scam is a scheme to con people out of their money. You can receive them by advert, email, internet, phone, post or even by someone knocking on your door.
You can report scams including:
- cold calling doorstep traders
- rogue traders
- unsafe products
- scam mail
- selling to people who are underage (for example selling alcohol to under 18's)
- selling fake products
- loan sharks
Try to give as much as detail as possible, even if you think it is not relevant or important. You can remain anonymous if you wish.
Report a scam to Trading Standards
By reporting a scam, we can identify local trends and warn others through our social media:
Twitter: @Bucks_SurreyTS (Twitter)
Facebook: @BucksSurreyTS (Facebook)
You can also view our fortnightly trading standards newsletter.
Scam texts and emails
You can forward scam emails to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service via [email protected]
You can forward suspicious text messages to 7726. This free-of-charge short code enables your provider to find the origin of the text and take action if it turns out to be malicious.
Report another suspicious activity
This could be a suspicious business activity or a crime. You can give information to Crimestoppers anonymously.
Report suspicious activity to Crimestoppers
National and regional Crimestoppers website.