24 January 2003
In a follow-up report on problems first unearthed in 1999, the Department for Work and Pension's Benefit Fraud Inspectorate (BFI) said Rotherham had done 'very little' to improve its anti-fraud work since inspectors uncovered problems with overpayments, management checking and failure to prosecute fraudsters.
The council administered around £56.5m in housing benefit claims in 2001/02 – around 13% of its gross revenue expenditure.
But the BFI said the council had 'failed to introduce the recommended framework for verifying evidence to support benefit claims', while there was still no management checking regime in place. Benefit claim forms, inspectors said, were not vigorous enough to detect fraud and did not meet the DWP's guidelines. As a consequence, the figure for fraudulent claims was unknown.
Rotherham had also failed to implement a prosecutions policy for fraudsters, the report, published on January 21, claims. Inspectors did, however, find improvements in the council's overpayment work.
A BFI spokesman said: 'It was clear… the council was not committed to counter-fraud investigations and had failed to progress.'
The council said it had introduced a 'preliminary action plan' to combat problems following the BFI inspection in August 2002. 'We are keen to rectify problems and will do all we can to retrieve losses to the taxpayer,' a spokesman added.
PFjan2003