Councils to Receive Cash Incentives for Cutting Housing Benefit Fraud

The government will reward councils that cut housing benefit fraud with cash incentives, it has announced. In the autumn statement, the Treasury announced a package of measures designed to tackle fraud, error and debt in the welfare system. The government will establish a new ‘housing benefit fraud and error local authority incentive scheme’, under which councils will be paid financial rewards ‘worth up to £35m over the next three years’ if they reduce the amount of money lost through housing benefit fraud and error. Read more on Inside Housing.