Government Housing Benefit Fraud Fund 'Oversubscribed'

A government fund aimed at reducing fraud and error in the benefit system was nearly three times oversubscribed by councils. The Fraud and Error Reduction Incentive Scheme (FERIS), announced by George Osborne in November, offers financial rewards to local authorities who reduce housing benefit fraud and error. Earlier in the year, the DWP paid £5.4m to 328 local authorities for an initial ‘start up’ round of funding. According to DWP bulletin, a second tranche of FERIS funding received more than £8m in applications against a fund of £3m. Under the scheme each local authority has to hit a percentage reduction in fraud and error and is set a baseline to measure their performance against. Read more on Inside Housing.