Drop In Social Housing Fraud Detection

The Cabinet Office has admitted it is disappointed with the decreasing amount of fraud related to social housing that its pan-public sector National Fraud Initiative has identified over the past two years. Its just-published report on outcomes from the initiative’s data matching exercises noted a 37% drop in the number of council and housing association homes taken back from tenants who had no right to live in them, compared with the 2012-14 period. The NFI draws on a variety of work, benefits and credit data to identify potential wrong payments with the aim of chipping away at some of the £20bn-£49bn estimated to be lost to the public sector each year. The latest data indicate that in 2014-16 just £6m in social-housing fraud was spotted, compared to £27m during 2012-14. Read more on the Civil Service World website.

Watchdog Criticises Lack of Action on Subletting

The government’s spending watchdog has criticised housing associations for not using a data matching system to identify homes that have been sublet unlawfully.  In its recent National Report the Audit Commission said ‘only a handful’ of housing associations are using the National fraud initiative ‘despite clear evidence that it is a powerful tool for detecting fraudulent occupation of social housing’.  Audit Commission chair Michael O’Higgins has written to the chair of the National Housing Federation and the HCA chair about the issue. The report shows the gains made as a result of the NFI. It notes social landlords have recovered 235 properties that were unlawfully occupied since 2010 through data matching, but says this would have more than doubled to 487 properties if all social landlords had joined the scheme. The report also says the NFI has resulted in 321 people being removed from housing waiting lists for false applications, and 636 prosecutions for housing benefit fraud, among other gains.  Download a copy of the report from the Audit Commission website.