Council investigators uncovered 142 cases of fraud last year – saving taxpayers around £3.6 million. The total value of the cases investigated by the corporate fraud team at Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 2023/24 was £609,630 up on the previous year.

Housing fraud accounted for the lion's share of this total, but the cases also included council tax fraud, fraudulent Covid business grant claims and one case where social care worth £20,294 was wrongly claimed. Thirty council house residents had their tenancies ended – up from 20 in the previous year – after they were found to have committed housing tenancy fraud, saving the authority a 'notional' £2.79 million.

This figure is based on a standard calculation of £93,000 per property, taking into account factors such as the cost of temporary accommodation for genuine applicants and legal costs. Strategic manager Clare Potts, who presented the fraud figures to members of the audit committee, explained that housing tenancy fraud accounted for most of last year's increase in fraud value.

Housing tenancy fraud can include things such as sub-letting a council property for profit, or providing false information in a housing application.

Housing fraud accounted for the lion's share of the total value (Nub News).

Councillor Lorraine Beardmore said housing tenancy fraud had increased by a 'significant amount', and asked whether this was down to better detection or an actual increase in fraudulent activity.

Ms Potts said it was a 'mixture of both'. She said: "During Covid housing officers weren't going out as much, and we've also done some specific training with the housing team, pointing out the things they should be looking out for. So it's been a mixture of them being more proactive, and the numbers climbing because of the cost of living, that kind of thing."

Members of the committee also queried the scale of the single case of social care fraud, and asked how it could have happened.

Nick Edmonds, director of strategy and resources, said: "I'd need to check the details but some of the details I've seen in the past have involved people providing false information, where they claim things they say they're eligible for, but it later transpires they weren't eligible. Each case is unique and different, but that is the gist."

Cllr Beardmore said £20,294 was a 'huge amount' for a single case, and asked for officers to bring back further details, including whether there were wider issues that needed to be addressed.

The most common type of fraud last year was single person discount fraud, with 55 people being found to have wrongly claimed the discount on their council tax. There were also 17 cases of Right to Buy fraud, which had a combined value of £741,431.

Five businesses had to pay back £10,000 Covid Business Grant they had wrongly received, down from nine in the previous year.

And the team uncovered an internal case involving a £450 expense claim being made. Four other cases of internal fraud involving council staff were investigated, which resulted in disciplinary proceedings or dismissal.

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