Cracking down on benefit fraud

Shropshire Council’s housing benefit and council tax benefit investigation team are cracking down on benefit fraud. 

Since April 2011, the team have issued 54 formal cautions, 32 administrative penalties (fines) and taken out 30 prosecutions.           

People are prosecuted when have claimed housing benefit and council tax benefit that they are not entitled to.  The team carries out investigations on a case-by-case basis and, during the past six months, it has worked to recover falsely-claimed benefit ranging from less than £1,000 up to over £21,000 per case.  The team also works closely with the Department of Work and Pensions to jointly investigate and prosecute benefit fraud cases.  

In total, the team has discovered and are working to retrieve over £240,000 in fraudulently-claimed benefits for the first half of this financial year. 

The team is highly active in catching customers of the benefit system that commit fraud in a number of different ways.  This could include someone working when they claim to be unemployed, living with a partner when they say they are single, claiming for a property they no longer reside in, or claiming when they have money in excess of £16,000. 

Councillor Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for public protection, said:

“Housing benefit and council tax benefit are funded by the taxpayer and Shropshire Council has a duty to protect this money.

“It is important that we take benefit fraud very seriously, and we won’t hesitate to take legal action against those who try and defraud the benefits system which exists to help those in need.” 

Shropshire Council encourages people to contact the Fraud Hotline on 0345 678 9033 or email fraud@shropshire.gov.uk if they have any suspicions about benefit fraud being committed.