Our team of investigators are responsible for undertaking both reactive and proactive fraud investigations. This includes the investigation of:
- fraud committed externally against the Council such as housing fraud, blue badge and parking/permit fraud
- internal fraud or misconduct by staff, Councillors, partners or contractors
Our Joint Anti-Fraud Forum is responsible for reviewing our fraud risk register. We have a programme of proactive fraud checks targeting areas from the fraud risk register. These include checks on high-value payments to contractors such as salary and overtime payments.
Data matching exercises are completed in accordance with the National Fraud Initiative (NFI).
How we protect your money
As a local authority, we have a responsibility to:
- protect the public purse
- make sure the funds from your Council Tax are used for proper purposes, agreed plans and priorities
- ensure value for money
- ensure proper management of risks associated with all our activities
To help us achieve this we have:
- a shared Internal Audit service with the South West London Audit Partnership
- a shared Fraud and Investigation service with the South West London Fraud Partnership