Fraud Investigation

Did you know that over £2 billion of taxpayer’s money is stolen every year by people who commit benefit fraud?

Great Yarmouth Borough Council has an experienced and professionally qualified investigation team which is dedicated to helping reduce this figure by both the detection and prevention of benefit fraud within the system.

The Council has a specific Counter-Fraud Strategy and Prosecution Policy which highlights the Investigations Teams pro-active approach. The main objective is to help stop benefit fraud within the Borough by sending out the message that benefit fraud is socially unacceptable and will not be tolerated. This is being achieved by making every effort to pursue people who fraudulently claim or attempt to claim benefits. This often results in various penalties which include offenders being formally cautioned, fined by the issue of an Administrative Penalty or in appropriate cases, being prosecuted which can lead to a term of imprisonment.

The Council works closely with many other agencies and departments in the prevention and detection of benefit fraud, including other Government Agencies, as well as other Local Authorities.

Working together helps close the net on people who fraudulently claim or attempt to claim benefits but your help could make a big difference in order for us to stamp out this unacceptable behaviour.

Remember, benefits are for the needy not for the greedy!

Types of Benefit Fraud

How to report a potential Benefit Fraud

Information to include when you report a fraud to us

A typical Fraud Investigation

Sanction results from previous years

Types of Benefit Fraud

Not reporting additional household income ie wages, private pension, Tax Credits or other Benefits
Not reporting additional household capital ie undeclared bank accounts, a lottery win or other windfall
Not reporting a partner in your household
Not reporting a change in your address
Not reporting any other changes to your household ie a non dependant or lodger moving in or out

This list is just a sample of the types of fraud that Great Yarmouth Borough Council are dealing with every day, if you have any suspicions please contact the Benefits Investigations Section.

How to report a potential Benefit Fraud

You can report a fraud to us in a number of ways

By completing the online contact form found in the panel to the right of this page
By email to:fraudline@great-yarmouth.gov.uk
By post using the address
By telephoning our fraud hotline: 0800 0282919

The fraud hotline is available 24 hours a day seven days a week, please note all calls are dealt with in the strictest confidence.

Information to include when you report a fraud to us

The full names of the people involved
Their home address
A description of the people involved
What type of fraud you think they are committing
A description of any vehicles they may own
Names of any other people living at their address
Information about their employer if you think they are working
Your name and contact number, if you are happy for us to contact you for further information

Please provide us with as much information as possible as this will increase our chances of successfully investigating each case.

Please also remember that all referrals are treated with the strictest of confidence, and that if you choose to remain anonymous it will not make any difference to the way we deal with your referral.

A typical Fraud Investigation

A referral is received, either from a member of the public, another government agency or from a member of staff who has noticed a discrepancy in claim details
The referral will be graded by one of the investigations staff
A case file will then be opened and passed to an investigator
The investigator will then explore all avenues open to them, for example they may contact the employer if the customer is working, or obtain bank statements if the allegation relates to an undeclared bank account
If the investigation calls for it they may then set up surveillance on the customers house or place of work
Once enough evidence has been collated the investigator will invite the customer to attend an Interview Under Caution
The Interview Under Caution is a tape recorded interview which gives the council the opportunity to disclose all the facts of the case to the customer, it also gives the customer a chance to offer any relevant explanations
The transcript of the interview and the case file complete with all evidence is then passed to the Investigation Team Manager so they can make a decision on any further action to be taken
There are four possible outcomes to a successful investigation. We may choose to just recover the overpayment, you may be offered a Formal Caution, we may offer an Administrative Penalty which is a fine of 30 per cent of the total overpayment, or you may be taken to court and prosecuted.