Agenda item

Objective: To provide the Committee with an overview of the Counter Fraud Enforcement Unit’s work on housing and tenancy fraud over the previous year.

The Investigation and Enforcement Manager introduced the report and explained that it gives a summary of the work carried out by the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit (CFEU) over the past two years. She confirmed that previously they had reported to Cheltenham Borough Homes and will be presenting to the committee annually going forward. Work carried out included verification work, specific investigations referred to the CFEU, proactive data matching exercises, reviews of housing waiting lists and the National Fraud Initiative housing matches. The CFEU will also be delivering training for council colleagues over the next 2 months around general fraud, tenancy and housing fraud awareness, the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, surveillance, and the use of social media as part of investigations. It is hoped this will enable former housing colleagues to carry out more investigations themselves within the council’s regulatory powers.

The committee’s discussion raised the following points:

-       The subletting of social housing on Airbnb may potentially be an issue in Cheltenham, especially around Race Week. This can be difficult to investigate as Airbnb are not a UK based organisation and do not have to comply with information requests. London councils have used a court order to compel Airbnb to provide information about specific housing estates with known problems. The CFEU is part of the Tenancy Fraud Forum which have recently produced a report on the use of Airbnb and are encouraging the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) to take more of an interest in housing fraud, particularly as other social housing providers do not have the capacity that councils have to investigate the matter. Individual cases can be investigated by the CFEU if information is received, and a proactive investigation could be undertaken prior to Race Week.

-       The regulations do not provide powers of access unless accompanied by police with a warrant, but it is possible to gain utility use data and bank statements to investigate potentially empty properties and subletting.

-       Reviews of the housing waiting list confirm whether the information provided when people first applied is still correct as circumstances may have changed. These households may still remain on the waiting list, if appropriate, with a recommendation to move them on to a different priority level.

-       Where an offender lacks mental capacity or has a relevant disability solicitors carry out a 2-stage test before recommending any criminal action to consider whether it meets the evidential standards and whether it meets the public interest test. The public interest test considers other mitigating factors around the fraud such as capacity, but that would not necessarily prevent action being taken.

-       The CFEU is a shared service across the five partner councils within Gloucestershire (Gloucester City Council is the only exception). They work under a collaboration agreement with officers seconded to each council.

-       The waiting list has increased to 3014 households, primarily due to the economic climate in recent times. This means it is more important than ever to ensure the right people are on the list and that properties are recovered where possible from those who should not have them or who are subletting them.