Fraud

Whilst we recognise the majority of people using our Benefits service do so properly and honestly, we must also realise that some people commit fraud with the intention of receiving benefit that they are not entitled to.

The prevention, detection and investigation of fraud in the borough is the responsibility of our professionally-trained Investigation Team, who examine allegations of Benefit Fraud received by the Council.

Benefit Fraud is a crime. We are determined to make sure that only people who are entitled to Benefit actually receive it.

How does Fraud affect me?

Benefit fraud costs the country billions of pounds a year and increases the amount of Income Tax and Council Tax you pay. It also affects the amount of money we spend on providing public services.

Anyone deliberately claiming benefit they are not entitled to is committing a criminal offence punishable by:

Up to ten years imprisonment for making false statements or producing false documents to obtain benefit
Up to seven years imprisonment for continuing to claim benefit after deliberately failing to notify us of a change of circumstances