Fraud
As part of the Transparency Agenda, the Council actively publishes details of fraud or corruption that it detects and produces a report annually on our counter fraud and fraud investigation activity. These are normally released via the Council's Audit Committee in October each year. In order to aid our readers and users, all of these reports are collated and published here along with key summary activity relating to fraud and counter fraud activity.
Annual reports on fraud and counter fraud activity
Most of the information required to be published under the transparency code can be found in the Annual Fraud Report / Preventing and Detecting Fraud and Error Report. These reports cover more than the requirements of the transparency agenda. Links to the reports are available below. More historic information is available by searching through the Council's Audit Committee pages.
- 2014/15 Annual Fraud Report
- 2015/16 Annual Fraud Report
- October 2017 Preventing and Detecting Fraud and Error Report
- October 2018 Preventing and Detecting Fraud and Error Report
- October 2019 Preventing and Detecting Fraud and Error Report
- October 2020 Preventing and Detecting Fraud and Error Report
- October 2021 Preventing and Detecting Fraud and Error Report
Fraud and counter fraud statistics
The government requires that the Council and similar bodies produce and publish annual statistics relating to fraud activity and investigation. This is requirement is known as the Transparency Agenda. Details of our activity are included in the table below.
| Statistic / Year | Number of occasions where under the Prevention of Social Housing Fraud (Power to Require Information) 2014 has been used | Total number of (absolute) employees undertaking investigations and prosecutions of fraud | Total number of (full time equivalent) employees undertaking investigations and prosecutions of fraud | Total number of absolute and full time equivalent professionally accredited counter fraud specialists | Total amount spent by the authority on the investigation and prosecution of fraud. (Estimated costs based on direct costs only) | Total number of fraud cases investigated |
| 2012/2013 | NA | NA | 8.85 | NA | NA | See report above |
| 2013/2014 | NA | NA | 7.85 | NA | NA | See report above |
| 2014/2015 | 0 | 10.5 | 8.095 | 8 | £233,249 | See report above |
| 2015/2016 | 0 | 10.5 ** | 8.095 ** | 8 ** | £163,000 | See report above |
| 2016/2017 | 0 | 5 | 2.10 | 3 | £75,000 *** | See report above |
| 2017/2018 | 0 | 5 | 2.00 | 3 | £70,000 *** | See report above |
| 2018/2019 | 0 | 5 | 2.10 | 3 | £80,000 | See report above |
| 2019/2020 | 0 | 4 | 1.8 | 3 | £70,000 | See report above |
| 2020/2021 | 0 | 4 | 1.8 | 3 | £75,000 | See report above |
| 2021/2022 | 0 | 4 | 1.8 | 2 | NA**** | See report above |
* The current version of the Transparency Code was released in 2015. Statistics prior to this date are not available for all items.
** These figures represent the state of play for the first half of 2015/16 before the transfer of benefits fraud investigation staff to the Single Fraud Investigation Service. Further details of this are available in the Annual Fraud Report for 2015/16.
*** Due to the fact that fraud is investigated by individual departments as part of their normal work commitments, it is not separately recorded. This is an estimate only and relates to Doncaster Council undertaken investigations only.
**** Due to the impact of the Covid Pandemic it was not possible to calculate this with any accuracy for 2021/22.
All figures above exclude Trading Standards investigations staff.