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Benefits
Benefit fraud
Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Fraud costs the Council and local taxpayers thousands of pounds each year.
The Council needs your help to identify fraudsters.
Adur District Council is determined to stamp out fraud and has a dedicated benefit fraud team who undertake investigations into allegations of benefit fraud. It is a criminal offence to commit benefit fraud and, if we think that someone is fraudulently claiming benefit, or helping someone else to do so, we will investigate their circumstances. Where there is enough evidence, the Council’s policy is to prosecute or impose some other legal sanction, in line with the Council’s Prosecution Policy. In all cases, any overpayments of benefit are recovered.
Typical examples of benefit fraud :
- Working and claiming
This usually involves claimants who are receiving Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit on the basis that they are entitled to Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income Support, but they are, in fact, working. - Non-disclosure of income
This is where the claimant does not tell us about all their income, such as second jobs, other benefits or occupational pensions. - Non-disclosure of capital or property
This is where the claimant does not tell us about the full amount of savings or capital they have, such as building society and bank accounts or when they own another property, or have received an inheritance. - Non-disclosure of partner
This involves a person claiming as a single person and not telling us that they are living with a partner. - Non-disclosure of non-dependants or sub-tenants
This is where a claimant does not tell us about other adults living in their property. - False address
This is where a person claims benefit for an address where they do not live. This type of offence usually occurs when a claimant doesn’t tell us that they have moved out of a property, and can also include collusive landlords or other tenants. - Landlord fraud
This is where a landlord receives benefit for a tenant who does not exist, or where the landlord continues to receive direct payment of housing benefit when they know that the claimant has left the property.
How can I tell you about a suspected benefit fraud?
If you suspect someone who resides in the Adur District Council area of committing benefit fraud, there are several ways of telling us about the suspected fraud.
The best way is to call the Benefit Fraud team on (01273) 263487. You will then be able to talk to a trained and experienced investigator. You can do this anonymously or, if you give us your name, we will keep this strictly confidential.
Alternatively, you may report a suspected benefit fraud by :
- Telephoning (01273) 263184 and leaving a message
- Visiting the Civic Centre and speaking to one of our investigators
- Sending an e-mail to benefits fraud at Adur
- You
can also use our on-line form to report benefit fraud
(requires Adobe Acrobat)
It is important that you tell us as much information as possible as this helps us to gather enough evidence to successfully prosecute an offender. All calls will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Further information
For further information about what we can all do to help prevent benefit fraud and its costs to the taxpayers, you can visit the government’s DWP website (www.dwp.gov.uk/campaigns/benefit-thieves/).
