Fighting fraud and corruption

What is fraud

The Fraud Act 2006 describes fraud as the intention to make gain or cause loss:

• fraud by false representation
• fraud by failing to disclose information
• fraud by abuse of position

There are further subheadings of fraud described including possession of articles for use in fraud, making or supplying articles for use in frauds, participating in fraudulent business and or obtaining services dishonestly.

What is corruption and bribery

Corruption is defined as the offering, giving, soliciting or acceptance of an inducement or reward, or showing any favour or disfavour which may influence any person to act improperly.

Bribery is defined in the Bribery Act 2010 "as giving someone a financial or other advantage to encourage that person to perform their functions or activities improperly or to reward a person for having already done so, in order to gain personal, commercial, regulatory or contractual advantage". It is the most common form of corruption.

Fraud and corruption drain our time and money from those who really need our support.

Protecting against fraud

We take fraud and corruption very seriously and are committed to preventing and detecting fraud and corruption. We aim to develop a culture of zero tolerance against fraud and corruption.

We have a Corporate Fraud Team and all instances of potential fraud or corruption that are reported to us will be investigated rigorously and promptly, and appropriate action will be taken. We encourage anyone concerned about fraud or corruption concerning the council, its partners or wholly-owned companies, to report it using the Contact Corporate Fraud details.

• Counter fraud and corruption strategy (PDF, 1 MB)
• Fraud Response Plan (PDF, 289 KB)
• Corporate fraud sanction policy (PDF, 193 KB)
• Confidential Reporting Code (PDF, 252 KB)

You can find details about benefit fraud on our Report Housing Benefit fraud page.

Related guidance

You may be interested in information produced by Action Fraud, that highlights some of the ways fraudsters obtain personal details of unsuspecting people. 

• The Devil's in Your Details: phone fraud on YouTube
• The Devil's in Your Details: online fraud on YouTube
• The Devil's in Your Details: phone fraud 2 on YouTube

Be on your guard. As the old saying goes: 'If it is too good to be true, it probably is!'