COUNTER FRAUD WORK PROGRAMME 2023/24

Date: 15 March 2023

Annex 2

 INTRODUCTION

1 Veritau undertakes counter fraud work on behalf of City of York Council. This document summarises the agreed areas of counter fraud work for 2023/24.

2 A total of 983 days of counter fraud work has been agreed for 2023/24. A large proportion of this work will comprise reactive investigations which are determined by referrals received from officers and the public about suspected fraud. Other work will be undertaken in accordance with priorities determined by the Counter Fraud Risk Assessment and Counter Fraud Strategy Action Plan (last presented to the Audit and Governance Committee in January 2023).

3 A high level summary of areas for counter fraud work in 2023/24 are shown in the table below.

 2023/24 WORK PROGRAMME

Area	Scope
Counter Fraud General	Monitoring changes to regulations and guidance, reviewing counter fraud risks, and support to the council with maintenance of the counter fraud framework. Updates on significant fraud trends and counter fraud activities will be provided to the Audit and Governance Committee during the year.
Proactive Work	This includes: · raising awareness of counter fraud issues and procedures for reporting suspected fraud - for example through training and provision of updates on fraud related issues · targeted proactive counter fraud work - for example through local and regional data matching exercises · support and advice on cases which may be appropriate for investigation and advice on appropriate measures to deter and prevent fraud.
Reactive Investigations	Investigation of suspected fraud affecting the council. This includes feedback on any changes needed to procedures to prevent fraud reoccurring.
National Fraud Initiative	Coordinating submission of data to the Cabinet Office for the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) data matching programme and investigation of subsequent matches.
Fraud Liaison	Acting as a single point of contact for the Department for Work and Pensions, to provide data to support housing benefit investigations.