Councils get tough on tax discount fraudsters

Lincolnshire’s councils have teamed up to raise fraud awareness, share resources and expertise, and pool fraud intelligence.

Despite efforts to reduce it, nationally, fraud costs local government an estimated £2 billion every year.

Crimes include false claims for housing, council tax discounts and Blue Badges, plus dishonest use of grant and contract awards.

The partnership is made up of teams from the county council and all seven district councils. It aims to minimise fraud and protect taxpayers’ money by using advanced data matching, cross referencing techniques and investigation.

The first area they are targeting is false claims for single person discount and council tax support.

If you suspect fraud against a Lincolnshire council, report it to the confidential hotline on 0800 0853716 or email [email protected].