Over £7 million of fraud prevention has been detected in Oxford

The city council’s counter fraud team tracked its performance over the last year.

Author: Andrea FoxPublished 5th Aug 2024
Last updated 6th Aug 2024

With stats showing more than £7 million pounds of fraud prevention was tracked in Oxford last year, we've been hearing more about the team at work who are investigating.

The city council has its own Oxford Investigation Service.

The Oxford Investigation Service recorded its work looking at areas including financial loss, misuse of social housing and commercial income.

As part of their work, 58 housing applications were cancelled, and five properties recovered due to misuse, including sub-letting and unlawful succession .

As well as this the team prevented financial losses of over £5.7 million through diligent investigation efforts into financial loss prevention.

Councillor Ed Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance and Asset Management says: “The Oxford Investigation Service has been instrumental in preventing fraud losses and getting money and assets back, amounting to many millions of pounds.

“Through a blend of innovation, collaboration, and determination, the team has safeguarded social housing and ensured the robustness of services across and beyond the Council. They are outstanding leaders in the field of fraud prevention.”

Over the last decade it’s also helped other councils and organisations around the UK and abroad by providing different products and services.

Last autumn it hosted a fraud conference attended by over 150 delegates, and was given a “Highly Commended” Institute of Revenues Rating and Valuation award.

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