More than £2.8million of public funding was protected as a result of work by East Suffolk Council’s Corporate Fraud Service in 2024/25.
The team uncovered more than 103 cases of irregularity between the beginning of April 2024 and the end of March 2025.
An annual Corporate Fraud report, presented to the Council’s Audit and Governance Committee this month, showed that officers helped to detect £2,844,032 of irregularity during the last financial year.
The Corporate Fraud Service Team is professionally resourced and skilled in investigating any potentially fraudulent activity relating to the organisation, its partnerships, and direct contractors.
Intervention included the cancellation of nine Right to Buy applications following due diligence activities, providing £1,724,500 of prevented losses by retaining these properties within council housing stock and continuing to yield monthly rental income and be available for social housing needs.
Meanwhile, tenancy fraud investigations resulted in the recovery of 10 social housing properties, saving an estimated £930,000 and enabling genuinely eligible families to becomes tenants.
Councillor Vince Langdon-Morris, East Suffolk Council Cabinet Member with responsibility for Resources and Value for Money, said:
“These are excellent results from our Corporate Fraud Service. The prevention, detection and prosecution of fraudulent activity helps us to protect taxpayers.
“With increased pressure on local government, and a reduction in central government funding, it has never been more important for our Corporate Fraud Services to tackle fraud and protect those that truly need our help.”
Reporting suspicions of fraud
Reports of suspected fraud can be made to East Suffolk Council by calling 01394 444444 or emailing fraud@eastsuffolk.gov.uk or completing our online fraud report on the Corporate fraud section of the website.