Paul Carrick, portfolio holder for finance at Broadland District Council. Photo: James Bass.
Over 450 claims for single resident council tax discount cancelled by Broadland District Council
Thursday, March 7, 2013
7:32 PM
The public purse has been saved an estimated £120,000 a year after more than 450 “inappropriately claimed” single resident council tax discounts were cancelled.
Broadland District Council has been working with a data company to review and crack down on people claiming council tax discounts which they shouldn’t be since the end of August.
Of the 55,000 properties on the books of Broadland, more than 16,000 are allowed 25pc off their bills as single resident households.
The traditional way of reviewing discounts had been to write to people claiming the discount, which made it easy for a person to just write back and confirm entitlement.
The project which has been jointly funded by Norfolk County Council and Norfolk Police Authority, has been so successful because it has utilised information from the credit industry by working with a specialist data company.
Councillor Paul Carrick, portfolio holder for finance at the district council, said: “At Broadland we are determined that those who try to cheat the system are identified and have their discounts removed. They place an unfair burden on the vast majority of honest and genuine residents.”
Recent Audit Commission research found between 4pc and 6pc of the discount claims in the UK could be cancelled because of fraud.
Mr Garrick added: “We want all those residents who are genuinely claiming a discount to continue to receive what they are entitled to.”
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12 comments
As Portfolio Holder, I would of expected a photograph of a more professional standard - as opposed to one which appears to be from Gardeners World.
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Urbancommander
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Lets hope Labour Councils take your lead but I doubt it. They would lose too many votes .. .
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J Smith
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Paul Carrick should sue the photographer. He looks like one of the dodgy claimants in this picture.
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DocOhNo
Friday, March 8, 2013
Oh EEN not that Local Councils comply with the law. How come you are not willing to cover the issues I have with NCC?
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che bramley
Friday, March 8, 2013
I am afraid that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Likewise the benefits system is essentially based on trust and benefit fraud is more common than you might realise. The cases reported in the press are but a mere fraction of the overall case load. It is theft. Theft from you, me and it is NOT a victimless crime. Far from
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Jaguar
Friday, March 8, 2013
Each claimant should not be charged with THEFT they will have made a false declaration to gain a pecuniary advantage This is an utter disgrace and no doubt if these cheats were further investigated by liason with the DWP further savings could be made
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Claire Voyant
Friday, March 8, 2013
Come on Finance at King's Lynn & West Norfolk, why not have a purge, and save us all some money please........
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dermount
Thursday, March 7, 2013
JCW - Quite right. Let`s hope they have also checked their claims for housing benefits and the like.
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BG
Thursday, March 7, 2013
No mention of any prosecutions. Surely false claims are tantamount to fraud.
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JCW
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Well done. Now if these "households", who have had their allowances cancelled, have previously benefited by fraudulently claiming single resident discounts, I trust the council will pursue them through the courts to recover any such amounts.
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Mr Cameron Isaliar
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Well done BDC. Lets hope all the other authorities in Norfolk follow suit. GYBC should have a field day.
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BG
Thursday, March 7, 2013
I trust other district councils will follow Broadland's lead.
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midnorfolkman
Thursday, March 7, 2013