Recommendation 5

Local authorities have limited capacity to deal with fraud in Housing Benefit claims for supported housing. In other recent reports we have highlighted the Supported housing 7 limited capacity of local authorities to tackle fraud and stressed the need for central government to provide better support. We are disappointed to see that the problem of fraud is going largely unaddressed in supported housing. DWP acknowledges that there is unscrupulous behaviour in the sector and there are gaps in how it is dealt with. However, it is unable to identify how many of Housing Benefit claims for supported housing are fraudulent. Local authorities are responsible for managing Housing Benefit claims in their areas and while some have the resources to check individual claims for fraud, many do not. Furthermore, DWP samples just 60 housing benefit claims per local authority for fraud and supported housing benefit claims will only be a small portion of this sample. DWP tells us that it is working closely with DLUHC to help all local authorities to act on fraud. Recommendation 5: Within six months, DWP should inform the Committee about how it intends to identify the level of fraud in Housing Benefit for supported housing and how it will better support local authorities, including funding, to tackle this fraud.