* Do you have a fraud investigation department/team?
Devon County Council delivers this via a partnership arrangement.
* If you don’t have a fraud team, who investigates reported case of fraud?
Counter Fraud Services are supplied by Devon Audit Partnerships (DAP) Counter Fraud Services Team. Devon Audit Partnership is a multiple Local Authority Partnership which provides professional internal audit, counter fraud and assurance services including risk management, consultancy, governance, business improvement and cost containment.
* How many fraud investigators are there in your team?
Devon County Council has access to four Accredited Counter Fraud Specialists and one Accredited Counter Fraud Manager.
* Can you please list the top 4 most common types of fraud you investigate?
Currently Blue Badge, Invoices, Social Care and Pensions.
* Do you investigate any Covid related fraud cases – e.g. business grant, business support, business rates relief or business load fraud cases?
These types of payment are mostly dealt with at District / Unitary Local Authority level. None under investigation for Devon County Council.
* Do you release or publish any information about the number of cases you investigate per annum, the value of fraud and their outcomes?
Yes via the Audit Committee in the Counter Fraud Services Team’s annual and half yearly reports.
* How many fraud cases were investigated in 2020 and in 2021?
58
* Do you use an electronic case management system to record and manage your fraud cases? If so, which case management system do you use?
Devon Audit Partnerships Counter Fraud Services Team do. The software is supplied by CIVICA and the system is called CIVICA Fraud Solutions or Fraud Data Management System (FDMS) with corporate upgrade and data warehouse bolt on.
* Do you use data matching to proactively identify potential fraud cases? Which product or service do you use?
Yes – Devon County Council utilises the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) through the Cabinet Office bi-annually.
* Do you investigate fraud on behalf of other organisations? Can you please state who?
Devon Audit Partnership investigates fraud at other local authorities and partners in the south west area.