Somerset benefit fraud on the rise amid slow council reforms

When the council was officially created in April 2023, it inherited the existing benefits systems from the four former district councils (Mendip, Sedgemoor, Somerset West & Taunton and South Somerset).

The council has been attempting to streamline its various services through an ongoing transformation programme - a programme which has been criticised by both auditors and opposition councillors for lacking urgency.

The South West Audit Partnership (SWAP) has now published its annual report into fraud cases within the local authority - which shows a rising number of cases surrounding housing and the revenue and benefits system.

The council said it was "taking a very hard push" to stamp out fraud as part of its effort to standardise support services across the county.

The report was discussed by the council's audit committee when it met in Taunton on Thursday afternoon (June 25).

In the 2025/26 financial year, 116 fraud referrals were made within the housing, revenue and benefits services, compared to 84 in the previous 12 months - a rise of 38 per cent.

These referrals covered a range of offences - including:

• Seven individuals who claimed a single person discount on their council tax bills when they were not living alone
• Four people who provided false information on their council housing application, resulting in them being removed from the Homefinder Somerset service
• Two businesses whose rateable value is currently being reviewed by the Valuation Office Agency
• One individual who wrongfully secured a unspecified reduction on their council tax bill
• One property being returned to the council after an investigation found that the tenants was illegally subletting the home

Councillor Tim Kerley (Liberal Democrat, Somerton) (Image: Somerset Council)

Councillor Tim Kerley (Liberal Democrat, Somerton) said: "There is a worrying increase in the number of referrals.

"Is there is a baseline for checking with other local authorities to see if they are seeing similar rises, or whether we are an outlier?"

SWAP assistant director Alastair Woodland said the council had taken "a proactive approach to addressing fraud risks" and had made "significant strides" in recent years - but acknowledged that more work needed to be undertaken in this area.

He said: "There is a focus at the moment on bringing a lot of the systems together from the legacy authorities.

"One of the areas that hasn't been effectively reviewed is around single person discounts [to council tax bills]. We have seen an increase in these referrals coming through.

Interim chief financial officer Clive Heaphy (Image: Somerset Council)

"The council is looking to do some intense work around single person discounts and that will hopefully weed out any future referrals."

Clive Heaphy, the council's interim chief financial officer, added: "Once we start look at data matching, we often see somebody claiming single person discount in another system when they're part of a household. They're the ones that we go back to and challenge.

"In other authorities, that has been a source of fraud that they've rooted out, which has resulting in them recovering money and sometimes in custodial sentences.

"We are taking a very hard push on that at the moment."

Councillor Lee Baker (Lib Dem, Taunton North) asked whether the sharp rise in referrals was being driven by increased vigilance by council staff or by the public "shopping in" offenders.

Councillor Lee Baker (Liberal Democrat, Taunton North) (Image: Somerset Council)

He said: "Are these referrals typically from vigilant officers spotting this stuff, or is it perhaps the next door neighbour saying: 'Here, I think there's two people next door, they're claiming single person discount'.

"With the nearly 40 per cent increase in referrals, is it because the officers are being extra vigilant - which is great, due to our training - or is it that people are getting shopped more regularly?"

SWAP senior auditor David Warren replied: "The majority of the referrals that we get are through members of the public - I would say that's not unusual.

"We provide this service for a couple of authorities of a similar size, and that trend is true of other authorities as well - it's the neighbours looking into someone living there or circumstances changing."