Inverclyde Council has cancelled three cases of council tax reduction after an investigation identified them as fraudulent, a report has confirmed.
The local authority said earned income was not declared in each circumstance and action is underway to recover the overpayments that have been made.
The findings were a result of its participation in the National Fraud Initiative (NFI), run by Audit Scotland, which aims to detect fraud in the public sector.
The exercise covered 2024/25 and matches have been progressed in relation to datasets covering housing benefit, council tax reduction, payroll, business rates, creditors, HMRC household composition and blue badges.
A total of 858 were investigated, with 840 issues noted and three instances of fraud and 15 errors identified – constituting a value of £8,566.
A paper on the subject, prepared by the chief financial officer, is set to be considered at a meeting of the audit committee next week.
It explained: “The NFI compares data across multiple organisations, such as local authorities, the NHS, and central government departments, to identify inconsistencies or unusual patterns that may indicate fraudulent activity.
“Within the UK there are over 1,000 participating bodies and 127 in Scotland.
“The NFI examines data from areas including blue badges, council tax, creditors, housing, licensing, non-domestic rates, housing, payroll and pensions.
“For example, it might reveal cases where a person holds a housing tenancy in more than one area, a person is in receipt of council tax discounts to which they are not entitled, or a person holding simultaneous full-time employment with different employers.
“The legal basis for NFI was introduced by the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 and incorporated in Part 2A of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000.
“The council participates in the National Fraud Initiative which acts as an important control to identify certain types of fraud or error.”
The committee will be asked to note the outcomes at the committee on Tuesday, November 10.
