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A Benefits
Fraud Conference –
Tuesday 12 May 2009
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Tackling Benefit
Fraud under Welfare Reform and Economic Changes
Monday 16th March
2009
Local Government House, Smith Square, Westminster SW1
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Programme
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10.00
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Registration and Refreshments
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10.30
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Chair’s Welcome and Introduction
Sam Micklethwaite, Customer Services Manager
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
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Session
1 – Welfare Reform
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10.35
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Welfare Reform: An Overview
Jack Goodwin, Economy and Labour Market Policy Division &
Bill Parnham, WWEG Housing Costs
Department for Work and Pensions
The introductory session will provide an overview for benefit fraud officers on the key points of the Welfare Reform White Paper. 'Raising expectations and increasing support: reforming welfare for the future’ The session will also outline the Government’s thinking on future changes in Housing Benefits that has been announced as part of the sweeping reforms of the welfare system. This is essential information for those investigating benefit fraud and for fraud managers planning workloads and future policy.
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11.00
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Questions
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11.10
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Welfare Reform – The Impact on Benefit Fraud
Malcolm Gardner, Meritec and Counter Fraud Group
Current Welfare reform, as outlined in the White Paper, is aimed at creating incentives for people returning to work and sanctions against those on benefits who do not follow the procedures to return to work. In addition, to end the culture of worklessness, the reforms will place expectations of work on some categories of claimants for the first time. These major changes to the welfare benefits system are likely to have an impact on the types of fraud seen by local authorities. This session explores the changes and looks at the potential impact on different types of fraud and the consequences to fraud investigation.
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11.35
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Refreshments
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11.45
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NFI 2009
Sally Gubbins, NFI Co-ordinator, The Audit Commission
The NFI work programme for 2009 was planned prior to the recession. This session will provide an update on the NFI programme together with a view of the impact of the economic situation and the expectations of the Audit Commission.
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12.15
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Questions
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12.20
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Welfare Reform: Linking Benefit Fraud to Crime and Disorder
Speaker to be confirmed
The current economic climate and the move to making Local Authority benefits critical to the reduction of worklessness as opposed to supporting benefit dependency will change the way in which benefits departments think about their customers. The Welfare Reform White Paper makes the links between benefit dependency and anti social behaviour including housing benefit sanctions for anti-social behaviour. Those involved in welfare benefits and benefit fraud investigation will need to widen arrangements for links with agencies dealing with anti social behaviour and crime and disorder to create a more joined up approach to worklessness, fraud and anti-social
behaviour.
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12.45
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Questions
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12.50
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Lunch
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Session 2 – Focusing on Benefit Fraud Investigation during the current Economic Crisis
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13.50
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The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Local Authority Benefit Fraud
Investigation
Neil Rickman, Professor of Economics, University of Surrey
Christian van Stolk, Research leader, Evaluation and Audit Team, RAND Europe
Research during the previous recession showed an increase in crime, including fraud, during periods of economic recession. This presentation looks at the expectations of fraud patterns under the current recession and the changes in types and volume of fraud that can be expected. It will provide an insight into the future direction of local authority fraud investigation during the recession and the new risks created by increased workload at a time of tightening of public spending. The objective of the session is to provide housing benefit teams with a view of the direction of local authority fraud investigation and enable planning of resources.
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14.15
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Questions
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14.25
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Workshops – Practical Investigations
The workshops will focus on practical solutions to reduced public spending during recession.
Workshop A – Using Existing Resources to Identify Potential Fraud
Paul Lantham, Auditware
During periods of reduced public spending, increased workload and with emphasis on efficiency there will be increased use of information systems to assist in identifying fraud. The IDEA system is used by 75% of authorities but few use it beyond the audit remit. This workshop provides an explanation on the use of IDEA in matching and mining for potential fraud.
Workshop B: Harnessing Existing Resources: the use of technology as a tool for the Investigator
Malcolm Gardner, Meritec
Increasing pressure on local authority fraud teams through greater workloads and restricted public sector funding will mean that local authority fraud teams will need to find the most efficient ways of investigating. The private sector is making increased use of social networking sites as a tool for the investigator and this has proven to be a cost efficient method of investigation. This session provides an insight into the use of the internet and social networking as a tool for the investigation of fraudsters and organised fraud networks.
Workshop C – Lessons from the Insurance Industry - Using Conversational Analysis as a tool to identify fraud
Nick Sugden, Managing Director and
Sally Griffiths, Training and Marketing Manager
VFM (Volume Fraud Management) Services Ltd
VFM manage desk top Investigations on insurance claims and are accepted as experts in the use of Conversation Management techniques. In this workshop they share their experiences and skills around the use of these techniques in the detection of fraud in the private sector. This practical workshop will be of direct use to benefit fraud investigators as both insurance claims and benefit claims both rely on the honesty and accuracy of the information being provided by the claimant.
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15.25
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Feedback from workshops
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15.30
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Creating a Counter Fraud Culture
John Baker, Senior Manager, KPMG Forensic
Executive Board Member of the Institute of Counter Fraud Specialists
Internal Auditors and the Audit Commission are keen to see internal fraud and corruption reduced especially as risks increase through increased benefit claims, changes to procedure and drives for efficiencies during the current economic downturn. This workshop examines practical ways of creating a culture that counters fraud and corruption.
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15.55
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Chair’s closing remarks
Sam Micklethwaite, Customer Services Manager
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
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16.00
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Conference End
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To Book Online |
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Click
Here |
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For booking in pdf format |
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Click
Here |
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Benedict Business
Resources |
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01483 203536 |
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