WELCOME Organised by:Sponsored by:

Opening remarks from the Chair Martin Hilditch, Acting Editor, Inside Housing Organised by: Sponsored by:

Amandeep Jhawar Audit Director Service Matters Organised by:Sponsored by:

Mark Connolly Tenancy Fraud Office Orbit East and South Organised by:Sponsored by:

Fraud expertise Amandeep Jhawar, Audit Director, Service Matters Lead on number of fraud investigations in the social housing sector Lead on strategy of illegal subletting with BCC and 10 other social landlords (recognised as best practice by Audit Commission). Mark Connolly, Tenancy Fraud Officer, Orbit East & South Currently seconded to the role of tenancy fraud officer Exclusively investigating fraud since July years neighbourhood officer experience

Profile of a fraudster Types of fraud – case studies Protection from fraud Orbit Groups approach to tenancy fraud

Global profile of a fraudster Age: 70% of fraudsters are aged between 36 and 55 Employment: 61% of fraudsters are employed by the defrauded organisation. Of these, 41% were employed there for over 6 years 70% of frauds involved collusion 56% of fraud relates to misappropriation of assets (27% being procurement fraud) 24% revenue or asset gain Opportunity – change in personal circumstances or business pressures Motivation – financial greed being the lead Rationale – superiority (because I can – 29% frauds committed by ED) Source: KPMG International Global profiles of the fraudster 2013

Case study Maintenance Manager aged 38 Employee for 8 years Colluded with third party contractors Rationale: overlooked for promotion Opportunity: weak internal controls Motivation: financial greed Silent Partner (Maintenance Company) £1.3m over 5 years Working 7am – 7pm each day Popular The life and soul of the party Fixer Earning £32k per annum Spending 3 months in South Africa, Australia and Cuba Owning a £25k 4x4 Owning a £500k property

If I wanted to defraud your social landlord, I would… Build relationships Try my luck Manipulate system weaknesses

…build close relationships… Lettings Manager Took money to manipulate waiting lists Finance Officer Amended cheques £3k Housing Officer Evicted tenant and stole items CEO Befriended 3 rd parties Gave them properties

…try my luck… 500,000 invoices £500,000 £5,000 Tender information Tenant sold to bidder Tenant account £6,000 Third party criminal Tenant data Sold to loan companies

…manipulate current systems… Poor management Procurement card £10,000 B&Q laminate flooring Expenses £7,000 Non-existent mileage Poor system design Finance systems Bogus supplier Bank account Cash theft £10,000 of residents monies

If I wanted to protect your social landlord from fraud, I would… Prevention Dont let them into the organisation Understand the fraud risks within your organisation Perceived as an organisation with zero tolerance Separation of duties/culture of compliance Raise awareness of fraud – e-learning Robust ICT security – ISO Detection Working patterns Strong culture of confidential reporting Variance analysis Personal life style Internal / external audit Declaration of interest Probity policy Anti-fraud strategy Awareness training Fraud control assessments

You cannot eliminate fraud, just reduce your exposure.

What is tenancy fraud? Subletting (usually at much higher rents) Non occupancy by tenant as principal home Obtaining tenancies by deception Attempts to obtain successions by deception Paying money to exchange properties

How we came to tackle fraud in Bexley Part of South East London Housing Partnership (SELHP) committed to tackling social housing fraud Funding from local authority (Bexley keen to pursue fraud) Bring in Fraud investigators from Southwark Council or internal secondment Orbit Group decided on internal secondment to tackle tenancy fraud for long term benefit

Investigations Identify fraud through referrals and data matching Visit at unsociable hours (5.30am to 11pm) Use tools – credit checks, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, 192.com, electoral register Partnership with local authorities and other social landlords Work to counter tenant claims – i.e. they work 6am to 11pm

Successes Raised awareness throughout Orbit South leading to referrals from internal and external customers – 101 referrals (August 2013 to date) 28 properties recovered (August 2013 to date) £18,000 home loss payments prevented (Erith Park Redevelopment) £216,000 Right to Buy discounts prevented

Successes £11,000 arrears recovered / prevention of accruing arrears £140,000 Housing and Council Tax Benefit fraud uncovered for the council to pursue 5 ASB cases resolved early through fraud investigations

Service Matters Delivering services to help build communities We help social landlords to deliver added value, cost savings and compliance Service Matters commercial thinking will generate efficiency savings to Orbit NHF Housing Finance Conference 2014 – visit us at stand 63

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Organised by: Sponsored by:

Closing remarks from the Chair Martin Hilditch, Acting Editor, Inside Housing Organised by:Sponsored by:

THANK YOU The webinar is now closed Organised by:Sponsored by: