Somerset benefit fraud referrals rise by 38 per cent

By Laura Linham 30th Jun 2026

Local News by Laura Linham 2 hours ago

Fraud referrals in Somerset Council's housing, revenue and benefits services rose by 38 per cent last year, a new audit report has revealed.

The South West Audit Partnership's annual counter fraud report was discussed by Somerset Council's audit committee in Taunton on Thursday, 25 June. It showed 116 fraud referrals in housing, revenue and benefits services during the 2025/26 financial year, up from 84 in the previous 12 months.

The increase comes as Somerset Council continues to bring together systems inherited from the four former district councils when the unitary authority was created in April 2023. The council inherited separate benefits and support systems from Mendip, Sedgemoor, Somerset West and Taunton, and South Somerset.

The council has been trying to standardise services through its wider transformation programme. That programme has previously been criticised by auditors and opposition councillors for lacking pace.

The latest fraud referrals included seven people who claimed a single person discount on their council tax bills when they were not living alone. Four people were removed from the Homefinder Somerset service after providing false information on council housing applications.

The report also included two businesses whose rateable value is being reviewed by the Valuation Office Agency, one person who wrongly secured an unspecified reduction on their council tax bill, and one council property returned after an investigation found it was being illegally sublet.

Councillor Tim Kerley, Liberal Democrat member for Somerton, told the audit committee: "There is a worrying increase in the number of referrals.

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

Alastair Woodland, assistant director at SWAP, said the council had taken "a proactive approach to addressing fraud risks" and had made "significant strides" in recent years. But he also said more work was needed, including on single person council tax discounts.

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. We have seen an increase in these referrals coming through.

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

Clive Heaphy, Somerset Council's interim chief financial officer, said data matching was likely to play an important role in identifying fraud.

He said: "Once we start looking 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 resulted in them recovering money and sometimes in custodial sentences.

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

Councillor Lee Baker, Liberal Democrat member for Taunton North, asked whether the rise in referrals was being driven by more vigilance from council staff or by members of the public reporting suspected fraud.

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?"

David Warren, senior auditor at SWAP, said most referrals came from the public.

He said: "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 neighbour looking into someone living there or circumstances changing."

The annual report said Somerset Council operates a hybrid counter-fraud model, with a retained counter fraud officer supported by SWAP's specialist team. Work during 2025/26 included updating the council's fraud risk assessment, expanding the use of data-matching tools and introducing new proactive checks in high-risk areas.

The council says fraud reduces the money available for essential services and that it maintains a zero-tolerance approach. The audit committee was asked to note the annual counter fraud report.

Original reporting: LDRS/Daniel Mumby