Crackdown on fraud misses 'all but the tip'
Thursday 08 November 2012
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EmailCouncils are nabbing more tax dodgers than ever but are handling "only the tip of the iceberg," the Audit Commission said today.
It reported new figures that show council are getting better at catching fraudsters but are missing even more devious scams involving business rates, schools and right-to-buy housing schemes.
Between April 2011 and April this year cash-strapped councils in England uncovered more than 124,000 frauds, adding up to £179 million.
That compares with 121,000 cases, totalling £185m, detected the previous year.
But the National Fraud Authority said that's just a fraction of the £2.2 billion slipping through councils' fingers.
An Audit Commission spokesman said: "There has been an increase in the amount of fraud detected by councils, but the fraud detected is the tip of the iceberg."
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