Barking and Dagenham Council Recovers Record 42 Properties Through Counter-Fraud Efforts

Barking and Dagenham Council Recovers Record 42 Properties Through Counter-Fraud Efforts

Barking and Dagenham Council's counter-fraud team has successfully recovered 42 properties over the past year, marking the highest figure achieved by the team. Vanessa Bateman, Head of Assurance for Barking and Dagenham Council, presented an update on the council's counter-fraud activities for the period October 2025 to June 2026 at the Audit and Risk Committee meeting on Tuesday, 06 October 2026.

This achievement represents a notable success for the council's counter-fraud efforts. The 42 properties were recovered due to various reasons including tenants subletting properties, tenants using false documents to gain tenancy, and properties not being used as intended. In the fourth quarter alone, 13 properties were recovered due to subletting or being obtained by deception. These recoveries included a mix of Reside and LBBD properties.

The council also saw an increase in corporate fraud referrals and cases. These encompass a range of fraudulent activities, including internal fraud where employees may abuse their position or engage in dishonesty. Procurement fraud is identified as a high-risk area, with threats from external companies exploiting governance weaknesses. Business rate and council tax fraud also contribute to referrals, and the council is assessing its grant award mechanisms. A new risk area, 'Failure to Prevent Fraud', has also been incorporated into the fraud risk assessment.

For the first quarter of 2026/27, the team noted a higher number of referrals but a lower acceptance rate for investigations. This trend was viewed as a positive sign, indicating improved fraud awareness within the council and its subsidiaries.

The report also detailed ongoing criminal investigations into property allocations through the council's company, BD Reside, with the counter-fraud team actively supporting this work. Legal action has been instigated in several cases related to BD Reside property recoveries, though a specific timeline for the conclusion of the criminal investigation has not been provided.

A formal fraud risk assessment is underway, identifying housing, corporate fraud, and procurement as high-risk areas requiring further quantification and control measures. The full details of the counter-fraud activities can be found in the Public reports pack for the Audit and Risk Committee meeting.

Public reports pack Tuesday 06-Oct-2026 19.00 Audit and Risk Committee