Brent Council has identified £1.1 million in fraudulent travel passes, according to the Interim Counter Fraud Report 2025-26 presented at the Audit and Standards Advisory Committee meeting on 3 December 2025.
The fraudulent travel passes were identified as part of a proactive review to identify deceased individuals who were still receiving concessions or benefits from the Council.
The report revealed that investigators discovered 70 active Freedom Passes belonging to deceased individuals. These passes were subsequently referred to the Independent Travel Team (ITT) for cancellation, resulting in a notional saving of £1,142,400. The consequences for individuals found to be using fraudulent travel passes include cancellation of the passes.
The Interim Counter Fraud Report 2025-26, which was reviewed by the committee, summarises the Counter Fraud team's activities, including reactive work relating to internal, housing, and external fraud, and proactive work such as National Fraud Initiative data matching reviews. The report stated that since 1 October 2025, the team had been verifying all succession applications submitted to Housing Services.
The report also stated that the total notional value of fraudulent housing cases concluded in the period was £594,000. In 4 cases, investigations established that the applicants seeking succession of tenancy had not met the residency requirement for the qualifying period. As a result, Housing successfully recovered the properties.
The Audit and Standards Advisory Committee also discussed a number of other topics, including:
- Standards of conduct
- Internal audit
- Treasury management
- External audit findings
The agenda and reports pack for the meeting are available online.
