SWANSEA: Nine social homes recovered and £1.2m identified in council fraud crackdown

Swansea Council’s fraud team says it identified £1.2m in overpayments and savings last year, from false benefit claims to people holding social homes they should not have had.

The figure comes from the council’s Fraud Function Annual Report for 2025/26, considered by its governance and audit committee, and is up from £1.18m the year before.

The most concrete outcome sits in bricks and mortar: nine properties recovered from fraudulent tenancies and returned to a social housing stock with a queue for every home.

Four fraud cases were successfully prosecuted during the year, the report says, resulting in suspended sentences or community orders.

The team dealt with 481 cases in all, 411 of them new, and had closed 411 by the end of March, with 56 still under investigation.

The work covered welfare benefits, housing benefit, council tax reduction, council tax and social housing.

Thirteen investigations into the council’s own staff

The report also records 13 employee-related investigations during the year. Ten had concluded by the end of the reporting period, with outcomes including one resignation and one formal warning, and three remained ongoing.

The council also continued its part in the National Fraud Initiative, the Cabinet Office’s data-matching exercise that cross-checks records across public bodies to flag potential fraud and error.

Rob Stewart, leader of Swansea Council, said: “The council has a responsibility to ensure public money and public services are protected.”

“This report highlights the wide range of work carried out by our fraud team throughout the year and the outcomes that have been achieved.”

“The team’s work supports the council’s efforts to identify fraud, investigate concerns and work with partner organisations where appropriate.”

Every pound the team identifies is a pound that was leaking from services, and the report’s case, in effect, is that the fraud team pays its own way.