Handling suspected fraud: Homes for Ukraine
This page outlines how councils should handle suspected fraud cases.
Councils have a key role to play in the prevention of fraud directly related to the Homes for Ukraine scheme. If any allegation of fraud is linked to a ‘thank you’ payment, councils should exercise their authority to handle such cases in accordance with the counter-fraud practices to prevent fraud from occurring and recover monies issued in error. Costs of counter-fraud activity related to the operation of the scheme are covered within the tariff.
Where fraud is identified related to ‘thank you’ payments, councils should use their best endeavours to recover the funding, applying their usual counter-fraud and debt collection practices. Councils must ensure that any cases of fraud or error are not included in their claim for funding, regardless of whether monies have been recovered. We will also remind councils of the principles by which we pay the tariff and will give them an opportunity to declare any cases where the tariff was claimed in error.
Councils should use Jira to escalate suspected cases of fraud involving immigration crime, including crimes committed by organisations, traffickers, and fraudulent sponsors. Details of sponsors of multiple guests for whom no suitable and cleared accommodation has been identified should also be reported to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) through the Jira platform where there is concern over the safeguarding of guests.
Once a Jira ticket has been completed, MHCLG will report and escalate the issue to the relevant department or agency (Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions).
If the allegation of fraud is linked to DWP benefits, councils should report this online at Report benefit fraud.
Give as much information as you can about the person you are reporting. This could include:
- their name
- their address
- the type of fraud you think they are committing
You can also report benefit fraud by phone or post at:
National Benefit Fraud Hotline
Telephone: 0800 854 440
Textphone: 0800 328 0512
National Benefit Fraud Hotline
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 2BP
Updates to this page
Last updated 13 September 2023 + show all updates
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Clarification added that any cases of fraud or error should not be included in a council’s claim for funding.
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First published.