Angus residents have been overpaid £887,000 in benefits in the past three years, a specialist fraud unit has found.
The figures from the Benefit Fraud Team (BFT) will go before members of the Scrutiny and Audit Committee in Forfar on Tuesday.
Overpayment of housing benefit and council tax benefit was £186,714 in 2011-12, £256,068 in 2012-13 and £190,938 last year.
Department for Work and Pensions overpayments amounted to £75,997 in 2011-12, £120,180 in 2012-13 and dropped to £60,935 in 2013-14.
Angus Council senior auditor Shan Coombs said: “The year to 31 March 2014 represented another successful year for the BFT.
“Prior to April 2013, the BFT’s sole responsibility was the investigation of housing benefit and council tax benefit.
“From April 2013, the team have also investigated, on a reactive basis, council tax reduction, council tax discounts and exemptions and tenancy irregularities.
“They have also assisted with Internal Audit investigations into allegations of employee misconduct.
“During 2013-14 there was a reduction in joint work with DWP, whose resources were focused on a major initiative they undertook with Dundee City Council. This, together with the new areas of work for BFT, explains the reduction in sanctions and DWP overpayments identified during the year.”
Fraud was proven in 50 cases last year, 47 in 2012-13 and 66 in 2011-12 with 42 of the cases referred to the procurator fiscal.
The majority of referrals are through data matching which allows the council to identify discrepancies between its housing and council tax records against those held by the DWP.
Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to see how far they match.
Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified.
There were 528 referrals to BFT last year including 23 at the benefits office in Forfar, 38 in Monifieth, 23 in Montrose and 12 in Arbroath.
Whistleblowers made reports using online tools, a council fraud hotline and leaflet responses, while information was also passed through national initiatives, liaison staff as well as via housing services.
The BFT is a fraud investigation team situated within Internal Audit, part of the governance team within the chief executive’s unit.