A crackdown on thousands of Scottish fraudsters has saved almost £20 million for the public purse.
Audit Scotland revealed the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) in Scotland achieved £19.8m worth of recoveries, savings and overpayments.
Some of the areas examined by the scheme included fraudulent housing benefit claims, pension payments, concessionary travel, asylum seekers and disabled parking passes.
Councils, police forces, fire and rescue services, health boards, the Scottish Public Pensions Agency and the Student Award Agency for Scotland were among 81 organisations which took part.
The scheme compared data the organisations held on various individuals to identify inconsistencies that might suggest fraud or error. Cases were followed up to stop overpayments and to recover money where possible.
The report cited Perth and Kinross Council as an example of ”good practice” for its approach to dealing with blue badge holders.
The scheme allows those with mobility problems, and who may have difficulty using public transport, to park free at on-street parking meters and pay-and-display machines.
Badges are sometimes used or renewed improperly by people after the death of the badge holder. The use of a blue badge by an unauthorised person is an offence.
The report reveals Perth and Kinross Council has implemented a process whereby the registration of a death in the area results in a check into whether they had a blue badge.
If it check shows a blue badge had been issued then the system is updated and the badge is cancelled.
”This demonstrates a good example of a positive outcome that can arise from NFI investigations but that do not result in large financial outcomes,” said the report.
The largest individual case of fraud, involving benefit claims, is estimated at almost £600,000 and is one of 145 cases to be reported to the procurator fiscal.
Robert Black, auditor general for Scotland, said: ”Most people are honest and behave with integrity. Some do make genuine mistakes but there is a small number who set out to cheat the public sector.
”Our successful National Fraud Initiative should be a deterrent. This is the fourth time the initiative has been carried out in Scotland.
”It has had results worth almost £20m of public money and the cumulative results of the NFI for Scotland since it was first introduced are now at £78m.”
Based on previous NFI exercises, Audit Scotland expects further results worth between £4m and £6m from the 2010/11 drive in addition to those already achieved.
The 2010/11 NFI also resulted in recovery of 1,681 overpayments, stopping 318 housing benefit frauds, prosecution of 45 cases of alleged fraud and public bodies identifying 184 pensioners whose deaths were not reported. Payments were stopped.