The work of Powys County Council’s counter anti-error and fraud team (CAFT) will clawback £1.3m for the authority by the end of March, a committee has been told.

The council’s Governance and Audit committee on Wednesday, January 15 heard that the CAFT had 60 ongoing investigations at the end of December.

The report shows investigations include six cases against council staff, along with 33 dealing with council tax discounts or reductions.

Eight investigations are taking place into potential tenancy fraud and three housing benefit cases are being probed.

The report said: “CAFT continue to undertake a series of proactive work and review exercises that seek to verify eligibility to reliefs, discounts, disregards, exemptions, awards and more, across the council in key areas, then correct any that are error including re-bill/recover funds as appropriate and identify any that may warrant full criminal investigation.

“The team are currently joint working on six cases with the Department of Work and Pensions Fraud team around undeclared living together, capital, and income situations.”

The report also shows that no further action or that insufficient or no evidence had been found in 23 cases involving council tax discounts and reductions as well as non-domestic rates.

Fraud had been detected in seven cases, while the team also traced 25 cases of “absconded debtors” which could see debts recovered.

The report said the value of the recoverable overpayments and re-bills is £333,181, with the value of potential income saved or potential revenue £946,521, and other gains around £50,000.

The report said: “In 2024, we witnessed significant strides in identifying and reducing fraud.

“However, the battle is far from over.

“Fraud manifests in various forms, from false claims and identity theft to sophisticated cyber schemes.

“Each incident represents a betrayal of public trust and a diversion of resources meant for the common good.”