The key activities of the Investigation Department can be categorised into three main areas of work:

• Cases referred to us from various sources
• Joint working with other government departments
• Hot line referrals from the public

We aim to provide a high quality and professional service for the prevention and detection of fraud and, by doing so; secure the gateway to the Benefits System.

The Investigation Department will investigate all warranted allegations of fraud and seek to identify potential "high risk" fraudulent activity, before it drains the system using available information held with the council’s databases.

Where an investigation has proven fraudulent activity the council will administer either;

• Caution – written warning
• Administrative Penalty – fine, set at 30% of overpayment
• Prosecution – criminal record

Bath and North East Somerset Council's Prosecution Policy provides guidelines to the administering of sanctions.  Follow this link to download and view the full Housing & Council Tax Benefit Prosecution Policy.

Bath and North East Somerset requires high standards of conduct and integrity from all staff and has a Code of Conduct that all employees must adhere to. As professional investigators, the Investigation Department aims to make sure that their staff maintains the highest standards. As staff and managers we all aim to:

• Work with honesty and integrity
• Treat others with respect and dignity
• Be open, fair and accountable in everything we do
• Encourage contributions from everyone in order to beat benefits cheats

We fully recognise and understand that claiming any benefit is often a complex and difficult process. For some people, claiming benefit isn't an easy process and we will always take this into account during an investigation.

Each investigation will be carried out in line with the Council's Equal Opportunities Policy.

Human Rights Act 1998/Data Protection Act 1998

The Human Rights Act 1998 provides clear guidance on what is acceptable when undertaking overt and covert investigation work.

The Investigation Department fully endorses all aspects of the 1998 Human Rights Act. In particular, we will ensure that we fully adhere particularly to the following specific Articles that affect the day to day work of the team:

Article 6: Right to a fair trial

Article 8: Right to Respect for private and family life

Requests for information to and from third parties, the storing and use of information for investigation work, will be undertaken in full accordance with the provisions laid out in the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Investigation Department recognises that in order to deliver an effective and professional service, and to combat benefit fraud, that it must work with a number of other departments.

These include:

• Other Local Authorities
• Department of Work and Pensions
• Police
• Customs and Excise
• Crown Prosecution Service