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Course focus

Committees - Stage 2

Date:
05 December 2008
Venue:
ETC Venues, London
CPD:
5.0

Training programmes

Prosecuting Council Tax and Benefit Fraud

This training material contains a wealth of case law, guidance and analysis on the legislation which is so often absent from standard texts.


The course will help you to:

  • Understand the full investigation process in relation to housing benefit and council tax fraud
  • Study the social security legislation as amended by the Fraud Act 2001, Circular F8/2000 and associated regulations with a detailed examination of the words “promptly”, “knowingly”, “produce”, “furnish” and “dishonesty  “ and ”designated office”
  • Consider the effect of the recent case of Reynolds 2006  on the drafting of claims forms and the meaning of “knowingly”
  • Discover some of the common pitfalls that can arise in connection with claims forms and elsewhere in the investigation.
  • Discover how the 2006 regulations have affected the meaning of “designated office” and how successful the government has been in rectifying this on going problem in connection with potential issues at trial arising form claim forms.
  • Understand appropriate use of time limits for laying charges and why the time limits for these prosecutions are interpreted differently to most other regulatory offences
  • Understand the effect of the decision in Smith v North  Somerset Council 2007 and how this affects the way we lay charges and present the case in court
  • Appreciate why the time limit for laying charges is considered differently to most other local authority prosecutions

This course will focus on the following offences:

  • Section 112A of the Social Security Administration Act (SSAA) 1992 (customer failing to notify change in circumstance)
  • Section 112A of the SSAA 1992 (causing or allowing the customer to fail to notify a change in circumstances)
  • Section 111A of the SSAA 1992 (customer failing to notify a change in circumstances)
  • Section 111A of the SSAA 1992 (causing or allowing the customer to fail to notify a change in circumstances)

 

Programme directory