On behalf of my Inspectors and their teams, I want to thank all
the officers and staff of Thanet District Council for their support and co-operation during this inspection.

Ian J Stewart

Director General

Benefit Fraud Inspectorate

Contents

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Section 1: Introduction

Section 2: Management summary

Section 3: Findings and conclusions

Section 4: Major recommendations

Section 5: Minor recommendations

Section 6: Action plan

Appendix A: BFI methodology

Appendix B: Authority background

Appendix C: The claim form

Appendix D: Post opening procedures

Appendix E: Analysis of post received on 6 October 1998

Appendix F: Achievement of agreed quantifiable performance targets

Appendix G: Persons from abroad and asylum seekers

Appendix H: Liaison with local landlords

Appendix I: Liaison with the Rent Officer Service

Appendix J: Quality of assessment

Appendix K: Inconsistent working practices

Appendix L: Letters and notifications

Appendix M: Ensuring the right to review of a person affected

Appendix N: Control processes

Appendix O: Extended payments

Appendix P: Year 2000 awareness

Appendix Q: Overpayment analysis

Appendix R: Prosecutions

Appendix S: Counter-fraud: operating procedures

Appendix S1: Investigation caseload and prioritisation

Appendix S2: Fraud casework

Appendix S3: Liaison arrangements

Appendix T: Internal Audit

Appendix U: Information security

Appendix V: Proposed interface action plan

Abbreviations

* Highlighted parts of this report are omitted from the published version as they may assist fraudsters or may contain confidential commercial information.