OX

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T:01865 252333

High-quality, cost-effective

professional resources

for the public sector

OX

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Contact us

Carol Quainton, Investigations Manager

W:w

ww.oxford.gov.uk/investigations

E:tenancyfraud@oxford.gov.uk

T:01865 252333

The Investigations Team

Organisational D

evelopment and

Corporate Services

St Aldates Chambers

109–113 St Aldate’s, O

xford, O

X1 1DS

Other services available:

Oxford Legal Services

Sue Brown, Practice Manager

T:01865 252844

Building a world-class city for everyone

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Introducing Oxford Investigation Service

Services offered

�Interviews (PACE and in

form

al)

�Visiting (joint an

d outside norm

al working hours)

�Jo

int working

�Covert surveillance

�Eviden

ce gathering through legal gatew

ays

�Obtain/provide witness statem

ents

�Preparation of co

urt files to prosecu

tion standard

�Rep

orts of findings

�Fe

edback on concerns of a tenan

ts’ w

ellbeing

�A bespoke

case man

agem

ent system

�Training

�Advice on the prevention of housing fraud.

�Service of Le

gal Notices

�Specialised

legal advice

�Obtaining Profit Orders

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Oxford In

vestigation Service is an in

tegral p

art of

Oxford City Council’s on-going commitmen

t to

protecting public funds an

d ensuring value for money

for the local community.

The Team

has considerab

le fraud in

vestigation

experience with a track re

cord of delivering positive

results. The team

has exp

erience in

dea

ling with a

wide range of both civil an

d criminal in

vestigations.

All officers are fully trained

to an accredited

standard

and re

ceive regular refresher training to ensure they

are up-to-date with all developmen

ts. W

e co

nduct

form

al in

terviews under cau

tion in

accordan

ce with

the Police an

d Criminal Eviden

ce Act (PA

CE), gather

eviden

ce, carry out co

vert surveillance, p

rovide

detailed re

ports of our findings, prepare pap

erwork

for co

urt files, obtain & provide witness statem

ents

and atten

d any hea

rings to give eviden

ce when

required

.

The Corporate Tea

m work with a wide variety of

Council services carrying out investigations on their

beh

alf. Some of these include Council Tax, B

usiness

Rates, and W

elfare Ben

efits.

One of Oxford City Council’s priorities is m

eeting the

communities housing nee

d. W

ith affordab

le re

ntal

acco

mmodation being in

such

high dem

and in

the

City area

the Council h

as committed re

sources to

tackle the ab

use of social housing. S

ince 2010 the

City has employed a tea

m of specialist investigators

to dea

l with cases of tenan

cy fraud. In the first three

years of operation the team

have iden

tified

and

successfully re

covered 42 social housing properties

that were being m

isused.

The Tenan

cy Fraud In

vestigators alrea

dy work closely

with some registered providers, as well as other lo

cal

authorities based

in the Oxfordshire area

providing

advice, support and assistance on ten

ancy fraud

related m

atters. W

e are therefore well p

laced

to understan

d issues affecting re

gistered providers.

We regularly provide Fraud Awaren

ess Training to

staff on how to id

entify fraudulent activity and

to prevent frau

d entering the system

.

The Council’s In

vestigation Tea

m has bee

n re

cognised

by the Dep

artm

ent for Communities an

d Local

Governmen

t as committed to combatting social

housing fraud.

We are therefore able to provide a fully in

clusive

service of investigation right through to tak

ing legal

proceed

ings, whether it is Civil or Criminal.

The Councils’ auditors PWC state in

the Council’s

Fraud Risk Assessm

ent for 2012/2013, ‘the Council

has an exp

erienced in

vestigations team

and fraud

detection practices are strong within the Council Tax,

Ben

efits an

d Housing dep

artm

ents’.

The Investigation Tea

m‘s re

sults have provided

the

Audit Commission with further eviden

ce to show

that Social Housing Fraud is not just a London

problem (Protecting the Public Purse 2011).

Within the first six months of 2010 the tenan

cy

frau

d tea

m had

iden

tified

and re

covered seven

properties in

which the tenan

t was no lo

nger re

siden

t.

The number of properties re

covered continues to

increa

se yea

r on yea

r.

The Investigation Tea

m are committed to providing

an effective, courteo

us, tim

ely an

d professional

investigation service. W

e regularly seek

feed

back

from our clients and have eviden

ce of a very high

level o

f satisfaction with the services we provide.

Why choose Oxford

Investigation Services?

�Exp

erienced and well trained

tea

m of specialist

investigators ensuring re

silience and continuation

of service provision

�Value for money

�High quality service

�Exp

erience of working with re

gistered providers

�Sy

stem

s an

d procedures alread

y in place

�Estab

lished

working re

lationships with other lo

cal

authorities and governmen

t ag

encies

�Recognised

as one of the lead

ers in the field

�Access to specialist in-house legal advice

�Our ch

arging ra

tes are co

mpetitive

The team

Carol Q

uainton

Investigations Manager (Finance)

Carol h

as worked

within Local

Governmen

t since 1989 and has bee

n

invo

lved

in the frau

d arena for the last

19 yea

rs. S

he is an accredited

Counter

Fraud M

anag

er and is re

sponsible fo

r the

Council’s Avo

iding Bribery, Fraud and

Corruption Policy an

d delivers Fraud

Awaren

ess Training to staff.

Carol h

as worked

hard in

developing what

was the Ben

efit In

vestigation Tea

m in

to an

Investigation Service that perform

s man

y

functions, to m

any different services

across Oxford City Council.

Catherine Jones

Senior Investigations Officer

(Tenancy Fraud & Corporate)

Catherine has worked

within Local

Governmen

t since 1988 and has bee

n

investigating fraud fo

r 20 yea

rs. S

he is an

accred

ited

Counter Fraud Officer. S

he has

bee

n in

volved

with large scale, cross

agen

cy in

vestigations. For the last three

years, Catherine’s main fo

cus has bee

n on

developing the investigation of Ten

ancy

Fraud within the Council’s own housing

stock.

Scott Warner

Senior Investigation Officer

(Welfare Benefits & Corporate)

Sco

tt has bee

n working in

Local

Governmen

t an

d Fraud In

vestigation since

1991. S

cott is a committee mem

ber of the

Local A

uthority In

vestigation Officers

Group and is an accredited

Counter Fraud

Man

ager. S

cott has bee

n trained

in

surveillance techniques by Tham

es

Valley Police.

The Tenancy Fraud Team Members

Sarah Whittonhas bee

n working within the

Investigation Tea

m since 2010. S

arah

was in

itially

employed when

the first funding from DCLG

was

received

. She has a Level 5 BTEC Professional

Qualification in

Investigation and has bee

n working

for Oxford City Council since 2000 in

the Housing

Dep

artm

ent an

d Customer Services.

Rob Gurr, a fo

rmer CID Officer with Tham

es Valley

Police, has bee

n working fo

r Oxford City Council for

the last yea

r. During his tim

e with the Police Rob

was part of the South Oxfordshire & Vale CID Tea

m.

In 2012 this tea

m re

ceived

the Shrievalty Award fo

r

having the highest crim

e detection ra

te in

the Tham

es

Valley area

.

Brian Staceyhas bee

n working in

the Investigation

Team

since 2004. H

e is a graduate from Liverpool

University and is an accredited

Counter Fraud Officer.

David Godfreyhas over 15 yea

rs’ exp

erience of

investigation fraud in

both the private and public

sector. He has a Level 5 BTEC Professional

Qualification in

Investigation.

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