Council's £2.5 million fraud crackdown

Blue badge parking permits belonging to 109 disabled drivers were revoked - after the council discovered that the owners had died.

The badges were being kept by relatives or friends rather than handed in to Rotherham Borough Council, investigations by enforcement officials found.

Benefits totting up to almost £2.5 million—wrongly paid through fraud or error - were recovered across Rotherham in the past year.

There were 8,800 housing and council tax overpayments, of which 895 investigations took place into suspicious cases.

Twenty-five people were prosecuted, the council’s annual fraud report reveals, and more than 100 cautions and 84 penalties were issued.

Successfully identifying overpayments has helped the council claim a Government subsidy of £1.2 million.

Deputy leader Jahangir Akhtar said that the latest report underlined the zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption.

He added: “The authority is determined to eliminate fraud and corruption and I am delighted to hear that we are being so successful. “