False Single Person Discount claims uncovered

Crawley Borough Council has uncovered 132 cases of incorrect claims of Single Person Discount, resulting in more than £75,000 of extra Council Tax being collected.

Single Person Discount (SPD) is claimed when there is only a single adult who is liable for Council Tax at a property.

The council’s Fraud and Inspections Team monitors the discounts awarded to households in relation to its Council Tax bills.

Between April 2019 and February 2020 the team reviewed a large number of people who were claiming SPD, matching data against information they hold.

Any discrepancies result in an investigation into whether any discount that has been awarded is incorrect.

In this period the team removed 132 SPDs due to a second unreported adult being resident in the property. This has resulted in an extra £76,424.18 in Council Tax being collected.