Blue badges confiscated over fraudulent misuse

Almost 50 blue badges were confiscated for misuse in Sheffield last year, according to a council committee.

A report to Sheffield City Council's audit and standards committee said the misuse was the use of badges when the registered owner was not present.

A paper published before the meeting highlighted public sector fraud cost about £28bn last year.

The council said it was not aware of any "significant frauds" taking place but said the authority continued to be "attacked by various criminal gangs" in phishing exercises aimed at bank mandate fraud.

The report stated criminals were becoming "ever more sophisticated".

However, it said: "The council are not aware of any significant frauds taking place in the council."

Committee members were told the council had worked to ensure "the controls in place remain robust".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, many issues relating to fraud were uncovered during processing and were "prevented at source" and therefore were not investigated further by the council.

The report highlighted a number of types of fraud in Sheffield in addition to the misuse and confiscation of 49 blue badges in 2023.

Those included incidents relating to housing tenancy and the Right to Buy scheme, but said the number of cases had fallen by 28% on the previous year.

It was also reported that 22 properties were returned as tenants quit whilst under investigation and three further properties were abandoned during an investigation.

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