Councils have been urged to use ‘idle’ money to crack down on fraud, such as revenue raused from the sale of empty buildings or brownfield land.
Communities minister Lord Ahmad said councils should use money raised from the sale of assets to help claw back the £2bn lost to fraud every year.
He has also launched an extra £16m fund for councils who launch innovative projects to tackle problems such as health tourism, procurement fraud or social housing tenancy cheats.
Lord Ahmad said: ‘Our clamp down on money wasted through fraud will help expose this scourge, free up homes for the families that really need them and protect frontline services.
‘Councils must be confident and step forward to promote prosecutions so they may act as a deterrent to others.’
