The viability of the housing system is being put into question through increasing reliance by ever-greater numbers of working age families on financial support to cover the costs of private rent, a leading fraud authority has claimed.
The comments from Rachael Tiffen, the head of Counter Fraud Centre at the Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), followed a report issued last week by the National Audit Office (NAO), which indicated total housing benefit overpayments due to error and fraud spiralled to £1.4bn in 2013/14.
