London council to prosecute housing officer over temporary accommodation fraud
An east London council has said it will pursue a criminal prosecution against one of its housing officers for allegedly “manipulating” temporary accommodation allocations.
East London council to pursue criminal prosecution against housing officer for allegedly “manipulating” temporary accommodation allocations #UKHousingThe counter-fraud team at Newham Council, which has the highest rates of temporary accommodation in England, has uncovered “serious internal fraud” in its housing allocations.
Acting upon a whistleblower report, the council found that a staff member had assigned 35 properties intended for use as temporary accommodation to ineligible individuals.
The member of staff immediately resigned after being confronted over the fraud, and the council said that internal and criminal investigations are still ongoing.
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“Civil recovery action is being taken to recover properties assigned in this fraud, and a criminal prosecution is being pursued,” the council said.
The fraud allegation was revealed in a report to the council’s audit and governance committee last week.
The report provided an update on the work of the authority’s counter-fraud team, responsible for looking into whistleblowing allegations against Newham officers as well as external fraud.
According to the report, between April and October 2025, the counter-fraud team successfully recovered a total of 38 properties and is currently working on 153 housing investigations.
Of these, 26 are waiting to be heard at civil court, five cases are with the legal team to proceed with potential criminal prosecutions, and 132 investigations are currently open.
Newham has by far the highest rate of households in temporary accommodation in England, with 5.7% of households in temporary housing at the start of 2025.
Last year, the authority had to request exceptional financial support from the government to deal with a 936% increase in temporary accommodation costs.
In a statement, a Newham Council spokesperson said: “We can confirm that after our fraud team was contacted by a whistleblower reporting apparent malpractice by a housing officer, an internal fraud investigation was launched by the council. When the housing officer was confronted, they immediately resigned. The council is working with the police to pursue a criminal investigation.
Other London boroughs are also grappling with internal housing fraud. In the neighbouring Barking and Dagenham, further arrests were made in September following a joint investigation between the council and the City of London Police.
Operation Chandrila found evidence that corrupt housing officers had fraudulently allocated several hundred properties from its wholly owned housing company B&D Reside to members of the local community for personal financial gain. The investigation is ongoing.
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