Jump to content

Local Authority Investigation Officers Group

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by TattooedLibrarian (talk | contribs) at 12:13, 27 March 2015 (→‎Activities: Fixed broken link). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Local Authority Investigation Officers Group (LAIOG) is a British organisation involving Local Authority investigators, primarily those involved in the investigation of Housing and Council Tax Benefit fraud.

LAIOG is recognised as a representative group in providing information and statistics to, for example, the UK parliament.[1] The organisation is considered of sufficient importance to be mentioned by name in the fraud prevention policies of many Local Authorities[2] and Department for Work and Pensions newsletters.[3]

Although referred to under Fraud Squad in this encyclopaedia as an investigation unit, this is not strictly the case, although members do liaise during investigations.

Composition

There are a number of regional groups and a national 'umbrella' organisation. The official regional groups, that is those represented on the executive committee[4] are :

  • Northern
  • Midlands
  • Wales (Welsh Benefits Investigation Group) WBIG
  • Eastern
  • LBFIG (London Boroughs' Fraud Investigators' Group)
  • Southern
  • South-Western

Other groups also meet, such as Northern Home Counties.

Membership

Around 400 Local Authorities across England, Scotland and Wales are members of LAIOG.[5] Membership is for the authority, rather than individual members.

Administration

The organisation is run by a committee[4] of 14 members, although there are currently two vacancies listed. The committee is made up of :

  • Chair
  • Vice Chair
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • 6 Executive Officers
  • Website Officer
  • Representatives from the following regions :
    • Eastern
    • LBFIG (London)
    • Midlands
    • Northern
    • South West
    • Southern
    • Wales

Activities

LAIOG's main functions and activities are:[5]

  • provision of access to information relevant to the field of investigations ;
  • a communication network, via the website ;
  • dissemination of information to members ;
  • local and national representation on policy, training and various legislative issues ; and
  • a national conference, combined with an AGM.

LAIOG has also been involved in setting up a number of qualifications for investigators, working with ITS Training (UK) Ltd.[6] and Bond Solon.

The regional groups also have AGMs and generally hold training days for members, two or three times a year.

References

  1. ^ Hansard 11 March 2008 Website accessed 27 May 2008
  2. ^ North Warwickshire BC Policy Website accessed 27 May 2008
  3. ^ HB Direct - May 2007 Website accessed 27 May 2008
  4. ^ a b LAIOG Executive Website accessed 24 May 2008
  5. ^ a b LAIOG web site Accessed 24 May 2008
  6. ^ ITS Training (UK) Ltd. web site Accessed 24 May 2008
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Local_Authority_Investigation_Officers_Group&oldid=653741339"