Fraud EWS1 Forms
Keywords
Cases, Fraud, Cladding, Remediation, Building, Safety, Work, District, Completion, EWS1, Forms, Filled, Qualified, Balcony, Charged, Convicted, Date, Entailed, Jail, Fine, Recorded, Figures, National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, NFIB, Crime, Recording, System, Specific, Offence, Identify, Specific, Breakdown.
Publication Number
PUB 1335
FOI Reference Number
16041
Request Title
Fraud EWS1 Forms
Date Range
N/A
Information Requested
1) How many cases you have looked into, of fraud when it comes to cladding remediation/ building safety work within your district. This could include the completion of EWS1 forms (whether people filled these out who are not qualified to do so) and any other work on this as well. I would like to receive this data from December 2019, on a quarterly basis, and should include information on what the fraud entailed, what exactly it focused on (eg EWS1 forms, balcony work etc) and any other information which is available on this.
2) How many people have been charged and convicted of this fraud specifically. This should also include the date of their conviction, and what their conviction entailed (eg jail time, a fine etc.
Disclosure with Exemptions
Full Refusal with Section 12 and Section 17 Exemptions
Information Correct as at
N/A
Date of Disclosure
24 August 2021
Related Documents/Links
N/A
FOI 16041 Response
Having completed enquiries within Essex Police in respect of Section 1(1)(a), Essex Police does hold information relating to your request, however, the obligation of Section 1(1)(b) cannot be met as Essex Police does not hold all the information requested in a format that allows it to be retrieved within the time and cost limits of FOI.
When responding to a request for information under the terms of the FOIA, a public authority is not obliged to provide information if the authority estimates that the cost of the retrieval of the information requested would be in excess of £450 (equivalent to 18 hours work). The costs criteria relates to a request in its entirety, which means that if we cannot retrieve all of the information requested within the costs limit, we are not obliged to retrieve any of the information requested.
Section 12(1) of the FOIA states that a public authority is not obliged to:
“…comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.”
The following explanation outlines the difficulty Essex Police has in answering your request:
Recorded crime figures for Fraud are recorded and collected by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), which sits alongside Action Fraud. Some crimes are referred back to Essex Police for investigation, however, our Crime Recording System does not include a field that would allow us to identify the specific type of Fraud Offence in respect of ‘cladding remediation / building safety work’ to be able to provide a breakdown.
Consequently and to this extent, Essex Police are exempt from the duty to provide information you have requested under the provisions of Section 12(1) of the FOIA. Therefore, and in accordance with Section 17(1) of the FOIA, this communication must act as a refusal notice to provide all of the information that could be interpreted as being captured by this part of your request.
Section 16(1) of the FOIA provides that a public authority is required to provide advice and assistance, Essex Police can confirm that you should be directed to contact Action Fraud who may be able to assist you with the request. The following links may also be of interest to you:
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/what-is-national-fraud-intelligence-bureau