Hello,
I hope whoever is reading this is keeping well.
My name is Yohannes Lowe. This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please could you breakdown the following information from 1 March 2020 to 28 February 2021.
Please could the information be broken down concisely and as I have requested- in the most simple language/terms possible.
Q1) How many overpayments did your council identify for claims made as part of Covid-related government grant schemes it administered (for example, but not limited to: small business rates grant scheme; retail, hospital and leisure grant scheme) over the stated period?
1a) If such overpayments did occur, please could you tell me the total frequency of/ reasons for /such overpayment (for example, but not limited to: 'payment error', 'ineligible claim', 'fraudulent claim'). 
1aa) For each of these overpayments please can you state: the cost to the council of the overpayment amount (in £); how much of its total has been recovered (in £) as of the current date, and how much money (in £) is outstanding as of the current date.
So, for instance, taking the 'fraudulent claim' category as an example, your council may have made overpayments worth £300,000 for 30 fraudulent claims, recovered £25,000 for 2 of them as of the current date, meaning there is £275,000 outstanding for 28.  
1b) In relation to the identified fraudulent claims, please can you break this information down in terms of what kind of fraud occurred (for example, but not limited to: 'organised fraud').
If you feel that a substantive response to this request is not possible within a reasonable time frame, or the request is too broad, I would be grateful if you could please contact me by email ([email address]) and provide assistance as to how I could refine the request.
Kind Regards,
Yohannes Lowe

Hello Lydia,
I hope you are keeping well.
Thanks very much for your response to my request (XL55). It is greatly appreciated.
Would you be so kind to please tell me the months over which all the payments were paid, and what government grants they were paid in relation to.
Could you please tell me the reason for/circumstances around (i.e. impersonation, property fraud, identity fraud) each of the 16 false representation claims, and as much detail as you can around the organised fraud (i.e. what type of fraud was this, how far does the organised network span, are they known to be committing similar grant fraud across other councils?).
Could you also please confirm the total amount (£) the 17 fraudulent payments were worth, the total amount of this money recovered and the total outstanding (so far). You can, of course, treat this as a new request.
Best,
Yohannes