About Us

About the Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit

The Counter Fraud and Enforcement Unit (CFEU) is a partnership formed to mitigate fraud risk and reduce criminal activity and financial loss in each member Council’s jurisdiction.   

The CFEU has evolved to provide a comprehensive, efficient and cost effective corporate, strategic and investigative service for its partner authorities.  The six partner Councils at present are Cheltenham Borough, Cotswold District, Forest of Dean District, Stroud District, Tewkesbury Borough and West Oxfordshire District.   

Additionally the team provides counter fraud, investigative and criminal enforcement support for other Councils and housing and tenancy fraud prevention and detection services for a number of Social Housing Providers.    

The Unit acts as an in-house support service supplying preventative activities, proactive drives and reactive investigations.  There is a focus on a holistic approach, sharing data and efficiencies across partners.  Whilst some areas are generic for resource efficiencies the work plans are bespoke and consider district/borough demographic and individual Council priorities.  

The structure of the unit allows partners to maximise the benefits they receive from the service, by providing resilience, shared knowledge and efficiencies of scale that could not be achieved by one Council as a stand-alone service.