Raising Concerns

Bribery is defined as the offering, promising, giving, accepting, or soliciting of an advantage as an incentive for an action which is illegal, unethical or a breach of trust.
An example of bribery within LHP would be a tenant pays an employee to keep quiet that they are renting out rooms within their property.

Money laundering is when an individual takes the financial proceeds from criminal activities and passes it through legitimate businesses to make it appear legit. Doing this allows criminals to disguise the source of the funds so they cannot be discovered. Although the term money laundering is usually associated with organised criminal activities it can include a suspicion that someone you know or know of is benefiting financially from dishonest activities.

An example of money laundering is a criminal buying a house. They use the cash from illegal activities to buy the house and then quickly sell it, meaning the money gets deposited into a legitimate bank account.

Whistle blowing is when you report certain types of wrongdoings at work. You can report wrong doings anonymously, but this might mean you may not be able to take the claim further. Therefore, as a whistle blower you are protected by the law if you report any of the following:
• a criminal offence, for example fraud
• someone’s health or safety is in danger
• risk or actual damage to the environment
• a miscarriage of justice
• the company is breaking the law, for example does not have the right insurance
• you believe someone is covering up wrongdoing
Personal grievances (such as bulling or discrimination) are not covered by the whistle blowing law. The wrongdoing you report must be in the public interest. This means it must affect others, such as the general public.
An example of whistle blowing would be if an employee witnessed another employee not carrying out electrical checks properly to save time, and they reported it. The employee reporting the incident would be covered by the whistle blowing law, meaning they should not be treated unfairly or lose their job because they ‘blew the whistle'.
We have a designated whistleblowing champion at LHP who is responsible for ensuring our policies and procedures on whistleblowing are effective and independent, this includes policies and procedures intended to protect whistle-blowers from being victimised because they have reported a concern.
LHP's designated whistleblowing champion is board member Anthony Read. You can reach Anthony via email on Anthony.Read@lincolnshirehp.com to discuss any concerns you may have.

Fraud is when an individual gains a dishonest advantage, usually financial, over another person. There are 3 main offences when it comes to fraud.
1. Fraud by false representation - lying about something with the intention to cause a gain or loss
2. Fraud by failure to disclose information - not declaring something when you have the legal duty to do so with the intention to cause a gain or loss
3. Fraud by abuse of position - abusing a position of trust where there is an expectation to safeguard the financial interest of another and it places them at financial risk or causes loss, but you gain an advantage.
An example of fraud could be a benefit fraud. A tenant has put on their housing benefit claim that they work in a supermarket for 16 hours a week. They also do some shifts at the local pub, but they don’t declare this as the work is cash in hand. This would be classed as benefit fraud.
FRAUD – SPOT IT, REPORT IT, TOGETHER WE CAN STOP IT!
If you suspect fraud is going on, or you are the victim, you can contact action fraud by either visiting their website or calling 0300 123 2040

As mentioned above, benefit fraud is where a claimant, landlord or third party fails to declare a change in circumstances, or purposely misrepresents their circumstances.
Some examples of housing benefit fraud include:
• Not living at a property when you say you do/ claiming at more than one address
• Living with a partner who is working and not declaring it
• Failure to declare employment income
If you suspect someone is committing benefit fraud, you can report them anonymously here.

We are committed to achieving the highest standards of probity and good governance, promoting openness and transparency in all aspects of our work.
Our probity policy sets out what colleagues should do to put those principles into practice and how to manage situations where potential conflicts of interest or suggestions of bias might arise.

Subletting happens when an existing tenant lets all or part of their home to someone else who is known as the subtenant. In 2013, new legislation was introduced that made subletting social housing properties without permission a criminal offence.
If you suspect an LHP property has been illegally sublet, please fill in this form.

A code of conduct is the most common policy within an organization. It lays out the company's principles, standards, and the moral and ethical expectations that employees are held to as they interact with the organization.
Our code of conduct policy sets the standards of conduct for colleagues to maintain the good reputation we have at LHP and social housing. All colleagues need to apply good judgement even where the Code does not contain specific requirements. It is always important to consider how any action taken or decision made aligns with LHP’s purpose and values, and what impact it may have upon customers and reputation.