Public Sector

The government is “flying blind” on its exposure to fraud, which has quadrupled since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, MPs have said.

The cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC) also said that while most of the £21bn of taxpayers’ money lost to fraud during the pandemic is unlikely to be recovered, the government should be doing more to recoup what it can.

MPs say just 1.9% of £1.1bn wrongly lent to small business has been recovered.

The Department for Business and Trade has been told to get detailed figures for the cost of recovering more than £960m in Covid support packages for small business that is still outstanding after being wrongly paid out in the early months of the pandemic.

https://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/dbt-told-to-detail-cost-of-recovering-covid-loan-fraud-losses

Ministers have only recovered around £20m of the more than £1bn lost to Covid fraud in the three years since the start of the pandemic, a high-profile group of MPs has said.

Parliament’s public accounts committee (PAC) which scrutinises the value for money of government projects, has unveiled a report into the losses from business support schemes.

Two former employees of Bristol Waste have “voluntarily” attended interviews by Avon and Somerset Police in relation to possible fraud within a waste depot.

The allegations against the pair came to light earlier this year (see letsrecycle.com story). Bristol Waste confirmed at the time that it “became aware” of “possible fraudulent activity” in 2020, and passed this on to the Police.

https://www.letsrecycle.com/news/police-question-former-bristol-waste-staff-over-possible-fraud/

Transport for London (TfL) says it has found no evidence of fraud within its own ranks, as reports emerged of criminals offering drivers a way of avoiding Ultra low emission zone (Ulez) charges.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/tfl-finds-no-fraud-among-160048507.html/

The Department for Work and Pensions is considering outsourcing as many as 2,500 new jobs to deliver Universal Credit targeted case review work.

https://www.civilserviceworld.com//professions/article/dwp-proposes-outsourcing-2500-jobs

Dawn Lyons faced a jail term or heavy fine after she admitted a charge under the Misuse of Computers Act during her role as a DWP team leader in Blackpool.

But Blackpool Magistrates went outside their sentencing guidelines when dealing with the 52-year-old, of Bowness Avenue, Thornton, who had worked for the DWP in the resort for 30 years.

The government is confident that a unit set up twelve months ago to curb fraud in the public sector will be shown to have delivered major savings.

This week marks one year since the government launched the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) – a new unit focused on helping departments across Whitehall fight fraud and error, as well as improving the public sector's anti-fraud knowledge.

The leader of Ashfield District Council, charged with multiple offences including fraud and drug possession, will apply to face trial outside of the county.

Councillor Jason Zadrozny, 42, has previously denied 22 offences after he was arrested in November 2022 along with five other councillors from his party, the Ashfield Independents, as part of investigations into alleged fraud.

Millions of pounds were handed to people in cost of living payments but many were not eligible for the cash either due to errors or because of fraud.

Scores of people may be forced to pay their cost of living payments back to the Government.

It has been revealed that millions of pounds have been handed out to people who were not entitled to the money. This has happened due to errors or because of fraud.