Local government fraud-fighting guidelines published

3 Apr 12
Councils have been given guidelines on how to fight fraud and prevent losses of more than £2bn a year.

By Vivienne Russell | 3 April 2012

Councils have been given guidelines on how to fight fraud and prevent losses of more than £2bn a year.

Issued by the National Fraud Authority today, Fighting fraud locally offers practical advice based on best practice. It follows an eight-month review, led by the NFA and supported by the Department for Communities & Local Government and the Local Government Association.

Mike Haley, director of public sector fraud at the NFA, said the guidelines followed ‘unprecedented’ collaboration between Whitehall and local government.

‘If councils implement the recommendations and adopt the good practice set out in the strategy, significant savings could be made – money which can be used to protect frontline services,’ he said.

Measures include a checklist to identify possible gaps in anti-fraud policies and an e-learning training course to raise fraud awareness among staff and improve detection rates.

Welcoming the guidelines, local government minister Baroness Hanham said: ‘Fraud is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money and they should expect us to combat it in every way we can.

Fighting fraud locally provides a blueprint for a tougher response to tackling fraud, with many examples of what councils could and should be doingto bring this under control.’

Peter Fleming, chair of the LGA’s improvement board, said: ‘Local government fraud represents just 3% of the overall figure across the entire public and private sector. This is an indication of the effective and tireless work councils put in to tackling fraud.’

He added that the publication was a ‘valuable tool’ and urged councils to renew their efforts to crack down on fraud and corruption.

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