Local authorities in London have reported members of staff lying about the number of jobs they hold. A national anti-fraud initiative has discovered that council workers have been “moonlighting” while working from home. The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) has been examining employees who misleadingly hold two or more jobs at the same time, a practice known as “multiple contract working.” The initiative, operated by the Cabinet Office, utilizes data-matching to detect and prevent fraud in large datasets, including public sector payroll, council tax, and local authority pension payments.
The NFI’s assessment revealed that multiple-contract working has emerged in several local authorities, leading to significant savings of £171 million for taxpayers last year. It was also found that remote and hybrid working, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated the practice of “moonlighting.” According to reports by Kensington and Chelsea Council, “moonlighting” is a “new and emerging fraud type,” and the council recorded several instances of employees “fraudulently working simultaneously (full-time) for other organizations.”
Allegations of moonlighting were made against employees of Wakefield and Enfield Councils, highlighting the widespread nature of the issue. The pandemic has created new risks and challenges by normalizing hybrid working and remote working, increasing the allure of a second income during a cost of living crisis. Similar initiatives in the past have uncovered fraud in local councils, and the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) has committed to combating this kind of fraud. Fraud is the most common crime in Britain, accounting for around 40 percent of all crime, with an estimated cost of between £29 billion and £52 billion per year for the public sector.
The PSFA plans to recognize £185 million in audited benefits from its services in 2023–24 and has committed to doubling the number of qualified fraud risk assessors in public bodies. These measures, along with a budget of £12.7 million, are part of the ongoing effort to fight fraud against the public purse.