Council staff fraud

There are a number of frauds that may be committed by council staff, councillors, contractors or agency staff, including:

• abuse of position or powers by a member of staff;
• theft of cash or property;
• using council property for other uses than official purposes;
• employees working together to award contracts in return for personal gain;
• submission of expense claims for duties not carried out, or inflating claims;
• claiming sick pay when fit to work;
• failure to work contracted hours;
• abuse of flexible working time system;
• creation of ghost employees in the payroll system to generate payments to themselves or others;
• submission of applications for employment containing bogus qualifications or references, or bogus evidence of the right to work in the UK; and
• failure to declare overpayments of pay.

For every penny that is defrauded from the council and the taxpayer, this reduces the level of available resources the council has and therefore the level of services the council can provide.

How to report your suspicions of council staff fraud

Fraud Hotline - 0800 953 0217

If you are employed by St Helens Borough Council and wish to report suspected fraud or corruption, please raise your concerns to either your manager, the internal audit team or through the council's whistleblowing procedures.