CIPFA Fraud and Corruption Tracker

A truly national overview of all fraud, bribery and corruption activity across local authorities.

The CIPFA Fraud and Corruption Tracker (CFaCT) survey gives a national picture of fraud, bribery and corruption across UK local authorities and the actions being taken to prevent it. It aims to:

  • help organisations understand where fraud losses could be occurring
  • provide a guide to the value of detected and prevented fraud loss
  • help senior leaders understand the value of anti-fraud activity
  • assist operational staff to develop pro-active anti-fraud plans
CFaCT builds on the former Annual Fraud and Corruption Survey delivered by the Audit Commission and has been expanded to include questions commissioned by the Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally Board and the Home Office.

2020 national report

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2020's key results

  • For local authorities in the UK, CIPFA has estimated that the total value of fraud identified and prevented in 2019/20 is approximately £239.4m.
  • The report shows that council tax continued to be the largest area of identified fraud for councils, with more than 30,600 cases totalling £35.9m in 2019/20.
  • The two highest perceived fraud risk areas for 2019/20 are again procurement and council tax Single Person Discount.
  • This year, 32% of respondents stated their organisation had been a victim of a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDOS)/hacking attack in the last 12 months, a 5% increase from the previous year.
  • In 2019/20 – prior to the COVID-19 grant disbursement – grant fraud represented just 0.3% of the total identified instances of fraud in the UK's local government sector.
  • Valued at an estimated loss of £36.6m, the report reveals only 161 instances of grant fraud occurred in 2019/20. 

Previous reports

CFaCT is supported by:

Fraud tracker

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