Perhaps unsurprisingly, the COVID-19 emergency has led to increased levels of fraud as criminals seek to take advantage of what is an unprecedented challenge for the whole of society.
On 21 April 2020, Laura Hough, CIPFA's Head of Counter Fraud Policy and Strategy hosted a special webinar featuring Mark Cheeseman, Director – Government Counter Fraud Profession.
Mark provided an overview of the government's response, first providing some useful context as to how to the fraud function is organised within central government and then discussing the specific response to COVID-19.
This was followed by a CIPFA-led discussion on specific threats and risk areas, including procurement fraud.
Webinar slides and recording
Other events in this series
This webinar was the second in a series of three sessions examining fraud in the public sector.
The first was held on 31 March 2020 to mark the launch of the CIPFA Counter Fraud Centre's latest research report, Tackling Fraud in the Public Sector, which examines how local authorities are tackling fraud. You can access the research findings plus a recording of the webinar here: Perspectives on Fraud
The third and final webinar took place on Tuesday 5 May 2020 and featured Rachael Tiffen, Director of Local Government at Cifas and secretariat to the Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally (FFCL) board, who shared her insights on the work behind the new strategy and its continuing importance to local authorities across the UK. This was followed by an in-depth look at CIPFA's Code of Practice on Managing the Risks of Fraud and Corruption and the options for developing this further. You can download the slides and listen to a recording of the webinar here: Frameworks for combating fraud.