Big rise in potential referrals for potential fraud within county council’s services, new figures show
The number of fraud case referrals to the county council has trebled in the last year, a new report has revealed.
A counter fraud interim progress report showed that Lincolnshire County Council has received 36 referrals between April and August this year – up from 12 cases in the same period last year.
At an audit committee meeting on September 22, councillors were provided with an update from the counter fraud team at the county council.
The counter fraud team said that pensions and recruitment referees were areas which had a ‘high risk’ of fraud within the county council.
Fuel cards, highways and procurement card,s fostering and adoption were identified as medium risk areas within the county council, according to the report.
The report said an investigation dating back to 2019 appeared at county court in August and the judge ruled in the council’s favour and said that compensation was due.
The county council is awaiting the final judgement and how compensation will be paid. Further details of the case are not known.
Mark Harrison, audit manager at the counter fraud team, said: “This report provides the committee with an overview against the 2025/26 counter fraud plan which was approved by the audit committee in March 2025.
“Since April 1 2025, the counter fraud team has received 36 referrals across all contact channels.
“That compares to 12 referrals in the same period in 2024/25. This represents an increase of 300%.
“These referrals resulted in four investigations, one of which has closed, with no other further action as the individual has resigned.”
Mr Harrison said the counter fraud team at the county council has provided training to council staff to help them identify possible risks of fraud.
He added: “Our work to raise awareness and understanding has played a role in referral increase.
“There is a recent change in legislation in failure to prevent fraud.
“Part of that legislation is to show that we provide training and that we as a council have procedures in place and provide certain aspects of the work we do.
“In relation to our fraud control reviews, any areas that we highlight, we follow up. In the eight high risk areas, those are obviously areas that need improvement and that’s part of the counter fraud control review process.”
The counter fraud team will update on its progress later this year.