Council employees with second jobs are being investigated by a government fraud squad after staff were caught “moonlighting” while working from home.
The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is looking at the practice of “multiple contract working”, where an employee misleadingly holds down two or more jobs at the same time.
The NFI, which is overseen by the Cabinet Office, is assessing the scale of the problem after several local authorities warned the practice has been exacerbated by hybrid working, where staff only come into the office on some days.
At least three councils – Wakefield, Enfield, and Kensington and Chelsea – claim to have caught staff members in the deception.
They warned that hybrid working during and after the Covid lockdowns has heightened the risk, with newfound flexibilities making a second income “very alluring”.
In each case, counter-fraud officials identified the activity and presented it to annual council meetings.
This year, the NFI launched a pilot scheme to establish the extent of the issue at London councils, having identified cases at local authorities in the past.
Levels of home working have remained stubbornly high across…
