Anti-fraud service at council discovers solicitor working for two public sector organisations simultaneously

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's annual fraud report has raised concerns over an emerging trend of moonlighting council workers after counter-fraud networks found that, amongst other cases, a solicitor was working for two different public sector organisations simultaneously.

The report, considered by the Royal Borough's Audit and Transparency Committee on Monday (26 June), stated that the normalisation of working from home had increased the risk of fraudulent moonlighting.

Working from home and hybrid working creates new types of risks and “during a cost-of-living crisis, a second income becomes very alluring," the report reads.

Through working with counter-fraud networks, the council's Corporate Anti-Fraud Service (CAFS) identified several instances where a council employee had been fraudulently working full-time simultaneously for other organisations, according to the report.

"In one example, a solicitor was working for two different public sector organisations, and, in the Royal Borough, a CAFS investigation revealed a housing employee also working full-time for a housing association," the report noted.

Speaking in the meeting, a council officer said the solicitor was a hybrid worker and was spotted in the office by someone from the other public sector organisation that the solicitor was also working for.

Having potentially been spotted, the solicitor then made it known to their line manager that they were doing work for another public sector body and later resigned.

The officer said that no action was taken against the solicitor because they had already resigned, they had only been with the council for a short period of time, and it was not cost-effective. But he also noted that the council plans to take action in serious cases.

The council is now planning a 'data-matching exercise' in collaboration with several employment agencies to prevent and detect fraudulent moonlighting.

Moonlighting – a term used to describe when a person works a second job alongside their regular employment – is not a breach of the council's Code of Conduct. 

However, all employees at the Royal Borough must obtain the consent of their Head of Service and ensure that it does not impact their contractual obligations or create conflicts of interest.

The report said it is not unusual for an employee working office hours to have a part-time evening or weekend job.

But it added that "it becomes theft of time and fraud when an employee knowingly collects two full- time salaries but splits their hours so they only work 50% of the time for each one."

Adam Carey