Every year in the UK up to £49bn of public money is lost to fraud. Resources are stretched and fraudsters are increasingly sophisticated, making the public services more vulnerable than ever to criminal activity.
The impact of financial crime on the public sector is enormous. As stewards of public money, it is the responsibility of each and every public sector organisation to take an active role in the fight against corruption, bribery and fraud. The diversion of funding from vital public services undermines public trust, financial sustainability, organisational efficiency and makes the vulnerable people in our communities that much worse off.
How CIPFA can help
Building on CIPFA's extensive history of championing excellence in public finance management, we work with organisations across the public sector to help them prevent, detect and recover fraud losses and develop counter fraud skills.
We support the national counter fraud and anti-corruption strategy for local government, Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally and were named in the UK government's 2017-22 Anti-Corruption strategy as having a key role to play in combating corruption, both within the UK and abroad.
Below are just some of the services we provide.
Recent webinars
Catch up on our webinar recordings:
- Fraud or poor contract management? Essential viewing for anyone with fraud prevention, contract management or procurement as part of their remit. Learn how to define something as fraud or poor contract management and listen to real life examples from Birmingham City Council.
- Exploring the post-pandemic fraud landscape: Featuring CIPFA's Marc McAuley and Heidi Loren de Sousa, John Stalley from Wealden District Council and Declan Khan from London Borough of Barnet, this lively discussion explored the pandemic's impact on the fraud landscape and what it's revealed about the knowledge, skills and capabilities needed to effectively tackle fraud in a post-pandemic world. Download the webinar slides.
- CIPFA's new Level 4 Counter Fraud Investigator Apprenticeship: As part of National Apprenticeship Week 2021, CIPFA's Head of Counter Fraud Training Les Dobie and CIPFA's Counter Fraud Apprenticeship Manager, Heidi Loren de Sousa hosted a webinar exploring the UK counter fraud landscape and the new apprenticeship.
- Tackling public sector fraud from the inside out: Hosted by CIPFA's Senior Counter Fraud Consultant Marc McAuley, this session featured CIPFA's Counter Fraud Apprenticeship Manager, Heidi Loren de Sousa, Mike Frost, Audit and Anti-Fraud Manager at Buckinghamshire Council and Nick Jennings, Head of the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Shared Anti-Fraud Service. Together, they looked at how to balance people, culture and financial resourcing in order to create the best possible foundation for preventing fraud.
Qualifications and training
Making sure staff have the skills needed to detect, prevent and recover fraud losses is key to building an anti-fraud culture. We offer a diverse range of qualifications, short courses and e-learning packages, all of which carry continuing professional development (CPD) hours.
For queries about our training courses, please contact counterfraudtraining@cipfa.org
We also offer the CIPFA Level 4 Counter Fraud Investigator Apprenticeship. This is a market-leading, levy-funded programme that will deliver innovative, dynamic and relevant training to aspiring counter fraud professionals working in a range of investigative roles.
For queries about our apprenticeship, please contact apprenticeships@cipfa.org
To complement our International Certificate in Corruption Investigation, we are now piloting an ambitious new Corruption Prevention Programme, aligned to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Chapter II, the “Prevention of Corruption under the UNCAC”. The programme will offer unique and specialised anti-corruption certification training to build the capacity of individuals as well as strengthening public sector institutions.
Publications and research
- The CIPFA Code of Practice on Managing the Risk of Fraud and Corruption sets out the five key principles required to create an effective counter-fraud response. It is supported by detailed guidance notes on how to apply the principles and an assessment tool to help you measure your organisation's arrangements against the code.
- Preventing Corruption: A Compendium of Global Case Studies brings together a selection of best practices and global case studies focusing on tackling fraud and preventing the vicious circle of corruption.
- Government of Uganda: integrity focal persons is a report by CIPFA and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) that explores the Government of Uganda's recently implemented zero tolerance to corruption policy and the technical assistance CIPFA can provide to support this.
- Our publication, Combating Financial Crime: Practical Advice for the Public Sector (2020 Edition) updates public authorities on the latest money laundering regulations (including the 4th and 5th anti-money laundering EU directives) and draws on current best practices to prevent money laundering.
- CIPFA has worked with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Local Government Association to produce Protecting your supply chain from fraud, an accessible reminder of the continuing risks to supply chains posed by fraud and corruption, many of which are exacerbated by emergency circumstances.
- CIPFA's Counter Fraud and Corruption Tracker (CFaCT) is the annual survey of the fraud and corruption detected in local authorities across the UK. It gives a national picture of fraud, bribery and corruption across UK local authorities and the actions being taken to prevent it.
- Tackling Fraud in the Public Sector – a Local Government Perspective was commissioned with the aim of improving awareness and generating new insights into counter fraud management in the public sector. Completed by Perpetuity Research, the research report is an in-depth look at fraud from professionals within UK local authorities.
Products and services
Through GrantIS, central government departments and local authorities can enable businesses and community groups to apply and receive grants through their online platform. Utilising invoice and bank verification checks, auto-generated reports and due diligence on applicants, GrantIS helps prevent and detect grant fraud.
Contact us
If you would like to learn more about the work that we do around the world, please contact us:
Tel: +44 (0)20 7543 5600
Email: customerservices@cipfa.org
Micro Modules
Our micro modules are free of charge and offer quick introductions to selected topics. Prepared by CIPFA’s subject matter experts, they deliver key information in an easily digestible, online format.
View our micro modules on:
For the full list of our available micro modules, visit www.cipfa.org/training/micro-modules