Fiona Kordiak

Public sector staff working remotely and under extreme pressure are among the new risks set out in a new report from the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) co-ordinated by Audit Scotland.

Fraud and errors totalling £15.3 million, including an estimate of prevented future losses, have been identified since the last NFI report in 2018.

Over 120 public bodies participated in the latest NFI, which compares electronic data about individuals held by different public bodies to identify potential errors or fraud, and to ensure pensions, housing benefit and other services go to the right people.

Fiona Kordiak, director of audit services, said: “These results demonstrate the value of data-matching to Scotland’s public finances at a time when COVID-19 has put budgets under intense pressure.

“The pandemic has also brought additional fraud risks that will be important for public bodies to identify and manage. Many staff are working remotely under extreme pressure which makes good governance and sound controls more important than ever.”