Fraud

• Superhead ordered to repay council over £1m stolen from his school

  A superhead has been ordered to pay back Brent Council £1.4m he received in illegal bonuses while he was head of a school in Wembley.

  

• Rochdale council worker jailed for £80,000 fraud

  A council worker has been jailed for defrauding Rochdale Borough Council of £80,000 - money that was then spent on prostitutes and cocaine.

  

• Council worker jailed for £1m pension fund theft

  A man who defrauded the pension fund of Westminster City Council of over £1m has been jailed for seven years.

  

• Benefit assessors convicted of £1m housing benefit fraud

  Seven benefit assessors in London have been convicted of a housing benefit fraud worth over £1m.

  

• Newham to improve financial management after £9m fraud allegations

  The Mayor of Newham has announced plans to set up a commission to advise the council on how to ‘become a beacon of good practice’ in its financial management.

  

• Council chiefs warn of scams targeting the vulnerable

  Local authority leaders have called on carers and families to be aware of fraud targeting older and more vulnerable people.

  

• Council calls ‘extraordinary meeting’ over £9m fraud allegations

  Newham Council has called an ‘extraordinary meeting’ to look into allegations of fraud concerning the local authority’s repairs and maintenance service (RMS).

  

• Top 100: Our most popular local government stories of 2018

  From council pay rises to troubled outsourcing firms, here is our countdown of the 100 most popular stories on LocalGov during 2018.

  

• Blue Badge theft up by 45% in past year

  Councils have warned that Blue Badge theft in England has increased by 45% in the past 12 months.

  

• Council employee convicted of £1m pension fund fraud

  A former Westminster City Council employee has been convicted for defrauding the council pension fund of nearly £1m.