What are the latest figures from the Cross-Government Fraud Landscape Annual Report 2022?

• Detected fraud rose from £227m in 2019/20 to £243m in 2020/21

• Detected fraud and error rose from £310m in 2019/20 to £525m in 2020/21

• Prevented fraud and error rose from £388m in 2019/20 to £653m in 2020/21

• Recovered fraud and error rose from £92m in 2019/20 to £193m in 2020/21

What is Social Value?

• Social value refers to the benefits organisations and social enterprises provide to both society and the economy. Over the last few years, there has been an increased demand to measure and maximise it, with many organisations seeking to understand and communicate the positive social values they are creating in an attempt to attain economical, environmental and social benefits.

Why are Public Sector Contracts so Important?

• The entire procurement process starts with a need. Whether that’s a need for goods to be provided, work or services, public sector organisations need the right supplier to fill this need. This is where contracts come in. Also known as a ‘tender,’ a contract is an arrangement between a public sector organisation and a supplier to provide goods, work or services.

Demonstrating Return on Interest

Within the procurement, finance and fraud landscape being able to demonstrate Return on Investment (ROI) is key to showcasing to stakeholders, managers or employees the positive impact investments are making on services, strategy and performance.

How to Calculate or Measure ROI?

Calculating ROI is dependent on the type of metrics you are looking for, but the most common formula for ROI is:

ROI = (Net profit / Cost of investment) x 100

What’s Classed as Successful or Positive ROI?

As a simple definition, a good or positive return on investment is when your investment value into a project or campaign exceeds your expenses. For example, if your organisation invests £5,000 into a new project and generates £7,000, this is positive ROI as you’ve made more than you spent.

What Are the Benefits of Demonstrating ROI in the Public Sector?

• Help you improve your strategy

• Gain buy-in from key stakeholders

• Understand division or team performance in your organisation

• Simple yet impactful for all

• Justify or defend budgets

Identifying Internal and External Fraud Within Your Organisation

Knowing the difference between internal and external fraud within an organisation is important to ensure that you can adequately protect your organisation and have measures in place to protect against both.

External Fraud – External fraud occurs when individuals or organisations outside of the organisation commit fraud against the target organisation. In some cases, the technique used to target the organisation may be the same as the techniques used for personal fraud. The scammer may obtain the personal information from the intended target via phishing or other means, but rather than use the information to target the individual, they use the individual’s information to target the organisation.

Internal Fraud – Internal fraud can be classified as fraud committed by an employee against their organisation. This may be both small-scale, such as using false receipts to claim travel and accommodation allowances, or large scale multi coordinated attacks that can cripple an organisation.