Public sector fraud worst in higher education

The University of Portsmouth’s centre for counter fraud studies found that higher education institutions (HEIs) are the worst public sector bodies at protecting themselves from fraud.

Working with PKF accountants, the researchers marked public sector organisations on their fraud resilience out of 50.

They found that the HEIs achieved average scores of 28.9 points, compared with 44.1 points among NHS bodies, 38.1 points for local authorities and 36.7 for central government departments.

PKF counter fraud services director and centre chairman Jim Gee said: “Fraud can be hugely damaging to any organisation, but especially to HEIs at a time when the Government is making serious reductions in expenditure and students are facing annual tuition fees of up to £9,000.

“Fraud in the HE sector has a long-term negative impact on the quality of education and thus on the life chances of students.

“It is particularly worrying that less than 10 per cent of HEIs accurately estimate the cost of fraud.

“This needs to be addressed as a top priority because loss estimates are important in developing a proportionate, properly resourced counter-fraud strategy. After all, if you do not know the nature and scale of the problem, how can you set about implementing the right solution?”