Swansea Council has no fraud risk assessment or delivery plan, auditors find
Swansea Council has a clear zero-tolerance position on fraud but no comprehensive fraud risk assessment and no counter fraud delivery plan, Audit Wales has found. The auditors' report, dated April 2026 and now published, makes nine recommendations. It credits the council with clear corporate support for tackling fraud and says that culture will matter in making the improvements.
Training and policy
Counter fraud training is not mandatory and take-up is very low. At the time of the review only 24 members of staff had completed the module, Audit Wales says. The council's anti-fraud and corruption policy was last updated in 2016, and there is no formally approved Fraud Response Plan setting out how allegations are handled and how compliance with the investigation process is reported.
Reactive, not preventative
The report says the council's effort is mainly reactive. Its annual Anti-Fraud Plan makes no provision for planned preventative work and there is no clear link between the risks in the fraud risk assessment and the actions in the plan. Service area managers are not involved in the assessment, and no arrangement ensures the Corporate Fraud Team checks new projects and policies for fraud risks. Audit Wales also says the council has not agreed how it decides which fraud cases to publicise, which can limit deterrence, and has not assessed which roles carry greater fraud risk when it carries out pre-employment checks.
What works
The council has a team of qualified counter fraud officers, a Governance and Audit Committee that receives twice-yearly updates, and data sharing agreements including with the Department for Work and Pensions. It works with South Wales Police and the National Anti-Fraud Network, and takes part in the National Fraud Initiative. The report follows the Auditor General's 2020 report, Raising Our Game, which made 15 recommendations on tackling fraud across the Welsh public sector. The report does not put a figure on fraud losses at Swansea, and no council response is published with it.
Background and supporting figures
Where this sits
Anti-fraud and corruption policy last updated in 2016 (para 9). No formally approved Fraud Response Plan (para 10).
Counter fraud training is not mandatory and only 24 staff had completed the module at the time of review (para 11).
No agreed process to decide which fraud cases to publicise (para 12). Pre-employment checks not evaluated for fraud-risk roles (para 13).