Lewisham Council is actively reviewing its strategies to combat fraud and corruption, as highlighted in the recent Audit and Risk Committee meeting on 11 November 2025.
The committee convened to discuss a range of critical updates, including external and internal audit findings, the Anti-Fraud and Corruption Team's annual report, and revisions to the Corporate Risk Register. These discussions underscore the council's commitment to maintaining robust governance and accountability.
The Anti-Fraud and Corruption Team's annual report revealed a slight increase in successful outcomes, attributed to the enhanced skills of the team's qualified investigators and apprentices. The team has also implemented a new case management system to streamline administrative tasks and enable more detailed reporting. An awareness e-learning package has been successfully rolled out, with 415 staff members completing the training, which is set to become mandatory.
The team addressed 30 staff cases, leading to various actions, including dismissals and contract terminations. They also investigated the misuse of disabled parking badges, resulting in 18 successful cases, including a prosecution with significant fines. Additionally, the team supports the council's recruitment process by conducting pre-employment checks. There has been a slight increase in the percentage of checks that require further action, mainly because so many more people have business interests these days. The report does not specify the types of business interests raising concerns or the actions taken.
The Corporate Risk Register update included an assessment history illustrating the movement of each risk over the past three assessments. According to the report, there has been ongoing engagement with management to improve risk management across the council. Risk workshops have been conducted with various directorates to review and document risks, ensuring accurate and consistent scoring. An internal audit is planned to provide an independent assessment of risk management, with outcomes feeding into a service improvement plan.
Richard, who introduced the Corporate Risk Register report, highlighted the ongoing work with risk officer Kelly O, noting that there has been a lot of work been going into kind of engaging with management and kind of improving risk management across the council
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The Audit and Risk Committee also reviewed the Internal Audit Plan 2025/26 progress, noting generally positive outcomes from completed reviews. According to the Internal Audit Progress Report November 2025, of the six outcomes, four reviews obtained substantial or satisfactory assurance. The committee discussed adding an assurance audit on IT asset management due to risks identified around the council's laptop refresh program. Through discussions with the business, risks were highlighted around IT asset management, particularly in regard to the programme to refresh the council laptops. This is also a source of a number of the overdue management actions. It is proposed to add an assurance audit on IT asset management which will commence as soon as possible.
The committee members noted the reports and agreed to the recommendations, acknowledging the hard work of all parties involved in maintaining and improving the council's audit and risk management processes. Councillor Eva Kestner, in closing the meeting, thanked all members and presenters, acknowledging their hard work and commitment.
