Since 2010, the Ministry of Defence has reported losses of over £932 million due to fraud, with significant contributions from procurement fraud, personnel management, service expenses, civilian expenses, and theft of assets.
In a detailed response to a parliamentary question raised by Labour MP Maria Eagle on April 22, 2024, the Ministry of Defence has provided a comprehensive breakdown of the financial losses attributed to fraud in various categories over the past fourteen years.
The figures were disclosed by Parliamentary Under-Secretary Andrew Murrison on April 29, 2024. Here’s a summary of the total detected fraud values for each year from the data:
- 2010/11: £0.24 million
- 2011/12: £0.33 million
- 2012/13: £1.35 million
- 2013/14: £0.43 million
- 2014/15: £284.22 million
- 2015/16: £1.53 million
- 2016/17: £0.68 million
- 2017/18: £2.97 million
- 2018/19: £22.52 million
- 2019/20: £52.97 million
- 2020/21: £57.27 million
- 2021/22: £147.24 million
- 2022/23: £136.13 million
- 2023/24: £223.89 million
Notably, there was a sharp increase in 2014/15, when the total fraud jumped to £284.22 million. After this peak, there was a notable decline the following year, but the trend again started to climb steadily from 2018/19 onwards.
Procurement fraud emerged as a notable concern, reflecting considerable financial implications. Characterised by fraudulent activities linked to acquiring goods and services, this category underscores persistent vulnerabilities in procurement procedures. Fraudulent activities within personnel management have also led to noteworthy financial losses according to the response. Additionally, service expenses had a big impact; such fraud underscores financial implications resulting from misreporting or mismanagement of expenses incurred by service personnel.
What does it mean?
The rising trend from 2020/21 to the current financial year indicates an increase in either the detection of fraud cases or an actual rise in fraudulent activities. The spikes in more recent years suggest that the introduction of improved monitoring and reporting mechanisms post-2020 has possibly led to better detection and documentation of such incidents.
Overall, while some of the fluctuations might reflect changes in reporting standards and detection capabilities, the general upward trend in the latter years could indicate an increased focus on capturing more comprehensive data on fraud.
I think if you look at any business they would say there been a increase in attempted and successful online fraud and scams. Its a huge problem accross the economy thats swept under the carpet and dumped on banks and card companies as their porblem. As some point we’ve just stopped blaming the actual criminals which is why it continues to rise.
As for expenses anyone claiming fraudulent expenses should have been dissmissed, its theft. Trouble is we appear to allow theft in society today so it could just be something thats tolerated or even expected and doesn’t even result in a discipinary.
Its shocking that 2 years losses could have bought 1 more T31.
Firstly theft is not fraud. Theft is just theft.
Secondly there are so many different types of potential fraud that it is not that helpful to bundle them all together.
Thirdly I would have thought that if someone turns up to work in an F35 – people are bound to notice.
Fourthly – Is it my imagination or are the years where nothing much was happening on procurement the years where there was less fraud.
They cannot be comparing Apples with Apples here despite reference to improving controls. How do they go from half a million to >240M, and back to 1.5 million then rising again to >200M?
They must know exactly why this has occurred and will be ‘feeling some collars’. but somehow I doubt that will happen.
George, I always know you will mention corruption in Ukraine.
We are training Ukrainians in the UK, free of charge, no money changing hands.
We are supplying kit, much of it surplus to British requirements, free of charge, no money changing hands. In what form might fraud occur? Do you think Ukrainians are selling on some of our donated kit to another country?
We are also giving large amounts of money, its not just kit. Although considering they are fighting for their existence I suspect their fraud rate is probably a lot lower now than it was.
the kit they’ve been given and failed with, could have bought us assets for ourselves. how much of the defence budget been thrown into a war we are not fighting in? it must be time; to start drawing back in our material support
From what I can tell pretty much every country has just donated stuff it wanted to replace anyway and the country militsry is capitising on this to get newer kit they wanted but couldnt afford. Look at the big US aid bill, most of the money is going to upgraded items for the US as it gives away stuff that is outdated.
There are exceptions but it seems to be the case with most of the kit. For example the NLAW were at the end of their life and needed replacing. Whether there would have been budget for it is another question.
As such not really costed the UK much and provided a massive boost to our national security by disarming Russia.
the whole mod is unfit for purpose it should be closed down and started again from scratch with new ideas, actual experience and the right kind of leadership
Not nessessarily. It could also indicate that the anti fraud investigations and controls were reduced resulting in less being discovered. I suspect its not in anyone’s interest (other than the general public /tax payer) to have the details published, which would be key to understanding if there is a major issue going on or just accounting predication/ changes.
It’s a common story for many of the “Foreign Legion.” Incidentally, I greatly admire their bravery if not their parochial thinking, If younger and fitter, I’d be in Israel right now defending a fellow parliamentary democracy with universal suffrage.
The background to the 2014 coup is what fascinates me. The interplay between vested interests. The use of insurgent agitators by both sides, to exploit historical narratives and control the populous. The fact they were all recovering from the tyranny of communism, made the average Ivan and Natasha very easy to manipulate. A power vacuum filled by bold well trained individuals from the corrupt soviet apparatus. The entire entire KGB to recruit at will by the highest bidder. Like them or loath them as i do. But one must admit they were good at what they were trained to do. Subjugate and manipulate the comrades! A large permitted/useful crime subculture that thrived under soviet rule. The Bratva, the Russian mafia ready and waiting.
At first it was every man for himself accumulating wealth and assets before others realised what was happening. Ruthlessly eliminating rivals while cementing treacherous alliances. Would be oligarchs from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the various trans caucuses grabbing what they could, as fast as they could. The death of the democratic dreams of many. Still born within the first trimester of life. Such a waste! The western powers who pushed the USSR to collapse for all the right reasons. Left it to metastasise for all the wrong ones.
Enter Western interests, the rise of master manipulator KGB/STASI Putin and the path to the current war. Who was it on here that first mentioned exiled chess playing Ukrainians, working for western intelligence agencies and their usefulness to NATO during the Cold War?
Oh yes, now I remember. Anyone care to speculate on their role after the Cold War; prior to 2014; the run up to Feb 2022 and thereafter. It’s all pure speculation, nothing to see here.
if I had both my arms and legs back, I’d still be in the navy!
the worst example! remember was the missing 60 million allegedly given to a fixer during the two type 22 frigate sale to Romania the serious fraud squad followed the case for several years and turned up nothing
While Ukraine has a problem with corruption it doesn’t take away that the citizens are fighting for survival.
Gosh
I’ve got a professionally acquired suspicious mind Jonathan. Just treat it as food for thought.
I bet I beat you on suspicion mind…I know what is hidden and what people do…seen it all…investigated a lot of bizarre nastiest in my time as well as put people back together after bizzare nasties.
Well to put it in perspective NHS related fraud is about 1billion a year..but that is a function of that fact the NHS is built up of contractors and contract fraud is huge anyway you get huge levels of contracts, the NHS manages around 55,000 contracts in any one year for healthcare provision..then there is another 80,000 providers of physic supplies ( from toilet paper to CT scanners)…that’s before you get to the building contracts, transport contracts, cleaning ect…
Then you get the big individual frauds, glasses, dental charge and prescription cost evasions…that’s actually a really big one at £250,000 million a year.but then the NHS provides 1.1billion prescriptions every year and around 40million dental interactions…so there is a lot of room for evading payment…
all in all I would say the MOD are modest…but in reality they have litterally more than a billion less opportunities for fraud to occur so it should may be be even better.
Personnel management?
everything
Yawn
The definition of fraud is so broad and vague that it’s difficult to infer meaning from the figures. Theft of assets per se is definitely not within the definition of fraud- it is simply ‘theft’.
Lets be honest. Some home to duty claims, Boarding School fees and missed meals allowance isn’t going to be a big part of the last 5 years. Those indicated sums will be contract and procurement. Best guess looking at it, its because someone has taken notice and started to investigate/ uncover things that where there but not reported previously.
We have a goverment that is clearly in it for personal gains, and constant stories of corruption going on from the PM downwards. Is anyone surprised in a tone from the top mentality that this is also trickling down to the civil service.
Nothing new in government departments, theft ,abuse of power for greedy and corrupt people 🙄 😑 😒
Posters are putting this down to procurement but there have been one or instances of people claiming housing, school fees – multiply the numbers and they are not small.
Then you have AR officers who are Civil Servants laughing at how they went to watch tiffies take off and land, get shit faced in the mess, claim remuneration and expenses and get paid by the CS.
That’s what? A training opportunity?
So I’d go with a lot of money being pilfered by personnel.
Ukraine. Tutored Latvian CS on English for the Railways as they were going to be advisers for change in Ukraine.
They went once and never went back because of the corruption; Ukraine, was, dirty 10 years ago, has it improved?
This is fraud that has been identified because people are actually looking for it now hence the steady increase in monetary values.
If you claim expenses legally and within the rules …its not fraud.
Claiming Boarding school allowance when not entitled is fraud.
For AF Personnel using JPA and the data trail you leave behind its easy to see if you are deliberately making fraudulent claims.
Why you would is beyond me because if you are using JPA you will get caught when doing it deliberately.
That said the rules for claims and expenses are so labyrinthine that I always caveated any claims I submitted with” To the best of my knowledge I am allowed to claim this expense.”
they forgot to say it was all in the procurement section 😀😀
This is so vague it’s total guess work to attempt to make any sense of it.
So at around the same time the government and the MoD reduced the size of the Ministry of Defence Police CID, and especially their Fraud Squad, fraud went up? What a surprise. Its almost as if government ministers wanted there to be less chance of themselves and their mates being caught. Just like they did with HMRC investigators.
Ignore this. I made a mistake in my GDP calculations and there’s no delete. I’ll post again later with better numbers.
I tried but it got sent to purgatory and never came out the other side. I just wanted to show how the government’s figures for reaching 2.5% were so fraudulent, they might even end up being more cuts. It all depends on projected inflation and growth figures, which are a complete guess when you reach out to the end of the decade. HMG can’t even get them right one year out.
If the number is high, HMG would have paid the money to keep over the NATO 2% requirement anyway.
So that £75bn promised by the PM by the end of the decade is almost entirely fraudulent in the sense that it intends to deceive. The bit that isn’t depends on some optimistic inflation and pessimistic GDP forecasts, or the amount they would have paid anyway would be over £75bn. £1bn fraud in 14 years is peanuts in comparison.
Comments go missing once again!
Mod house building is one of the biggest.
Do they count the weapons and training to Ukraine as being fraudulent ?
No. Why would they?