Tuesday May 12th 2026
Scottish Borders Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Action being taken by Scottish Borders Council to tackle fraud will be on the agenda next week.
The size and nature of the council’s services puts it at risk of financial loss due to fraud, theft, corruption, or crime.
The council is committed to minimising the risk of loss and to take appropriate action against those who attempt to defraud the authority, whether from within or from outside.
Tackling fraud is not a one-off exercise; it is a continuous process across all parts of the council because the service delivery processes it underpins are changing continuously.
When members of SBC’s Audit Committee meet on Monday, May 18, they will be updated on its counter fraud strategy, which includes whistle-blowing and cyber security policies.
Latest figures for the financial year 2024/25 reveal that only one incident of fraud was detected.
That involved an amount of £7,016 related to an application to the Council Tax Reduction Scheme.
However, a number of error payments were also detected over the period, accounting for in the region of £48,000, primarily involving overpayment to creditors (£31K) and on pensions (£8K).
Recovery of all over-payments was now “well-progressed”, members will be informed.
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