Convicted fraudster Louise Haigh has lost responsibility for another fraud component of the Cabinet Office. Presumably come October she’ll be too busy firing out emergency alerts about how it’s a bit nippy out…
As part of the machinery of government changes on Burnham’s ascension to No10 the Cabinet Office – run by Haigh who is the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster – lost control of the Public Sector Fraud Authority. It’s not just one fraud-related operation that got moved:
“Following a machinery of government change on 21 July 2026, the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA), including the National Fraud Initiative (NFI), transferred from the Cabinet Office to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). DWP is now the Data Controller for all NFI data matching exercises.”
The National Fraud Initiative identifies fraud through data matching – it examines data shared between private and public sectors. It was moved to the Cabinet Office in 2015 after being launched in the 90s and eventually shoved under the PSFA. A complete clear-out of all fraud-related operations from under Haigh…
UPDATE: A Tory source said: “While it’s reassuring that a convicted fraudster has lost yet another responsibility for tackling fraud, the Labour Government is still failing to tackle waste and fraud in the welfare system.”
Lord Khan in the Telegraph: “I hope, and I say this in a non-pompous way, that the public service I do will bring rewards in this world and the hereafter,” he says. “I’m hoping the work I do is earning me Brownie points.”