Why they’re an issue for the general public sector | EUROtoday

Efforts are being made by the general public sector to crack down on employees who work a number of completely different jobs on the similar time, in secret.

The observe, often called polygamous working, has arguably change into extra prevalent with the expansion in distant working however it may be doubtlessly illegal relying in your employment contract.

The Cabinet Office informed BBC London that since 2016, their nationwide anti-fraud initiative caught out 301 workers within the public sector and recovered £1.35m in wage cost. In a current case, a council employee was convicted of fraud for having two full time jobs at two London councils.

I spoke to somebody who labored a number of secret jobs up to now and came upon what councils and the federal government are doing to curb this pattern and the implications it has on public companies.

Imtiaz Shams, in his mid-thirties and CEO of a tech start-up, labored as a public sector finance assistant in his hole 12 months, saving his £16,000 annual wage for college charges.

At the identical time, unbeknownst to his employer, he was additionally working a second job within the non-public sector.

“My job was boring. I automated a lot of stuff on Excel. I was on Reddit all day,” he stated.

“So I did a side contract…I made some money. They were happy they got someone who was automating their systems.”

Imtiaz admits it was not proper, including: “I shouldn’t have worked there but I wasn’t paid well enough to feel bad. That’s why I left.”

Imtiaz now works within the non-public tech sector, the place he actively encourages his workers to do one thing exterior the corporate.

“Why? Because I want them to be happy. Good people are hungry. Where there’s a problem is if they’re not delivering for me.

“In tech, we’re paid properly. We can reside in London. I feel with council staff and social staff, you may see the wrestle.”

While polygamous working is not inherently illegal, it could potentially break contracts, and could lead to dismissal for gross misconduct or in some cases, a fraud prosecution.

Kaajal Nathwani, an employment lawyer at Osborne & Wise, says that while there is currently no formal legal definition of polygamous working, it’s a “new phenomenon”.

She described it as a “pattern of holding down a number of secret jobs…made common on TikTookay, Instagram”.

She added: “It’s not unlawful, per se, it is not fraudulent, per se, on the face of it, however it may be illegal if a contract stipulates that a person is to not maintain down one other job, or have one other type of employment.”

She said it could also breach implied term of mutual trust and confidence in an employment relationship “regardless of it being set out on paper in a contract of employment”.

“In addition to that, there could also be implications of breaches of confidentiality, knowledge safety that come up,” added Nathwani.

“There’s additionally the query of whether or not or not you’re absolutely in a position to dedicate your time and a focus, to performing a job in case you are finishing up a number of jobs and a number of roles all through the day.”

She said polygamous working is different to moonlighting, “which is used to explain somebody having a facet hustle or facet job while being employed in a full time job, normally stored secret and accomplished usually at evening – therefore moonlighting”.

Nathwani says historically, contracts were not as definitive in terms of not permitting employees to allow second jobs, but is now becoming “increasingly prevalent”.

Public sector jobs are funded by taxpayers’ money to provide a wide range of local and national services – such as social workers whose responsibilities can include protecting vulnerable children at risk of harm or civil servants working for large government departments.

As the government puts it: “Millions of individuals work arduous, pay their taxes, and contribute to their communities. The authorities owes it to them to make sure decency and respect, and to carry each single one that cheats the system to account.”

HMRC can pick up multiple incomes but it focuses on tax compliance and does not have the full picture.

To address this issue, the government’s National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is taking data from several different bodies matching payroll, pension and benefits data to spot inconsistencies.

It has so far identified 301 cases since 2016 where employees have been dismissed or resigned in the UK, 256 of these in England.

So far in the 2024-25 financial year, they have identified 13 cases of polygamous working, which has saved £113,000 in recoverable savings.

Barnet Council is one of the pilot councils for the NFI and prosecuted an individual for fraud last year for working full time at two London councils at the same time, recovering £10,000.

Cabinet member for Financial Sustainability, Simon Radford, says polygamous working is a “nice instance of the place persons are abusing and losing taxpayers’ cash and we cannot tolerate that”.

He says while home working has lots of benefits, “it has made a distinction” to polygamous working, in terms of people not being on video camera and not being available when they claim they are.

This reflects what Imtiaz observed in his former job.

“I knew there was one one that wasn’t coming to the workplace in any respect – principally doing childcare – and so they had been getting paid. It’s rampant within the public sector. So it is an issue,” he said.

In August last year, social worker Beatrice Eduah fraudulently worked at three different councils at the same time was told she would have to pay back one of her employers.

Eduah, 42, of Jaric Lane, Brampton, Cambridgeshire, had been employed as an agency worker at Suffolk County Council’s adult social care team.

Imtiaz believes a lot of public sector workers “should not paid properly sufficient” and the government is trying to “punish individuals for what’s a damaged system”.

Radford stated: “We can by no means really know the motives behind the instances of polygamous working, however we do know that Barnet Council pay is mostly aggressive in our sector. Regardless of what you’re paid within the public or non-public sector, fraudulent polygamous working is a criminal offense.”

Imtiaz has also said what bothers him is “the individuals on the increased ranges will get away with it”.

He added: “It’s the decrease and center paid staff who want the cash which are being chased for this. It does not really feel proper to me to be sincere.”

However Radford disagreed and said this was not the case.

“If somebody is polygamously working, we are going to prosecute them,” he stated.

“It does not matter in the event that they’re high of the tree or the decrease branches, it is one thing now we have zero tolerance for. It’s one thing I do not recognise.”

Radford also refuted concerns about the productivity of the sector.

He said: “I feel there’s an previous cliché, proper, that within the public sector individuals do not work as arduous because the non-public sector.

“I think what this shows is that people when they don’t work as hard as they are meant to for taxpayers’ money, people ask questions and they get caught.”

Barnet council has various different ongoing fraud instances involving polygamous staff.

Alex Burghart MP, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has accused the federal government of not correctly monitoring second jobs and out of doors roles within the civil service.

He stated: “Hard-working taxpayers expect efficiency and transparency from the public sector, yet Labour has overseen a bloated system that operates in secrecy.”

Cabinet Office Minister Josh Simons stated: “Fraudsters claiming multiple public sector salaries are undermining public trust.

“Through the National Fraud Initiative (NFI), we’re working with councils to root out these polygamous staff. By matching payroll, pension, and advantages knowledge nationwide, we’re recognizing the inconsistencies that criminals attempt to conceal.

“We brought 14 government departments to take part in the exercise for the first time. Users of our Fraud Hub database, which includes records of staff dismissed for fraud to ensure they don’t get a new job in government, have risen by 30%.”

He added that the federal government wished to go additional – and expanded data-matching was below method “to target these risks even more aggressively”.

While working from residence has lowered the sensible limitations to “polygamous working,” rising scrutiny from native authorities and authorities suggests these working two jobs in secret might not have the ability to get away with it as simply as they as soon as did.