£55 billion to £81 billion of taxpayer money was lost to fraud and error in 2023-24. To tackle this, public bodies need to know how much fraud and error they face and where it is.
Jump to downloadsOur good practice guide on estimating and reporting fraud and error in annual reports and accounts is aimed at those who manage the risk of fraud and error or the production of annual reports and accounts across central government and other public bodies.
The guide brings together good practice on estimating and reporting fraud and includes suggestions for overcoming the main barriers. Public bodies should report an estimate where they judge there to be a high risk of fraud and error in a significant area of activity.
How to use this guide
Our guide sets out the broad approach we recommend you take when deciding:
- when to report an estimate
- how to go about estimating the extent of fraud and error
- the content and format of fraud and error disclosures in your annual report and accounts
You will need to consider how to tailor this to your organisation’s context and think about the challenges that might apply in your situation.
Public bodies are not required to adhere to our good practice guides. But we recommend they consider the good practice set out here as it is based on what has worked well in other organisations and will help them to comply with reporting requirements.
Where there are requirements for public reporting on fraud and error, we have provided links through to the relevant documents. HM Treasury and the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) have confirmed that this guide aligns with their guidance as at February 2025.
Please note: the PDF has some interactivity that will not work in full-screen mode on your browser. To view it in full-screen mode, download the PDF to your computer and open it in Adobe Acrobat.
