Giz a Job...or Five

[SpeedBash]

Civil servant used remote working to fraudulently hold down FIVE government jobs at the same time, court told | Daily Mail

"Chowdhury earned nearly £350,000 from eight employers over a period of three years, and he was paid more than £280,000 in gross pay from employers for months where he had more than one full-time job, the court heard. At one point, Chowdhury was contracted to work 183 hours a week across his various jobs – more than the 168 hours that actually exist in seven days, jurors were told."


Nice to see govt. departments have robust job application screening processes.

This bloke managed to get five jobs with different central govt. departments and was only rumbled three years later.

(Shouldn't laugh really, it's only our money but rather that than cry or pull out my hair)

[GliderRider]

It wouldn't surprise me if he was able to match the output of some of his colleagues who were in the office every day, whilst he was on the first two or three simultaneous jobs.

There was a story in the Civil Service that you were forbidden from looking out the window in the morning...


...so you would have something to do in the afternoon.

[Jasandjules]

In other words people in the Civil Service are so useless if one person does 5 jobs they don't notice a diminution in output?!?!

[suthol]

Sounds like he was watching what Scott Morrison got up to when he was our PM.

As PM he secretly had himself sworn into a number of vital ministerial positions during COVID and in at least one case overturned a decision made by the responsible minister.

Neither the ministers involved or indeed the parliament were made aware of him doing this.

Wiki link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Morrison_minis...

[21TonyK]

Given (IMHO) public sectors preoccupation with detail, policy and procedure as opposed to common sense I can imagine how this happened. Right forms were completed, right objectives met all in isolation of the wider picture.

[Pit Pony]

Are they running different payroll databases in different departments.

Was he using different NI numbers ?

[jonsp]

Pit Pony said:

Are they running different payroll databases in different departments.

Was he using different NI numbers ?

And different bank accounts?

You'd think a central payroll would flag they're paying 5 salaries into the same bank

[Pit Pony]

jonsp said:

Pit Pony said:

Are they running different payroll databases in different departments.

Was he using different NI numbers ?

And different bank accounts?

You'd think a central payroll would flag they're paying 5 salaries into the same bank

Where i work there are a few couples in the same organisation so 2 salaries into the same account might not be unusual.

[Rockettvr]

The only real surprise is that he wasn’t claiming benefits and sub-letting his council flat at the same time.

[rscott]

jonsp said:

Pit Pony said:

Are they running different payroll databases in different departments.

Was he using different NI numbers ?

And different bank accounts?

You'd think a central payroll would flag they're paying 5 salaries into the same bank

Almost certainly separate payroll departments for each organisation.
Having centralised payroll teams for the civil service (plus local government and the NHS) would help catch these cases and reduce operating costs.

[_Rodders_]

GliderRider said:

It wouldn't surprise me if he was able to match the output of some of his colleagues who were in the office every day, whilst he was on the first two or three simultaneous jobs.

There was a story in the Civil Service that you were forbidden from looking out the window in the morning...


...so you would have something to do in the afternoon.

I feel like if he hadn't taken the piss and was a genuinely efficient worker he could have got away with it if he was sensible.

I actually don't think there's much wrong with working 2 or 3 jobs like that if you fulfill the role requirements and responsibilities.

[M1AGM]

rscott said:

jonsp said:

Pit Pony said:

Are they running different payroll databases in different departments.

Was he using different NI numbers ?

And different bank accounts?

You'd think a central payroll would flag they're paying 5 salaries into the same bank

Almost certainly separate payroll departments for each organisation.
Having centralised payroll teams for the civil service (plus local government and the NHS) would help catch these cases and reduce operating costs.

Its not a payroll issue, the guy was supposedly doing 5 jobs. Who was he reporting to, what were his roles and responsibilities, where is his output, who recruited him, who ran his appraisals, etc… There must be other people involved either by design or by incompetence. Every one of them should be sacked, but nothing will happen.

We are constantly gaslit that efficiency savings in the CS are very difficult, this is another example of the sham lies the general public are fed about the reality of the CS.

But undoubtedly the CS just needs yet more money.

[Randy Winkman]

jonsp said:

Pit Pony said:

Are they running different payroll databases in different departments.

Was he using different NI numbers ?

And different bank accounts?

You'd think a central payroll would flag they're paying 5 salaries into the same bank

I was a civil servant for 41 years until last year. (Sorry if anyone's heard that 20 times.)

I am genuinely interested in this story but the original linked article is a bit light on practical details to help work it all out. In my view, one really silly thing about civil service departments is how separate and different they all are. It's as if they all take pride in being different which makes machinery of government (MOG) changes really, really hard. By that I mean when departments split apart and reorganise. All of the internal systems and IT and ways of working seem to be different and all need taking apart and putting back together.

But I'm more interested in what grade or grade or grades he was and what the nature of his work was. What did he literally do and how did he report to his manager and senior manager to show them what he had achieved?

In the 1980s there might have been more variation in workloads and more people "between jobs" that could get away with doing nothing in particular for a while but I genuinely thought we'd left that behind. And people might find it hard to believe but as an ex civil servant I genuinely find it hard to believe anyone could even begin to get away with stuff like this. But the evidence is there and I'm not saying it's wrong. And I worked in a Whitehall departmental HQ with senior people doing policy jobs - hence I'm interested what he actually did. I'd love to be a fly on the wall to hear discussions in the various departments about this though.

[Camoradi]

_Rodders_ said:

GliderRider said:

It wouldn't surprise me if he was able to match the output of some of his colleagues who were in the office every day, whilst he was on the first two or three simultaneous jobs.

There was a story in the Civil Service that you were forbidden from looking out the window in the morning...


...so you would have something to do in the afternoon.

I feel like if he hadn't taken the piss and was a genuinely efficient worker he could have got away with it if he was sensible.

I actually don't think there's much wrong with working 2 or 3 jobs like that if you fulfill the role requirements and responsibilities.

If this is possible, then the role requirements and responsibilities are wrong.

[Gargamel]

We have 1 Mod CS for every 2.5 people in the Armed Forces.

Those include in the AF number also comprise administration, procurement, logistics, HR, Finance etc

Can you imagine any private enterprise with such staggering 'support' services.

[Roofless Toothless]

I wonder if he was paying into the Civil Service pension scheme on each of the jobs? I would imagine they might have picked it up.

[Randy Winkman]

Roofless Toothless said:

I wonder if he was paying into the Civil Service pension scheme on each of the jobs? I would imagine they might have picked it up.

That would seem totally logical.

However, problems with civil service pensions have been a whole issue of their own in the last few years with the service provider changing but issues continuing. I still get the wrong pension 18 months after retiring but am simply glad I get one.

[John D.]

M1AGM said:

rscott said:

jonsp said:

Pit Pony said:

Are they running different payroll databases in different departments.

Was he using different NI numbers ?

And different bank accounts?

You'd think a central payroll would flag they're paying 5 salaries into the same bank

Almost certainly separate payroll departments for each organisation.
Having centralised payroll teams for the civil service (plus local government and the NHS) would help catch these cases and reduce operating costs.

Its not a payroll issue, the guy was supposedly doing 5 jobs. Who was he reporting to, what were his roles and responsibilities, where is his output, who recruited him, who ran his appraisals, etc There must be other people involved either by design or by incompetence. Every one of them should be sacked, but nothing will happen.

We are constantly gaslit that efficiency savings in the CS are very difficult, this is another example of the sham lies the general public are fed about the reality of the CS.

But undoubtedly the CS just needs yet more money.

News article I read said he had three bank accounts.

[Megaflow]

Sadly nothing surprises me about this story, not the fact the government and civil service employeed the same person 5 times without noticing or that the guy managed to fuffill 5 different full time jobs at the same time.

[Hill92]

John D. said:

M1AGM said:

rscott said:

jonsp said:

Pit Pony said:

Are they running different payroll databases in different departments.

Was he using different NI numbers ?

And different bank accounts?

You'd think a central payroll would flag they're paying 5 salaries into the same bank

Almost certainly separate payroll departments for each organisation.
Having centralised payroll teams for the civil service (plus local government and the NHS) would help catch these cases and reduce operating costs.

Its not a payroll issue, the guy was supposedly doing 5 jobs. Who was he reporting to, what were his roles and responsibilities, where is his output, who recruited him, who ran his appraisals, etc There must be other people involved either by design or by incompetence. Every one of them should be sacked, but nothing will happen.

We are constantly gaslit that efficiency savings in the CS are very difficult, this is another example of the sham lies the general public are fed about the reality of the CS.

But undoubtedly the CS just needs yet more money.

News article I read said he had three bank accounts.

The separate payrolls issue is mitigated by the National Fraud Initiative, which is a big data matching exercise across the public sector.

But as noted, using separate bank accounts would help circumvent checks for duplicate bank details.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national...