Another Kensington and Chelsea Council employee was found to be working a full-time job at a Surrey council at the same time
A council employee who misused their purchase card spent over £3,000 in three supermarkets including Sainsbury’s before being caught, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
The Kensington and Chelsea Council employee, who hasn’t been named, spent £2,840 on supermarket vouchers and £186 in “suspicious” purchases at various stores between April 2024 and February 2025, an FOI filed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service shows.
The employee was also accused of “excessive travel expenses” but quit before these could be fully investigated. According to the council, it became suspicious of the employee after a review of their purchase card found the transactions took place near their home address.
It is not clear what role the employee had in the council or where exactly these transactions took place as this was not shared by the council. The authority also said it would not disclose how it became aware of the transactions as it could prejudice the prevention and detection of crime.
Data shows the employee made repeated purchases of Sainsbury’s shopping vouchers between £20 and £150 in value. There were 46 shopping voucher transactions recorded in total by the council.
A September anti-fraud report by the council found Human Resources raised concerns about the employee’s use of their authority-issued purchase card, highlighting 18 “suspicious transactions” between April 2024 and February 2025.
They varied in value from £1.25 to £32.35 and took place in Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose. It is not clear what was purchased.
The council report also found the employee purchased supermarket vouchers, suggesting personal misuse. A review confirmed unauthorised spending. The employee had previously been warned for misusing council-funded taxi services.
Although a formal interview was planned, health concerns led to an informal approach by the council. The employee resigned before the misuse could be addressed, according to the council.
A council spokesperson said: “As guardians of public money, we take fraud extremely seriously. We have safeguards in place to ensure we prevent this kind of behaviour and tackle it when it does occur.
“In this case we investigated and the staff member resigned before the investigation completed. We have increased regular checks on spending and we continue to monitor for anomalies that might suggest fraudulent activity so we can investigate promptly.”
The same September report suspected an employee of holding two jobs at the same time. An enquiry with a borough council in Surrey found the officer was working for them as a full-time employee during the same period as their employment with Kensington and Chelsea Council.
Several attempts were made to interview the employee but they did not participate. The council then launched a disciplinary hearing and found the individual, who has not been named, breached conduct policies and subsequently ended their employment.
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