This week CIPFA members from across the public sector gathered in London for their annual conference to discuss and debate the future of the public sector. This year the conference is focused on the risks the sector faces, our resilience to them and the reforms we need to undertake to effectively manage our organisations in the future.

However much of the future shape and resourcing of public services won’t be decided by those of us who work on the frontline but by politicians in Whitehall. While public service leaders are used to not being fully in control of the amount of resources we have at our disposal, we are also used to making sure that those resources we do control are put to the most effective use possible.
 
In this context and alongside the continued reduction of budgets we need to examine one of the risks that we have traditionally been able to exert influence over; how we protect resources from fraud and misuse at a local level. Because we have recently seen significant changes to the landscape of counter fraud that require a new more collaborative approach from us all.