A council employee in one of London's most affluent boroughs has been caught misusing public money for a personal supermarket spending spree exceeding £3,000.
The scandal at Kensington and Chelsea Council was uncovered through a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The Unauthorised Supermarket Splurge
The unnamed council worker made £2,840 worth of purchases on supermarket vouchers between April 2024 and February 2025, according to official documents.
An additional £186 was spent in suspicious transactions across three major supermarket chains: Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose.
Council anti-fraud investigators identified 46 separate shopping voucher transactions, with individual purchases ranging from £20 to £150 in value.
The smaller suspicious purchases varied even more dramatically, from as little as £1.25 up to £32.35, though the specific items bought were not disclosed in the report.
How The Fraud Was Discovered
The council's suspicions were first raised during a routine review of purchase card activity, which revealed that transactions were occurring near the employee's home address rather than in locations related to council business.
Human Resources staff subsequently flagged concerns about the employee's use of their authority-issued purchase card, highlighting 18 suspicious transactions over the ten-month period.
A September anti-fraud report confirmed that the spending was unauthorised and indicated personal misuse of council funds.
This wasn't the employee's first brush with financial misconduct allegations. The individual had previously been warned for misusing council-funded taxi services.
Investigation Cut Short By Resignation
Before the council could conduct a formal interview about the supermarket spending, the employee resigned, effectively ending the investigation.
The council had planned to approach the matter informally initially due to health concerns the employee had raised.
In addition to the purchase card misuse, the worker was also accused of excessive travel expenses, though these allegations couldn't be fully investigated following their departure.
Second Job Scandal In Same Report
The same September anti-fraud report revealed another case of misconduct within the council's workforce.
Another employee was discovered to be holding a full-time position with a Surrey borough council simultaneously with their employment at Kensington and Chelsea.
Unlike the supermarket spree case, this employee faced a disciplinary hearing after refusing to participate in interview attempts. The council found the individual had breached conduct policies and subsequently terminated their employment.
Council's Response To The Scandals
A Kensington and Chelsea Council spokesperson stated: "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."
Regarding the supermarket spending case, they added: "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 council declined to disclose how it initially became aware of the transactions, stating that revealing this information could prejudice the prevention and detection of crime.
It also remains unclear what role the employee held within the council or the exact locations where the supermarket transactions took place, as this information was not shared in the FOI response.
