How a civil servant got away with juggling five jobs for so long
Source: BBC Politics ↗ (cross-verified by 2 outlets — full list below)
Kashim Chowdhury, a 56‑year‑old civil servant, was convicted at Southwark Crown Court of nine counts of fraud after siphoning more than £284,000 of taxpayers’ money by holding eight overlapping full‑time public‑sector jobs between 2020 and 2023. While on sick leave from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Chowdhury was simultaneously employed full‑time by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Department for Business and Trade, the Food Standards Agency and the Home Office, logging an impossible 183 hours a week. His deception was uncovered in 2024 by the National Fraud Initiative, which routinely scans civil‑service payroll databases for anomalies. During his trial, line manager Aleesha Adams testified that Chowdhury appeared ill on a video call but was actually wearing white make‑up to feign sickness, a claim he denied. The judge warned that Chowdhury faces a “very substantial custodial sentence” after the jury found him guilty.
The case highlights systemic failures within the UK civil service’s hiring and payroll systems that allowed Chowdhury’s fraud to go undetected for years. Because each department operates its own human‑resources platform, Chowdhury was never required to disclose his existing civil‑service employment on new application forms, preventing any cross‑checking of his multiple contracts. Hannah Keenan of the Institute for Government described the situation as a clear “system failure,” noting that departments make hiring decisions in isolation and that the culture has long permitted poor performers to “fly under the radar” by shuffling between jobs. Additionally, Chowdhury’s claims of caring for a mother with dementia and terminal cancer, coupled with repeated sick notes for “mixed anxiety and depressive disorder,” enabled him to justify an ever‑expanding workload without scrutiny, even as line managers repeatedly reported sub‑par performance.
The fallout from Chowdhury’s conviction raises broader questions about oversight and accountability across the civil service, which employs more than 550,000 staff in Whitehall and beyond. Prosecutors argued his conduct was “deliberate” and “intentional dishonesty,” while Chowdhury cited his 2015 PTSD diagnosis and past job insecurity as factors that drove him to take on multiple roles out of fear of losing his livelihood. The trial exposed how fragmented payroll data, lax inter‑departmental communication and reliance on self‑reported sick notes can be exploited, prompting calls for a centralized HR system and tighter controls to prevent similar fraud. As the government reviews its recruitment and monitoring practices, the case serves as a cautionary example of how vulnerable the public‑sector payroll infrastructure can be when individual departments operate in silos.
⚡ Effects Interpreter
🌍World Economymedium impact
What this means for you
- ▶Foreign investors often pause to reassess after political headlines like this.
- ▶International confidence can wobble, then steady, as politics plays out.
🏙️Local Economylow impact
What this means for you
- ▶Small firms on your street might pass costs on carefully, bit by bit.
- ▶Household budgets might notice a small ripple before long.
🏦Rates & Banksmedium impact
What this means for you
- ▶Borrowers are usually better served waiting out political noise than reacting to it.
- ▶The market for money usually twitches first when politics shifts.
❤️Healthmedium impact
What this means for you
- ▶Talking things through with family or friends can ease the load.
- ▶Local wellbeing services are there precisely for moments when news feels overwhelming.
💷Wealthmedium impact
What this means for you
- ▶A calm head usually serves savers better than a brief reaction.
- ▶Portfolios built for the long haul rarely need a rethink over one headline.
🏠Housinglow impact
What this means for you
- ▶First-time buyers watching the market closely may see little change in the short term.
- ▶Mortgage shoppers might find deals shift only slightly in the short term.
📊 Country financial snapshot
United Kingdom
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook; each figure shows its year, and current-year values are IMF estimates. Policy rates and sovereign credit ratings are from the News Effects country dataset and show their own as-of date. Not investment advice.
🌍 Effects for your country
The U.S.'s central bank rate currently stands at 3.75%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The U.S.'s economy is growing at 2.3% with inflation at 3.6%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the U.S.'s own central bank rate closely. With the U.S.'s unemployment at 4.2%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the U.S. depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
The UK's central bank rate currently stands at 3.75%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The UK's economy is growing at 1.3% with inflation at 3.3%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the UK's own central bank rate closely. With the UK's unemployment at 5.3%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the UK depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
France's central bank rate currently stands at 2%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. France's economy is growing at 0.4% with inflation at 2.4%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track France's own central bank rate closely. With France's unemployment at 8.4%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is already under strain. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in France depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
Romania's central bank rate currently stands at 6.5%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. Romania's economy is growing at -0.5% with inflation at 8.2%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track Romania's own central bank rate closely. With Romania's unemployment at 6.5%, personal-finance effects like this land on a labour market that is currently fairly stable. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in Romania depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.
The UAE's central bank rate currently stands at 3.65%, so a global rates move like this could feed through to local borrowing costs. The UAE's economy is growing at -3.9% with inflation at 4.5%, the backdrop this story's effects play out against locally. Housing-market effects like this are usually felt most where mortgage rates track the UAE's own central bank rate closely. Health-system effects are harder to localise from economic indicators alone — the real impact in the UAE depends more on local healthcare capacity than the figures above.