^aICJS, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

Correspondence: Geoffrey Smith, ICJS, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 2HY, UK. E-mail: Geoff.Smith@port.ac.uk

Abstract

The paper examines the utility of using risk management approaches to countering fraud in the public sector. This will be done by examining how one major public sector organization, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), has sought to organize its response to fraud committed against it. It will be posited that while they can claim some success in this approach, the nature of fraud will make any firm conclusions a matter of continuing debate. A fact implicitly acknowledged by the DWP itself, with its recent emphasis on Customer Compliance as a method of reducing fraud, rather then relying solely on the post-1998 strategy. Also, that concentration on one part of the strategy had implications for others.