The Education and Skills Funding Agency has confirmed that £5.6 million was lost to fraud, theft and financial irregularities in the last financial year.
The majority of this amount relates to two cases that are not yet in the public domain.
The ESFA’s annual report reveals that the loss to the agency of confirmed cases of fraud, irregularity and theft in 2019-20 was £5,645,506.
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It also says that £8,119 has been recovered in the last financial year.
The report says that the ESFA, an agency within the Department for Education, was investigating 19 cases of potential fraud or irregularity at academy trusts and another 63 live cases relating to colleges and independent training providers.
