#24: Tackling Public Sector Fraud: Insights from the PSFA Annual Report 2023-24

24 Sept

2nd October 2025

With:

| Mark Cheeseman OBE (Public Sector Fraud Authority)

| Phillip Straley (FNA)

In Session #24, Mark Cheeseman OBE (CEO, PSFA) and Phillip Straley (President, FNA) discuss the high-stakes evolution of public sector defense. With fraud and error costing the UK taxpayer an estimated £55 billion to £81 billion annually, the PSFA’s mission is no longer just about "catching the thief"—it’s about designing fraud out of the system before a single pound is spent.

The discussion centers on the milestones of the 2023-24 Annual Report, where the PSFA exceeded its financial targets by delivering £373 million in audited benefits. Central to this success is the Single Network Analytics Platform (SNAP), an AI-powered "super-utility" that identifies shell companies and hidden relationships across government datasets. Combined with FNA’s Fraud Portal and its real-time "Money Trails" capability, this session reveals the technical blueprint for a global standard in anti-scam infrastructure.

The broadcast covered:

The Prevention-First Shift: How the PSFA is moving from "pay and chase" to embedding fraud risk assessments directly into the design of government programs.
SNAP 2.0: Exploring the next generation of the Single Network Analytics Platform, utilizing entity resolution and knowledge graphs to unmask sophisticated fraud networks.
The FNA Fraud Portal: How real-time fund tracing and automated money trail analysis enable authorities to freeze stolen funds before they cross international borders.
Enforcement & Accountability: Insights from the new Enforcement Unit pilot and the push for stronger legal powers to recover proceeds of crime.
The Talent Pipeline: The role of the Government Counter Fraud Profession in training the next generation of specialized investigators and data scientists.
Global Synergy: Lessons from the PSFA’s partnership with the Australian Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre on building a unified global defense.