Flintshire County Council has a legal duty to protect the public funds it administers. We are committed to fighting fraud and corruption in order for public money to be spent on providing vital services to the local community. We have a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and reports of fraud are taken seriously.

You can help the Council to fight fraud by reporting any concerns that you have utilising the online form.

Flintshire County Council will use the information you give in this form, and any supporting evidence you provide to investigate any instances or allegations of potential fraud and deal with it effectively. This is required under Section 5 of the Accounts and Audit (Wales)(Amendment) Regulations 2018 as well as Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972.

While we will treat all such concerns in complete confidence, we may share the information that you provide (rather than your identifying details) with the relevant service area or the Internal Audit team for further investigation.

However, depending on the nature of the allegation/incident being reported there may also be circumstances where your personal details may have to be shared outside of the Council with an external statutory agency such as the Police, Department for Work and Pensions, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, etc. This will be done in confidence so as to protect your personal information. However, it is possible that any of these agencies may contact you to seek further clarification or evidence.

We will retain your personal information in line with our retention policy. Audit records will be retained for seven years and investigation records for 15 years. If a fraud has not been proven these records will be retained for seven years. Where information has been passed to a service area or external agency (as described above) their own retention timescales will apply.

For reasons of confidentiality, you will not be updated on the progress or outcome of any investigation, although we may contact you for clarification or to obtain further evidence.

If you consider that Flintshire County Council has mishandled your personal data at any time you can make a complaint to the Council’s Data Protection Officer at dataprotectionofficer@flintshire.gov.uk.

You are also able to make a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office if you consider that the Council has not handled your personal data properly by visiting their website (www.ico.org.uk) or by calling their helpline on 0303 123 1113.

For further information about how Flintshire County Council processes personal data and your rights, please see our privacy notice on our website – http://www.flintshire.gov.uk/en/Resident/Contact-Us/Privacy-Notice.aspx