Social worker who had three full-time jobs ordered to repay county

An agency worker who was employed full-time by three local authorities simultaneously has been ordered to forgo future earnings to pay her former employer back.

The 42-year-old Beatrice Eduah, of Jaric Lane in Brampton, pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position between June and November 2023 because she mislead Suffolk CC and two other local authorities by taking on three full-time posts as a social worker. She was sentenced at Cambridgeshire Crown Court yesterday.

The recruitment agency which placed Eduah in these posts, flagged to Suffolk and Peterborough City Council in November 2023 how they received timesheets for both authorities for the same hours.

This prompted an investigation by Suffolk’s counter fraud service, which revealed how for a period of three weeks she had logged the same working hours for three different authorities. Employers were not made aware of her other roles.

It was found that Eduah lied on her CV about her employment and as part of this deception lied to her line manager about needing unpaid time off from her Suffolk role on five separate occasions while she instead worked full-time elsewhere. One of these instances included the fabrication of a family member’s death abroad.

The judge Philip Grey deferred her sentence until 13 February 2026 but ordered Eduah to acquire paid work until then, setting aside any salary into a separate bank account with funds to repay Suffolk CC £17,668.53.

If she is unable to obtain work, she must provide evidence of every role she applied to and the rejection letters, with the judge warning this must not be produced by AI and independent checks would be made to verify them.

Suffolk cabinet member for adult care, Beccy Hopfensperger (Con) thanked Suffolk’s counter fraud services and legal team for “pushing this investigation and to the other local authorities who worked with us to get this result”.

She said: “Social workers are key to the successful delivery of adult social care services across our county, we trust them with the care and support of our loved ones, including some of the most vulnerable in our society.

“When that trust is broken, when they behave dishonestly and counter to the ethical standards we rightly expect and demand, it is right they are properly punished by the courts.”

Editorial credit: Joe McNeela / Shutterstock.com