'I was pursued for fraud for having two council jobs at once'

Paul had been working two full-time jobs at two local councils for 18 months when he noticed somebody had begun to track his cursor movements as he worked from home.

Shortly afterwards, he was called into the office by his boss and his contract was abruptly terminated.

Paul, not his real name, was doing what the government calls "polygamous working" - having multiple different jobs in secret.

He contacted the BBC to tell his story after a report on efforts being made by the public sector to crack down on staff who practise polygamous working.

"I was interviewed [by the council]... on the basis that I'd defrauded them and misrepresented myself.

"And for reasons they haven't fully explained, they didn't pursue it."

Public sector polygamous working has seemingly become more prevalent with the growth in remote working, but it can potentially be unlawful in the private sector too depending on your employment contract.

The Cabinet Office told BBC London that since 2016 its national anti-fraud initiative had caught out 301 employees in the public sector and recovered £1.35m in salary payments. In a recent case, a council worker was convicted of fraud for having two full-time jobs at two London councils.

Paul, who was already a council employee, said he had already been doing private work on the side outside of his contracted working hours when a job with a second council came up.

"Another role came along and I thought, if I can do the job for both of them and I can live with myself in terms of the quality and quantity of the work I'm doing, I was quite comfortable doing it."

He said: "I think technology is the main reason it's possible.

"I don't have to be in the office, in one central place of work - I can see lots of things digitally. But it requires hard work and sacrifice."

Paul said he did not know how his employers found out, but he believes a colleague may have mentioned he had two jobs.

"My contracts were terminated and I paid the price," Paul told BBC London.

"But I didn't feel any moral quandary in terms of duping somebody. I was working really hard to do the work. Maybe it sounds arrogant to say it but my employers were pleased with what I was doing and didn't seem to notice that I was managing those two things at the same time."

Public sector jobs are funded by taxpayer money to provide a wide range of local and national services - such as social workers whose responsibilities can include protecting vulnerable children at risk of harm or civil servants working for large government departments.

As the government puts it: "Millions of people work hard, pay their taxes, and contribute to their communities. The government owes it to them to ensure decency and respect, and to hold every single person who cheats the system to account."

But according to Paul, it's not that simple. "I think it's only a waste of taxpayers' money if people aren't doing the work. If they're doing the work, then it's not. If they aren't, then it is. But I was doing the work well and productively.

"If it were me I'd be focusing on different things - the culture of productivity and hard work and getting things done.

"But I think public perception is more important than what gets done.

"I think there are lots of good people who work for these organisations but - and this is not to sound as if I'm something special - but I think there is a low expectation in terms of quality of the work that you produce... and the quantity.

"When people don't perform there is no real accountability. Day to day it's quite easy to coast along."

HMRC can pick up multiple incomes but it focuses on tax compliance and does not have the full picture.

To address this issue, the government's National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is taking data from several different bodies matching payroll, pension and benefits data to spot inconsistencies.

Cabinet Office minister Satvir Kaur said: "We owe it to every hardworking taxpayer to ensure that no-one profits from fraud at their expense.

"By using better data and hiring more expert investigators, we are cracking down on 'polygamous' workers faster than ever before.

"We are relentless in maximising value for money and delivering great public services for the British people."

A spokesperson for the Local Government Association said over a million staff working in local government in England delivered "essential public services to their communities, day and night.

"This volume of staff by necessity covers a wide range of working patterns, reflecting the nature of those services and it is a matter for individual councils how they manage this.

"Councils are subject to national employment laws, as well as their own performance management processes and procedures, including rules and policies on multiple employment.

"This ensures a balance between provision of services, effective management of staff and employee wellbeing."

As for Paul, he's adamant that he didn't do anything morally wrong - although his employers might beg to differ.

But with modern technology and ramped-up efforts to tackle the practice, there's every chance that more polygamous workers like him will be found out.

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