Prosecutors say one civil servant held five full-time public sector jobs at once
Kashim Chowdhury, on trial at Southwark Crown Court on nine fraud counts he denies, is accused of holding five full-time public sector jobs at once. The allegations are untested; if the prosecution's account holds, working from home let him keep each job secret from the other employers.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
Comparison: at one point Chowdhury was contracted to work 183 hours a week, the court heard. A week has 168 hours.
Hours a week: his contracts at one point, per the court, and a week In hours a week
| Item | Value | Claim |
|---|---|---|
| Contracted, at one point | 183 hours a week | 16 |
| Hours in a week | 168 hours a week | 21 |
What happened
- The roles were at Tower Hamlets Council, the Home Office, Defra, the UK Health Security Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care, between February 2020 and September 2023, the BBC reports.
- A UKHSA manager, Aleesha Adams, says that on a 2023 Teams call about his sick leave he wore make-up to look ill, and that it began to separate on his forehead.
- He told his employers he had to work from home to care for his unwell mother, the court was told.
- He joined Tower Hamlets as a public health programme manager in February 2020, and a full-time Defra post from April 2021 overlapped it for more than a year, Personnel Today reports.
Why it matters
- Who's exposed exposure Hiring teams that accept a candidate's own account of current employment are exposed to the route prosecutors describe: false statements about employment status at the application stage.
- What doesn't add up contradiction The BBC's figure of almost £350,000 a year is larger than Personnel Today's £284,613 for the whole period, so the two cannot measure the same thing and the size of the alleged gain is unsettled.
- What it limits constraint Any hiring or remote-work rule justified by this case would rest on untested allegations until the jury decides.
Next story · Leadership · Oct 5
Conservatives would scrap Natural England and the Environment Agency under Griffith's planConfirmed3 publishers
The prosecution's explanation is short. Lucy Organ, for the prosecution, told the court: "The defendant was able to do this because he worked from home, remotely." [9] Each employer saw only its own share of the evidence reported alongside it. Personnel Today reports that he often cited laptop problems or kept his camera off in meetings [18], and that managers called his performance "largely ineffective" and "exceptionally poor" [17]. The court heard he often used sick leave to hide his other employment from managers [10]. The BBC reports that he was signed off from some jobs with "mixed anxiety and a depressive disorder" but did not hand his sick note to all his employers [5].
In our view only the combined weekly total, not any single employer's signals, would show the full picture. Personnel Today reports that at one point he was contracted to work 183 hours a week [16]. A week has 168 hours [21], so the contracted total ran 15 hours past it [22]. If the 183 is a sum across contracts, as five full-time posts would suggest, only someone adding contracts from different employers could see it.
We think the weakness this case points to is a gap between employers, and the route to discovery fits that. According to the BBC, the alleged fraud came to light after the National Fraud Initiative alerted Defra [14].
A check on employment status at hiring adds a step to every hire. Relying on matching after the fact adds nothing at hiring and leaves discovery to a third party once pay has started. Personnel Today counts eight employers across the period [7]. The reports do not say what any of them checked before hiring him.
Whether the jury accepts the prosecution's account is open, and he pleaded not guilty to all nine counts [11]. The trial began on 13 October and is expected to last about three weeks [8]. That puts its end at about 3 November [20]. Personnel Today cites the case as an example of a worrying trend of "polygamous working" [19]; a single prosecution, contested in full, does not establish a trend. An employer that adds a hiring-stage check now pays for it on every hire before a verdict has said whether such a check would have mattered.
What to watch
- The jury's verdict on the nine counts, with the trial expected to run about three weeks from 13 October.
- Whether evidence in court shows what each employer checked at hiring, and how the BBC and Personnel Today pay figures reconcile.
- Whether any of the five public bodies named in court changes how it verifies employment status or approves remote working after the trial.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+20
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence62
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers- Builder
- Builder 12%
- Operator
- Operator 76%
- Investor
- Investor 12%
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
Kashim Chowdhury allegedly held multiple government jobs between February 2020 and September 2023.
- [2]
Over three years he held overlapping jobs at Tower Hamlets Council, the Home Office, Defra, the UK Health Security Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care.
- [3]
The jury was told that Chowdhury got jobs by making 'false representations' about his employment status whilst applying.
- [4]
Aleesha Adams, his manager at the Health Security Agency, organised a video call in 2023 to discuss his sick leave and claims he wore make-up to appear ill, which began to separate on his forehead.
- [5]
The court heard he was signed off from some jobs due to 'mixed anxiety and a depressive disorder', but did not hand his sick note to all his employers.
- [6]
The court was told Chowdhury told his employers he had to work from home to care for his unwell mother.
- [7]
Prosecutors said Chowdhury held a succession of overlapping jobs with eight employers between February 2020 and September 2023.
- [8]
The trial began on Tuesday 13 October and is anticipated to last around three weeks.
- [9]
Lucy Organ, for the prosecution, told the court: "The defendant was able to do this because he worked from home, remotely."
- [10]
The prosecution argued he often used sick leave to hide his other employment from managers, the court heard.
- [11]
Chowdhury was formally charged in early 2025, when he pleaded not guilty to all nine counts.
- [12]
He began working in the public sector in February 2020 as a public health programme manager at Tower Hamlets, and in April 2021 began a full-time job at Defra; the two jobs overlapped for more than a year.
- [13]
Organ told the court Chowdhury appears to have exploited the opportunity remote working gave him to secretly have numerous full-time jobs.
- [14]
Jurors heard that the alleged fraud came to light after the National Fraud Initiative alerted Defra to it.
- [15]
Chowdhury, 55, from east London, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of nine counts of fraud, which he denies, and denies acting dishonestly or intending to make a dishonest gain.
- [16]
At one point Chowdhury was contracted to work 183 hours a week.
- [17]
Managers described his performance as 'largely ineffective' and 'exceptionally poor' because he could not keep up with the demands placed on him.
- [18]
He often reported technical problems with his laptop or kept his camera off during meetings.
- [19]
Chowdhury's case has been cited as an example of a worrying trend of 'polygamous working', where employees exploit remote working to work for multiple employers at once.
- [20]
A trial that began on 13 October and lasts around three weeks would end at about 3 November.
- [21]
A week has 168 hours.
- [22]
The 183 contracted weekly hours exceed the 168 hours in a week by 15.
- [23]
A civil servant is accused of earning almost £350,000 a year by juggling five full-time public sector roles, using sick notes and working from home.
- [24]
The prosecution argued he used remote working to manage overlapping jobs, collecting £284,613 in pay during these periods.
- [25]
The BBC's annual figure of almost £350,000 is larger than Personnel Today's £284,613 total for the whole period.
Sources
3 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- bbc.co.ukCivil servant wore make up so he could juggle five jobs from home, court hears
2 articles · October 14, 2026
- hcamag.comWork from home in the spotlight as UK civil servant allegedly held five jobs at once
1 article · October 14, 2026
- personneltoday.comFormer civil servant ‘had five full-time jobs’ at same time
1 article · October 14, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- Remote and hybrid work
- Public sector fraud
- Employment fraud
Entities
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- UK Health Security Agency
- National Fraud Initiative