What we do
Fraud Watch UK is an independent, open-source project that analyses publicly available UK government data to identify statistical patterns in public spending that may warrant further investigation.
We cross-reference five official data sources to surface connections between government contracts, political donations, company directors, and charity trustees that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Methodology
Our analysis pipeline:
- Automated ingestion of data from Contracts Finder, Find a Tender, Companies House, the Charity Commission, and the Electoral Commission.
- Cross-entity matching using normalised name comparison and company number linking across all five datasets.
- Statistical pattern detection identifying direct awards, value outliers, timing anomalies (e.g. contracts awarded shortly after donations), and network clusters (shared directors, addresses, or governance roles).
- AI-assisted analysis to evaluate patterns, with every finding reviewed by a human before publication.
- Right-of-reply offered to every named party before and after publication.
What we are NOT
- We are not making accusations of wrongdoing.
- We are not a law enforcement body or regulatory authority.
- We are not publishing personal data beyond what is already in official public registers.
Every finding on this site represents a statistical pattern that we believe warrants further scrutiny. Many legitimate explanations may exist for any pattern we identify.
Data sources
All data is sourced from official UK public registers under the Open Government Licence v3.0:
- Contracts Finder — UK government procurement notices
- Find a Tender — High-value UK procurement (replaced OJEU post-Brexit)
- Companies House — Company registration, directors, and persons of significant control
- Charity Commission — Charity registration, trustees, and financials
- Electoral Commission — Political donations and loans
Legal framework
This project operates within UK law. We:
- Only process data already published in official public registers
- Identify statistical patterns, not guilt or illegality
- Offer right-of-reply to all named parties
- Include a legal disclaimer on every page and finding
- Do not publish findings without human review and verification
Users of our data should ensure their use complies with UK GDPR, defamation law, and all other applicable legislation.
Open source
The analysis system behind this site is open-source. The code, methodology, and data pipeline are fully transparent and auditable. No opaque algorithms, no black-box scoring.
Contact
For right-of-reply requests, corrections, press enquiries, or any other questions: admin@fraud-watch.co.uk