Primary school worker embezzled £28,000 meant for children in need

A primary school worker who embezzled thousands of pounds earmarked to help pupils from impoverished backgrounds has been jailed for 16 months.

Jane Duncan, who was employed as an administrative officer at Mill O’Mains Primary in Dundee between 2016 and 2019, stole around £28,000 to fund her own lifestyle.

The 54-year-old, who had worked at the school for 16 years, was issued with a government procurement card which authorised her to make purchases solely for school purposes.

She instead used it to spend £14,145 on items including PlayStation games, supermarket goods, beauty products, shoes, home items and pet goods.

The money she stole had been set aside for school trips funded by parents and guardians.

Duncan oversaw the day-to-day running of the school office and had sole responsibility for banking incoming money received from various sources to help pay for trips.

Those unable to pay in full were assigned contributions from the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF), which is Scottish Government money earmarked to close the attainment gap for disadvantaged pupils.

Her offending came to light in 2019 when a Dundee City Council accountant initially identified that the school had no recorded finances relating to its breakfast club.

During a meeting with Duncan, it was discovered that no money had been deposited in the school safe since 2016 and that it should have contained money collected from primary seven children for a residential trip to Ardeonaig on Loch Tay.

The matter was reported to Dundee City Council’s corporate fraud department, which carried out an investigation into the school’s finances and contacted the police.

The investigation revealed that no cash had been banked for a 2018 trip to Dalguise Outdoor Centre in Perthshire.

Both trips were recorded in the ledger system as being covered entirely by PEF monies, meaning £13,939 taken from parents across the two trips was unaccounted for.

In total, it was estimated that Duncan had embezzled a total of £28,084 from the school funds.

She was sentenced at Dundee Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to a charge of embezzlement following a prosecution by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).

Helen Nisbet, procurator fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: “Jane Duncan used her position to help herself to cash paid by parents and then used public funds intended to support children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds to cover her tracks.

“She abused her position to use their money for her own benefit. Let the public be assured that we take such financial criminality extremely seriously.

“Those who commit this type of offending will be dealt with robustly by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.”