National Fraud Initiative
08 October 2009"Johnnie" Johnson helps the Audit Commission identify potential fraud
Earlier this year the Government asked all Housing Associations to take part in their National Fraud Initiative (NFI). The NFI project was set up a number of years ago to tackle fraudulent activity in public spending. Last year it helped to save the Government over £100 million.
In order to take part in the initiative this year we have been asked to provide details of our tenants so that they can be compared to information provided by other public bodies. This will ensure, for example, that housing properties are not being sublet illegally or that housing and other benefits are not duplicated or paid in error.
Ordinarily, under the Data Protection Act, we would need to get our tenants permission before sharing this data. However, as the information is provided to assist in the detection and prevention of fraud it is exempted from this requirement.
This also means that tenants are not able to exempt themselves from the submission.
If you have any questions that this article has not answered, then visit http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nfi/fptext.asp for further information on both the National Fraud Initiative and the Audit Commission’s authority and activities.
The use of data by the Audit Commission in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under its powers in Part 2A of the Audit Commission Act 1998. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998.
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