As part of our work to prevent and detect fraud, and prosecute offenders, we take part in the Audit Commission's National Fraud Initiative (NFI). This is a data matching exercise organised and managed by the Audit Commission every two years. Every council in England takes part, providing databases of users of its various services. The Audit Commission matches the databases together looking for suspicious matches. We then investigate the matches that the Audit Commission sends us.

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.

Normally every individual whose data is included is informed about NFI, in accordance with our data protection policy and the Audit Commission's code of practice. We submit our data using a special secure website, so nothing can get lost in the post. The Audit Commission ensures personal data is kept safely during the exercise, and is destroyed afterwards. Data Matching by the Audit Commission is subject to the Code of Data Matching Practice.

Following the last complete exercise we investigated 600 suspicious matches, and identified fraud of a value of over £42,000.

The Audit Commission currently requires us to participate in this data matching exercise.  We provide the following sets of data:

• Council House tenants
• Housing Benefits claimants
• Council Tax payers
• Employees
• Voters (the full electoral roll)
• Taxi licences
• Students grants
• Single Person Discount Holders
• Private Care Home Residents
• Residents Parking Holders
• Blue Badge Holders
• Bus Pass Holders
• Insurance Claimants
• Market Traders
• Personal Alcohol Licences

For further information of the Audit Commission's legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information, view the Fair Processing Notice on the Audit Commission's website.

You may also contact the Audit and Fraud manager if you have any questions about the our participation in NFI.