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http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/pres ... nfipr.aspxNational fraud-busting initiative on course to exceed £1 billion payback to the public purseReleased 16 May 2012
The National Fraud Initiative (NFI), a sophisticated data matching system, has already helped to identify £939 million worth of fraud, overpayment or error across UK public bodies since it began 16 years ago.
The Audit Commission is today publishing the results of continuing success in the fight against fraud in the NFI National Report.
The NFI has grown into a partnership of 1,300 participating organisations from across the public and private sectors, including the Audit Commission's sister audit agencies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Chairman of the Audit Commission, Michael O'Higgins, says:
'This process delivers impressive results year after year, and is well on its way to returning a landmark £1 billion to the public purse, money that would otherwise have been lost to fraud, over-payment or human error.'
NFI data matching is carried out continuously, and the Audit Commission reports results every two years. Since the last report in May 2010 the scheme has identified almost £229 million of fraud, overpayments and errors in England, and £47 million worth in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - a national total of £275 million.*
The highest value categories identified in England continue to be Pensions (£98 million), Council tax single person discount (£50 million) and Housing benefit (£31 million). Among other headline figures, the latest report shows:
* 164 employees were identified as having no right to work in the UK;
* 321 false applications were removed from housing waiting lists following a pilot with London borough councils;
* 731 people were prosecuted, 636 of them for housing benefit fraud;
* 31,937 blue badges and 51,548 concessionary travel passes were cancelled.
An increasingly wide range of frauds are signposted by NFI data matching, and then investigated by the participating bodies. This year's report gives details of:
* Immigration fraud work with the UK Border Agency to detect refused and expired visas;
* 398 prevented or detected cases of council payments made to private residential care homes after the residents' deaths, worth £3 million;
* Social landlords recovering 235 properties since 2010 that were unlawfully occupied, and reallocating them to genuine tenants who would otherwise be placed in expensive temporary accommodation;
* NFI working with the Serious Organised Crime Agency to identify 'virtual addresses' used as a front for unlawful activity or scams.
* NFI working with the Metropolitan Police to spot large scale identity theft. A pilot using the Amberhill police database of known fraudsters generated over 200 matches.
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