National Fraud Initiative

Statutory requirement

We take part in the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) which is a 'data matching' scheme run by the Government's Cabinet Office. We have a statutory requirement to take part in this campaign, which involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body. All of the bodies involved are responsible for auditing or administering public funds. The purpose of the exercise is to prevent and detect fraud by identifying potentially fraudulent claims and payments and protect public funds by identifying errors, such as duplicate payments. When we identify a match, we further investigate the records involved. Until we investigate the match, there is no assumption regarding fraud, error, or another explanation.

The National Fraud Initiative: Local Government on GOV.UK provides further information and details of the types of data required for matching by Local Government bodies.

Go to the Code of Data Matching Practice for the National Fraud Initiative on GOV.UK for further details on how and why this data is processed and matched.

See the National Fraud Initiative Privacy Notice on GOV.UK for information on how personal data is used and your rights in respect of the data collected.

Last updated: Monday, 19 June, 2023.