National Fraud Initiative extended to detect social housing fraud

Thousands of cheats who are keeping homeless and needy families out of scarce social housing will be targeted in a new Audit Commission initiative.

The public spending watchdog is today extending the reach of its National Fraud Initiative (NFI) to help detect fraudsters who illegally occupy or sublet multiple council and housing association flats and homes.

The move extends the Commission's National Fraud Initiative. This is the programme that since 1996 has been matching data held by councils, fire and police authorities and the Government to prevent and detect fraud. To date an estimated £500 million of fraud and overpayments have been identified by the initiative. Data matching is strictly controlled to ensure compliance with data protection and human rights legislation. The NFI has attracted international praise and attention.

The Commission is pleased that the Government has today announced that it is encouraging housing associations (Registered Social Landlords) to share the benefits of the NFI. One association's records will be cross-checked with data from another as well as local authority lists, to expose potential tenancy fraud.

The aim is to identify tenants who are housed in social dwellings, but who fail entitlement rules because they have tenancies elsewhere.

Steve Bundred, Chief Executive of the Audit Commission said:

'For every illegal tenancy there is a homeless tenant or family who stands to lose out. This is because housing that should have been theirs is occupied illegally by some one else holding two or more tenancies. It also represents a waste of taxpayers' money.

'We are delighted to be working with government and local authorities on this initiative to root out the fraudsters who exploit the social housing system for personal gain. 'Extending our National Fraud initiative will help to prevent this type of fraud occurring in the future.

John Healey, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, said:

'There is no place for those who want to profit from their tenancies. Tenancy cheats deny homes to thousands of people who really need them.

'That's why I am announcing a coordinated national crackdown on cheats this autumn. There will be a nationwide data sweep to identify possible fraudsters and new practical advice on how best to combat them.

'Central and local government will be working together with Housing Associations to beat the cheats so these homes go to those who really need them.'

ENDS

Notes to editors

• Case Studies: NFI 2006/07 Case Study: The investigation of housing rents matches by Southwark Council, London, identified:
  
  • a tenant who was matched to an address within the Croydon area. The documentation provided confirmed that the tenant was the owner/occupier of the Croydon property. After further investigations the individual relinquished the tenancy and Southwark gained vacant possession of the property; and
  • a tenant who had made a homeless application and was given a tenancy had bought a property in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Further investigations revealed that the person had also obtained another property from Southwark, using a different name, and was actually sub-letting both the Southwark properties. Both tenancies were terminated.
• The processing 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.
• The NFI process uses a secure website through which data is received and the processed results are released. This website uses an encrypted connection between the users browser and our servers. The encryption used is standard 128-bit SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). This is the standard encryption available on the internet and is used for all secure sites including banking and online shopping. In addition the security controls over the physical security and access to the data are also detailed in the NFI Code of Data Matching Practice. This Code ensures appropriate safeguards are built into NFI to ensure that it is conducted in a manner which meets with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998, Human Rights Act 1998 and the general law. The Code has been agreed with the Information Commissioner and was laid before Parliament in 2008.

The Audit Commission is an independent watchdog, driving economy, efficiency and effectiveness in local public services to deliver better outcomes for everyone.

Our work across local government, health, housing, community safety and fire and rescue services means that we have a unique perspective. We promote value for money for taxpayers, auditing the £200 billion spent by 11,000 local public bodies.

As a force for improvement, we work in partnership to assess local public services and make practical recommendations for promoting a better quality of life for local people.

Further details about the role of the Audit Commission can be obtained from www.audit-commission.gov.uk.

For further information please contact:
Jemima Broadbridge
Media Relations Manager, Audit Commission Millbank Tower, London SW1P 4HQ
Direct line 0844 798 2264 / 0207 166 2264
24hr Press line 0844 798 2128
E-mail j-broadbridge@audit-commission.gov.uk