Fraud Prevention

Rushcliffe Borough Council is required by law to protect the public funds it administers.

It may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, or where undertaking a public function, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

The Cabinet Office is responsible for carrying out data matching exercises.

Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to see how far they match. This is usually personal information. Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found, it indicates that there may be an inconsistency that requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other explanation until an investigation is carried out.

Rushcliffe Borough Council participate in the Cabinet Office’s National Fraud Initiative: a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We are required to provide particular sets of data to the Cabinet Office for matching for each exercise, and these are set out in the guidance to the National Fraud Initiative.

The use of data by the Cabinet Office in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under its powers in Part 6 of the Local Authority and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection legislation or the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice.

Read further information on the Cabinet Office’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information on the Government website.

Documents to download

• Anti Fraud Corruption Policy 2020 Final