NFI instructions

National Fraud Initiative instructions 2012/13

The following series of pages contain instructions for bodies participating in the NFI. Directors of Finance, Chief Executives, NFI Senior Responsible Officers and NFI key contacts will be alerted to changes to these instructions by email.

These instructions help participating bodies to plan for the NFI exercise. They set out the NFI’s aims, the data protection requirements including fair processing notices, the key actions for participating bodies and the data that needs to be submitted. A pdf version of the instructions will be available on request. Please email nfiqueries@audit-commission.gsi.gov.uk.

Instructions for bodies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales may be found on the Northern Ireland Audit Office (external link), Audit Scotland (external link) and Wales Audit Office (external link) websites.

Introduction

Since 1996 the Audit Commission has run the National Fraud Initiative (NFI), a sophisticated data matching exercise which matches electronic data within and between participating bodies to prevent and detect fraud.

The Commission’s report on NFI 2010/11 was published on 16 May 2012. This report highlights the fraud, overpayments and errors arising from this latest exercise and cases from earlier exercises not previously reported.

Data matching exercises are carried out under statutory powers in Part IIA of the Audit Commission Act 1998 which contains important safeguards on the use and disclosure of data, including the requirement for a statutory ‘Code of Data Matching Practice.’ These powers also enable the benefits of NFI to be extended to central government and the private sector.

Distribution of matches

Once the data-matching process for each exercise is completed, the output will be made available to the relevant participating body for consideration and investigation via the secure NFI software. Responsibility for investigating any matches will rest with participating bodies.

It is essential that the guidance provided with the data matching output is considered as it will assist with prioritisation of the reports and the matches within them. It is vital to note that the matches are not necessarily fraudulent but that they are worthy of further investigation.

External auditors

External auditors (where applicable) will continue to be involved in the NFI. They will use the output from the exercise to help them assess the arrangements that audited bodies have in place to prevent and detect fraud in accordance with the Code of Audit Practice.