Protecting the public purse

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Audit Commission > National Fraud Initiative > Public sector > Housing associations

Housing associations

Our data screening in this area can help identify tenants that:

  • have no right to reside in the UK
  • are illegally subletting houses
  • are illegally claiming benefits
  • are abusing the ‘Right to buy’ scheme

By identifying this type of fraud, we ensure that social houses can be recovered by social landlords and given to individuals who truly need them. In the 2010/11 exercise, 235 properties were recovered as a result of our data matching. See the Housing case studies.

The National Fraud Authority estimates that housing tenancy fraud cost the public sector £900million in 2009/10. We can help you detect this type of fraud, so that you can act on it and prevent social housing from being misused.

Fees for the services offered by the National Fraud Initiative can be found below.

Housing associations 2012/13 (£)
fewer than 2,500 properties 1,250
2,500 – 9,999 properties 1,850
over 10,000 properties 2,650

Please note that the NFI is no longer deemed a vatable charge by HMRC (from July 2011) so VAT will not be levied.

Flexible and real time data matching

The Audit Commission’s National Fraud Initiative (NFI) already plays an important role in protecting the public purse against fraud. The NFI can now do even more through our new flexible data matching service aimed at preventing as well as detecting fraud. See our Flexible and real time matching web pages for further information.

Further information

If you’d like more information about any aspect of the National Fraud Initiative, please contact us.