National Fraud Initiative
The Audit Commission has asked housing associations including SBHA to provide them with information of the main tenant/s currently residing at all of our general rented properties. This is part of the (NFI) exercise aimed at addressing the issue of subletting within the social housing sector.
SBHA 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, in order to prevent and detect fraud. The Audit Commission appoints the auditor to audit the accounts and the activities of SBHA. The Audit Commission is also 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 may indicate that there is 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.
The Audit Commission currently requires us to participate in a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We are required to provide particular sets of data to the Audit Commission for matching for each exercise, and these are set out in the Audit Commission’s guidance, which can be found at the audit commission’s website here
The use 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. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998. Data matching by the Audit Commission is subject to a Code of Practice. This information can be found here.
For further information on the Audit Commission’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information, see the audit commission’s website here.
The person responsible for data matching at SBHA is Thomas McAuliffe, Head of Income, Quality and Acquisitions. His email address is thomas.mcauliffe@sbhg.co.uk. For further information on any aspect of this project read our Frequently Asked Questions here. Alternatively please call your neighbourhood officer or your income officer. We have written to all affected tenants in a letter which arrived with October 2009 rent statements.
Alternatively you can call our free phone customer services number on 0800 917 0839. Calling 0800 from a mobile phone can be expensive so please call 020 8996 4200. |