The National Fraud Initiative (NFI), the UK-wide anti-fraud programme, helped trace £215 million in fraud, error and overpayments in 2008/09. Since the initiative’s start in 1996, the programme has helped detect £664 million.
You can download the report at the Audit Commission website. Visit –
http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nfi/reports/Pages/default.aspx
The NFI is a data matching exercise. It compares information held by and between around 1,300 organisations including councils, the police, hospitals and nearly 100 private companies. This helps to identify potentially fraudulent claims, errors and overpayments, all hosted on a secure website. When there is a match, there may be something that warrants investigation. For example, when data matching shows a person listed as dead and also in receipt of a pension, the relevant body will investigate and, if appropriate, stop pension payments.
