National Fraud Initiative to transfer to Cabinet Office in 2015

The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is to become part of the Cabinet Office when the Audit Commission closes in 2015, it has been announced.

The Audit Commission claimed that the NFI, which matches data from 1,300 public sector organisations and 77 private sector bodies, had saved more than £1bn since its inception in 1996.

This was through “the prevention and detection of 15,000 cases of pension overpayments worth £450m, almost 100,000 cases of council tax single person discounts incorrectly awarded worth £160m and over £250m of housing benefit overpayments”.

Its most recent exercise led to more than 1,000 prosecutions, the vast majority of which related to housing benefit fraud. It also saw the removal of more than 300 false applications from housing waiting lists.

The NFI will form part of the Efficiency and Reform Group at the Cabinet Office when it transfers across.

Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister, said: “Bringing the National Fraud Initiative into the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group will complement the work of our Fraud Error and Debt team which has already helped save £3.6bn in 2011 to 2012.”

Audit Commission chairman Jeremy Newman said: “The Commission is proud of the contribution that the NFI, and the close-knit team running it, make towards saving money otherwise lost to fraud, error or overpayment – amounting to over £1bn since it was established in 1996.

“We are greatly reassured the team will continue working to help organisations identify lost revenue that, in this time of savings and efficiencies, can make a significant difference to the delivery of public services or in the support of companies in the private sector.”