Drop In Social Housing Fraud Detection

The Cabinet Office has admitted it is disappointed with the decreasing amount of fraud related to social housing that its pan-public sector National Fraud Initiative has identified over the past two years. Its just-published report on outcomes from the initiative’s data matching exercises noted a 37% drop in the number of council and housing association homes taken back from tenants who had no right to live in them, compared with the 2012-14 period. The NFI draws on a variety of work, benefits and credit data to identify potential wrong payments with the aim of chipping away at some of the £20bn-£49bn estimated to be lost to the public sector each year. The latest data indicate that in 2014-16 just £6m in social-housing fraud was spotted, compared to £27m during 2012-14. Read more on the Civil Service World website.