Anglesey says No to National Fraud Initiative

During a not very good report on The Isle of Anglesey County Council, the Welsh Audit Office writes that

The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is a biennial computerised data matching exercise conducted across England and Wales. The Audit Commission is responsible for the exercise in England and the Auditor General is responsible for the exercise in Wales through his appointed auditors at local government bodies.

The exercise is designed to identify overpayments to suppliers and benefit claimants and to detect fraud perpetrated on public bodies. The referrals from the 2006-07 exercise were released in January 2007 to participating bodies including local councils. The matches have been investigated and resulted in the identification of £4.7 million of fraud and overpayment across Wales. In May 2008, the Auditor General published a national report on the overall findings of the 2006-07 exercise.

The Council reported no savings in respect of the NFI in 2006-07. This is mainly due to staff shortages which have hindered progress in investigating NFI data. The Council does not feel that the investment that would be required for additional staff would be offset by the gains from further investigation.

Data extractions for the 2008-09 exercise commenced in October 2008 and authorities should receive data matches in early 2009.

This seems extraordinary. Surely their share of £4.7m would have paid for at least one extra member of staff? As it is, Anglesey seem content to turn a blind eye to some aspects of fraud against taxpayers. The council's performance in processing housing benefit has also been criticised.

htp Dave