National fraud initiative

As part of its responsibility to safeguard public money, every two years Riverside participates in the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) data matching exercise carried out by the Cabinet Office. Along with other housing associations, our participation in the NFI will assist in the prevention and detection of fraud against Riverside and other organisations within the public sector.

Riverside will provide the cabinet office with particular sets of tenants data for matching as detailed here.

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 data but Riverside will not be submitting any sensitive data such as ethnicity.

One of the main benefits of this exercise is that it helps Riverside identify and recover properties which are being illegally sub-let and make them available again to people who need them most. The exercise will also help identify fraudulent Right to Buy applications. Riverside will not make any assumptions about whether a match means there is fraud, error or other explanation until an investigation is carried out.

The use of data by the Cabinet Office in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Legislation. Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice. In particular this sets out how the data is protected. The data is transferred directly from Riverside to the Cabinet Office’s secure website. The technology used on this site has passed several security reviews.

Information on the Cabinet Office’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information can be found here.

For further information please email [email protected]