Audit Commission freezes fraud charges
04 Dec 2009, our parliamentary correspondent, AccountancyAge
http://www.accountancyage.com/aa/news/1766147/audit-commission-freezes-fraud-charges
The Audit Commission has announced it is freezing charges to public bodies for checking claims and payments data to prevent fraud.
The commission's national fraud initiative matches information from housing benefit claims, pensions and social housing records and other data supplied by local authorities, the NHS, the police, probation boards and fire and rescue authorities across England.
It saved £133m last year [2007-98] and more than £500m overall since it began in 1996..
The programme detects over-payment of housing benefit, cuts incorrectly awarded council tax discounts and cancels blue badges and travel passes still claimed after the death of their holder. The commissions charges public bodies idrectly for the service.
Chief executive Steve Bundred said:"In recognition of the financial pressures that public bodies are facing in the current economic climate, we are proposing that the scale of fees remains unchanged for 2010/11."
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Visitor comments
Audit Commission lies
The Audit Commission does not and cannot detect incorrectly awarded council tax discounts. It knows this, yet keeps pretending that it can.
Posted by: Karen Heath , 04 Dec 2009 | 00:00
Audit Commission Doesn't Lie
Karen, the NFI is a data matching exercise that allows the AC to identify data matches and anomolies that may indicate fraud or inconsistent data. This is done across a number of areas including Council Tax discounts (especially student and single person). This information is then passed to the relevent local authority for their investigation.
Posted by: Ex-AC Employee , 05 Dec 2009 | 00:00