How to report fraud

Waltham Forest Council is required by law to protect the public funds it distributes. We may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, law enforcement agencies, or undertake local anti-fraud initiatives, in order to prevent and detect fraud or money laundering. The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with fraud prevention agencies who will use it to prevent fraud and money laundering and to verify your identity. If fraud is detected, you could be refused certain services, finance, or employment. Further details of how your information will be used by us and these fraud prevention agencies, and your data protection rights, can be found on the Cifas website.

The National Fraud Initiative will be conducted using the data matching powers bestowed on the Minister for the Cabinet Office by Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (LAAA).  The provision of data by the council to the Minister does not require the consent of the individuals concerned.

Data matching involves comparing sets of data, such as the payroll or council tax records of a body, against other records held by the same or another body to see how far they match. The data is often personal information. The data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims, payments, and information to be identified. Where a match is found it may indicate that there is an inconsistency that requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error, or other explanation until an investigation is carried out.

The Cabinet Officer currently requires us to participate in a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We are required to provide certain sets of data to the Cabinet Office for matching for each exercise, and these are set out in the Cabinet Office’s guidance, which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-data-matching-practic....

Further information on the Cabinet Office’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information.