Data Matching
The Council is required by law to protect the public funds it
administers. It
may share information provided to it with other bodies
responsible for auditing
or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect
fraud.
The Audit Commission appoints the auditor to audit the
Council’s accounts and is also responsible for carrying out data
matching exercises.
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
information. Computerised data matching allows potentially
fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a
match is found it indicates that there is an inconsistency which
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 Audit Commission currently requires us to participate in
an annual data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and
detection of fraud. We are required to provide particular
sets of data to the Audit Commission for matching for each
exercise, and these are set out in the Audit Commission’s guidance,
which can be found at
www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nfi.
For example, South Lakeland’s housing benefit claims records
might be checked against its own and Cumbria County Council’s
payroll and pension data to ensure that benefit claims accurately
record a person’s income. Or payments to suppliers might be
checked to see whether any duplicate payments have been made.
Nationally the 2006/07 matching exercise identified £140million of
fraud and overpayments.
The use of data by the Audit Commission in a data matching
exercise is
carried out with statutory authority under its powers in Part
2A of the Audit
Commission Act 1998. It does not require the consent of
the individuals
concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998.
Data matching by the Audit Commission is subject to a Code of
Practice. This
For further information on the Audit Commission’s legal powers
and the