Renfrewshire Council

What the National Fraud Initiative is

The National Fraud Initiative (NFI) is run by Audit Scotland and takes place every two years. It supports the best use of public funds by comparing electronic data about individuals held by different public bodies.

This data matching process helps to prevent and detect fraud and ensure pensions, housing benefit and other services go to the right people, identifying genuine errors and ensuring our records are up-to-date.

All public bodies are legally required to participate in the initiative under the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000.

In October 2024 we will provide Audit Scotland with a range of personal data including employee details, Council Tax and housing information, Blue Badge Holders and Taxi Licence Holders, as well as Business Rate and Trade Creditors Information.

Social Care information will be provided at a later date.

You don't have to do anything and sharing data for this purpose does not mean a person is under suspicion, but it's important you know what's happening and why.

The Council's responsibilities

We have a legal duty to protect the public funds we manage.

To prevent and detect fraud we share information provided to us with other bodies responsible for auditing and managing public funds. 

This is outlined in our privacy policy, which sets out how we protect personal data and who we share it with and why.

More information

You can find out more on the Audit Scotland website or contact our Interim Chief Auditor, Karen Campbell on 0300 300 0300.