The fundamental challenge that public bodies face with fraud is it is a hidden crime – those committing it actively try to conceal it so we must be proactive in our efforts to seek it out. The National Fraud Initiative (NFI), the Cabinet Office’s data matching service, has enabled participating organisations to prevent and detect £245 million fraud and error in the period 1st April 2018 to 4th April 2020. This brings cumulative outcomes for NFI participants to £1.93 billion. The NFI has the ability to quickly address emerging risks through the targeted data matching pilots carried out throughout the two-year cycle. The scale of government COVID-19 emergency relief now offers a significant opportunity for fraudsters. It is for this reason the Cabinet Office will extend the NFI remit to help ensure COVID-19 emergency relief funding is only accessed by those that are entitled.

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