The Cabinet Office runs the National Fraud Initiative (NFI), an exercise that matches electronic data within and between public and private sector bodies to prevent and detect fraud.
The Avon Pension Fund is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. We may share information provided to us with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud.
The Cabinet Office currently requires us to participate in a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud.
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.
More information can be found on the Cabinet Office website at www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-fraud-initiative