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Money saved thanks to data matching technology

Sophisticated data matching technology has been weeding out false claims for council tax discounts to protect public funds and to support the funding of key council services. The National Fraud Initiative (NFI), run by the Cabinet Office to compare computer records within local authorities, helps identify those who are wrongly claiming single person discount on their council tax as part of its work in preventing and detecting fraud. Last year Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council again stepped up efforts to identify fraudulent discounts using this intelligent data matching. This resulted in £65,422.64 being identified during a 2017/18 exercise as being fraudulently claimed from the council by 152 people claiming to live alone.