Clarion Housing Group (Clarion) is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. In order to do this, Clarion may share information provided to them with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds.
Clarion will be participating in this year’s National Fraud Initiative (NFI) data matching exercise carried out by the Cabinet Office. Our participation in the NFI will assist in the prevention and detection of fraud against Clarion Housing Group and organisations within the public sector. We will participate on a voluntary basis and provide the Cabinet Office with particular sets of data for matching as set out in the Cabinet Office’s guidance which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-fraud-initiative#private-sector
Data matching involves comparing sets of data, such as the tenancy or benefits records of a body, against other records held by the same or another body to see how far they match. The data is usually personal information. The data matching allows potentially fraudulent sub letting, benefit claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it may indicate that there is an inconsistency that 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 processing of data by the Cabinet Office in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under its powers in Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under data protection regulation or the GDPR.
Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice. This can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-data-matching-practice-for-national-fraud-initiative
If you have any queries or concerns about this or any other aspect of data protection, please contact dataprotection@clarionhg.com.
Please also refer to the relevant Customer Privacy Notice for further information about how Clarion processes your personal information.