From this month, Denbighshire County Council is taking part in a national roll out of an initiative which matches data held by Experian and cross–references the information against those individuals claiming housing and council tax benefit.
This initiative aims to improve the detection of benefit fraud by providing access to data that will identify people who claim to be living alone but are living with an undisclosed adult, either as a couple or otherwise.
In some cases people have been receiving housing or council tax benefits for many years, claiming to be single but have actually had a partner living with them who has a full time job.
Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Cabinet Lead Member for Finance and Efficiency said: “We must stress that the majority of people in Denbighshire act in a responsible manner and only claim what they are entitled to. Those people have absolutely nothing to fear from this exercise.
“Where there is evidence of fraud the Council will prosecute or impose an Administrative Penalty, and all overpaid benefits will be recovered.
“Once the data is matched by Experian, the Council will be given referrals where a financial link to an individual or an individual’s address is detected.
“Once the details are obtained the investigators will use the powers they have available to obtain documentary evidence of the links and any person potentially claiming benefits fraudulently will be interviewed under caution.
All claimants can be assured that the data matching will not affect people’s credit ratings, and Experian must not use the data for any other purpose, neither will there be any record left on anyone’s credit account.
