Using ReCheck to Review Existing Social Care Payments Against Internal Records to Identify Fraud

ReCheck, from the Cabinet Office National Fraud Initiative (NFI) allows organisations to check existing customer records against the NFI’s comprehensive data sets.

This case study demonstrates how ReCheck has enabled a council to proactively check and monitor changes in customers’ personal and financial circumstances, including death, to stop invalid or fraudulent claims.

SITUATION

Haringey Council is located in North London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three former boroughs and shares borders with six other London boroughs. Haringey’s economy reflects the borough’s communities - vibrant, diverse, and enterprising. Like all authorities the demand for support in the area of Social Care remains high and monitoring and management of Social Care budgets is vital as the Council demonstrate accountability towards protecting public services.

SOLUTION

Haringey has a proactive strategy to manage its Social Care budgets and opted to use ReCheck to review existing social care payment records against internal records and other data sets, to identify fraud and/or error. Principally, this was to ensure payments were not continuing inappropriately after the individual has passed away.

RESULTS

The cost of the ReCheck exercise was £350 and allowed Haringey to load 2,500 customer records for matching. The exercise proved to be very successful in finding 26 unidentified deceased individuals that Haringey were not previously aware of. Payments had continued to be paid in two of these cases and the council was able to reclaim £18,741. It also provided an opportunity for data cleansing and a tightening of internal processes to mitigate further errors.

• Demonstrates the value of ReCheck and how it protects the public purse

• Allowed Haringey council to load 2,500 customer records for matching

• Enabled the council to reclaim £18,741 in payments

Nick Crago, Haringey Council

"ReCheck is a good product to use, with other checks and balances, to identify where fraud and error may exist, and in the circumstances, was money well spent.”