HISTORY
History
Our History; The Creation and Development of a New Service
In the mid-1990s the Audit Commission was working with London councils to address fraud through data-sharing and data-matching. Greater Manchester councils were interested in adopting this approach and discussions were progressed led by Harold Pawsey the Assistant Director of Finance for Tameside MBC.
In 1997, a meeting of local authority representatives from England and Wales took place in Birmingham. Following that meeting, a core group of councils decided to work collaboratively to explore the exchange of intelligence to address fraud across the country. They agreed that a national approach was required progress this initiative.
In response, the National Anti-Fraud Network (NAFN) was established in October 1997 with Harold Pawsey acting as the Chair. Initially, nine councils agreed to participate in the network, each of them providing a Regional Collator. The group went on to secure Government funding to further support local authorities to tackle organised housing benefit fraud.
Over time NAFN has steadily evolved and now provides an extensive range of data and intelligence services to local authorities, other public bodies and housing associations. The organisation has embraced change through innovation and the introduction of new services responding to new legislation and members needs in the context of a rapidly advancing digital world and the ever changing threats from crime and fraud. NAFN is now widely regarded as a centre of excellence for public sector data and intelligence.
| The Early Years |
In the early years, the NAFN Management Board responded to national concerns raised by the Audit Commission. Addressing the need for a joined up approach to combat cross-boundary fraud was NAFNs key objective. The initial focus was on housing benefit investigations with regular fraud alerts circulated to members but ambitions to extend the service emerged very quickly.
After two years, Government funding was replaced by annual subscriptions from local authority members. Membership grew significantly and NAFN was restructured into five regional offices with Tameside MBC acting as the lead authority.
NAFN began to explore and establish effective links to the Police and other law enforcement agencies to better understand intelligence gathering and dissemination. Services to members were improved as a result of this collaboration and further enhanced by providing access to credit referencing services.
| Year | Members | User Accounts | Membership Fee | Enquiries |
| 2000 | 213 | 800 | £1,000 | 30,000 |
| Authorised Officers and Automation |
The new millennium brought organisational change in response to further growth in membership. During this period many new services were introduced in response to new legislation.
In 2001 NAFN operations were reduced to two regional offices based in Tameside and Brighton. In 2003 NAFN appointed a full-time Director (Geoff Jennings) seconded from the Department of Works and Pensions. Fax/paper based processes were automated, a centralised case-management system was established and a secure web-based portal was introduced.
The Social Security Fraud Act 2001 introduced sweeping powers to address benefit fraud providing access to information held by a wide range of organisations including banks, finance houses, insurance companies, utility companies, credit referencing agencies and the telecommunications sector. NAFN recruited two Authorised Officers in both teams to access this information on behalf of members. By 2005 the NAFN establishment was 13 full-time staff.
NAFNs inaugural Annual General Meeting and Conference took place at the Guildhall in Central London in October 2002.
Introduction of online enquires facilitated automated matching of subjects and/or organisations allowing networking between investigating teams. NAFN began hosting a national database for the recording of housing benefit sanctions along with the DWP Fraud Procedures Manual and a referral service on behalf of the Asset Recovery Agency.
| Year | Members | User Accounts | Membership Fee | Enquiries |
| 2000 | 213 | 800 | £1,000 | 30,000 |
| 2005 | 342 | 1,600 | £2,000 | 77,000 |
| One-Stop Shop |
The Home Office supported NAFN in introducing a Single Point of Contact Service for local authorities seeking to acquire communications data under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. As a consequence, significant investment was required to upgrade website security and introduce a new national communications data case-management system. The establishment increased from 13 to 26 full-time staff over this period.
NAFN continued to provide access to new data services for members. A key milestone was developing the DVLA Vehicle Keeper Overnight Service, significantly reducing processing and response times from eight weeks to 24 hours.
NAFN introduced a central repository for policies, procedures and legislation and contributed to the development of best practice guides through joint-working with the Home Office, Audit Commission and CIPFA. NAFN also became a member of the National Fraud Authority Information Sharing Taskforce.
Introduction of Unitary Authorities in 2009 impacted on membership because smaller councils were incorporated into larger organisations. However, the number of user accounts and data enquiries continued to grow significantly.
| Year | Members | User Accounts | Membership Fee | Enquiries |
| 2000 | 213 | 800 | £1,000 | 30,000 |
| 2005 | 342 | 1,600 | £2,000 | 77,000 |
| 2010 | 336 | 6,500 | £2,254 | 192,000 |
| Online Services and Organisational Change |
This period was one of significant change for NAFN. In 2011 the organisation was re-branded as NAFN Data and Intelligence Services and overall governance was led by a new Chair (Wendy Poole) and Executive Board.
Further changes included moves to broaden NAFNs membership base and new members were attracted from housing associations, NHS trusts and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) who were keen to use the DVLA Overnight Vehicle Keeper Service.
In 2013, following collaborative working with the National Trading Standards Board, NAFN created and hosted a new Sanction Information Database (SiD) capturing all relevant sanctions in this service area. The new system was rolled out the following year.
Also, in 2013 the Government announced its intention to centralised housing benefit fraud investigations creating a new Single Fraud Investigation Service based in the DWP. As a consequence, all local authority housing fraud teams were transferred to the DWP along with 14 staff members from NAFN. The changes were implemented in 2015 with a significant short term reduction in enquiry intake.
Early in 2015 the NAFN Executive Board needed to determine how best to respond to the 50 per cent reduction in intake arising from the transfer of local housing benefit investigation teams to the DWP. Following an options appraisal, the Executive Board decided to close the Brighton office and focus on a single point of delivery based in Tameside, Greater Manchester. A new Head of Service was appointed (Mark Astley) and the establishment reduced to a team of 13 full-time staff.
Despite these major changes, the service offer to members was further improved with the introduction of a dedicated Help Section on the NAFN website and direct online links to the Callcredit and Equifax consumer credit reporting systems. Also, NAFN launched its Intelligence Enquiry service allowing members to conduct searches on-line across its range of data and intelligence to support fraud investigation work.
| Year | Members | User Accounts | Membership Fee | Enquiries |
| 2000 | 213 | 800 | £1,000 | 30,000 |
| 2005 | 342 | 1,600 | £2,000 | 77,000 |
| 2010 | 336 | 6,500 | £2,254 | 192,000 |
| 2015 | 410 | 10,500 | £2,420 | 211,000 |
| New Challenges, New Opportunities, New Services |
The Executive Board updated the NAFN Constitution and governance arrangements and adopted a new service delivery strategy working closely with the new Head of Service to strengthen the operational team. The NAFN ICT infrastructure was outsourced to Rochdale MBC. A Project Manager was appointed to deliver a series of service improvements for members. The Leadership Team was further strengthened with the appointment of a Membership and Communications Manager.
The fee model was reviewed and simplified. The membership fee was reduced to £1,000 with the introduction of modest charges for enquiries that require an input from the NAFN Service Team. Existing direct access to Callcredit and Equifax credit reporting systems were upgraded and an Authorised Officer Service was introduced to support tenancy and council tax fraud investigations.
In response to marketing and promotional initiatives, NAFN began to attract new membership from housing associations and wider public authorities with a significant increase in the number of user accounts. Monthly newsletters and regular alert bulletins were issued to members.
Introduction of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 presented a significant challenge for fraud investigations and the use of personal data. NAFN had already established the National Training and Best Practice Working Group to articulate the concerns of local government and wider public authorities. NAFN lobbied Central Government to ensure that local authorities retained powers to acquire communications data and submitted evidence to a Parliamentary Committee and the Anderson Report (A Question of Trust). The Report recommended that, NAFN should be designated as the Single Point of Contact for all minor users of communications data.
Celebrating 20 Years
In 2017 NAFN celebrated twenty years of successful service delivery to members and organised a well-attended Summit in London. Mark Cheeseman (Cabinet Office) was the keynote speaker and the Executive Board and Service Delivery Team were pleased to share this achievement with a broad range of members.
Since 2017, NAFN has worked closely with partners and key stakeholders to promote and further develop the service offer to members and NAFN is now widely regarded as a key player in supporting criminal investigations through the sharing of data and intelligence.
Links with Central and Local Government have been strengthened through regular communications with the Cabinet Office, Home Office, Local Government Association (LGA) and other departments. NAFN now represents its members on a range of committees and working groups including Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally.
Collaborative working has led to the introduction of new high-profile national services managed by NAFN. In 2017, investigations into right-to-buy fraud were strengthened through data sharing with National Hunter representing the banking sector. The following year, in partnership with the LGA, NAFN introduced the National Register of Taxi/PHV Licence Revocations and Refusals (NR3). In 2019, acting on behalf of Trading Standards, NAFN became the Single Point of Contact for the National Auto Number Plate Recognition System maintained by the Home Office.
NAFN continues to develop and promote a comprehensive programme of training and webinars to raise awareness, transfer skills and promote good practice. An e-learning package will be rolled out in 2020 to further enhance training initiatives and support continuing professional development for all members.
The organisation’s achievements have begun to be recognised and in 2019 NAFN won its first award: the iNetwork Innovation Award for Effective Information Sharing and Security.
| Year | Members | User Accounts | Membership Fee | Enquiries |
| 2000 | 213 | 800 | £1,000 | 30,000 |
| 2005 | 342 | 1,600 | £2,000 | 77,000 |
| 2010 | 336 | 6,500 | £2,254 | 192,000 |
| 2015 | 410 | 10,500 | £2,420 | 211,000 |
| 2020 | 433 | 13,000 | £1,600 | 234,000 |
-
1997 to 2000
-
The Early Years In the early years, the NAFN Management Board responded to national concerns raised by the Audit Commission. Addressing the need for a joined up approach to combat cross-boundary fraud was NAFNs key objective. The initial focus was on housing benefit investigations with regular fraud alerts circulated to members but ambitions to extend the service emerged very quickly.
After two years, Government funding was replaced by annual subscriptions from local authority members. Membership grew significantly and NAFN was restructured into five regional offices with Tameside MBC acting as the lead authority.
NAFN began to explore and establish effective links to the Police and other law enforcement agencies to better understand intelligence gathering and dissemination. Services to members were improved as a result of this collaboration and further enhanced by providing access to credit referencing services.
Year Members User Accounts Membership Fee Enquiries 2000 213 800 £1,000 30,000 -
2000 to 2005
-
Authorised Officers and Automation The new millennium brought organisational change in response to further growth in membership. During this period many new services were introduced in response to new legislation.
In 2001 NAFN operations were reduced to two regional offices based in Tameside and Brighton. In 2003 NAFN appointed a full-time Director (Geoff Jennings) seconded from the Department of Works and Pensions. Fax/paper based processes were automated, a centralised case-management system was established and a secure web-based portal was introduced.
The Social Security Fraud Act 2001 introduced sweeping powers to address benefit fraud providing access to information held by a wide range of organisations including banks, finance houses, insurance companies, utility companies, credit referencing agencies and the telecommunications sector. NAFN recruited two Authorised Officers in both teams to access this information on behalf of members. By 2005 the NAFN establishment was 13 full-time staff.
NAFNs inaugural Annual General Meeting and Conference took place at the Guildhall in Central London in October 2002.
Introduction of online enquires facilitated automated matching of subjects and/or organisations allowing networking between investigating teams. NAFN began hosting a national database for the recording of housing benefit sanctions along with the DWP Fraud Procedures Manual and a referral service on behalf of the Asset Recovery Agency.
Year Members User Accounts Membership Fee Enquiries 2000 213 800 £1,000 30,000 2005 342 1,600 £2,000 77,000 -
2005 to 2010
-
One-Stop Shop The Home Office supported NAFN in introducing a Single Point of Contact Service for local authorities seeking to acquire communications data under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. As a consequence, significant investment was required to upgrade website security and introduce a new national communications data case-management system. The establishment increased from 13 to 26 full-time staff over this period.
NAFN continued to provide access to new data services for members. A key milestone was developing the DVLA Vehicle Keeper Overnight Service, significantly reducing processing and response times from eight weeks to 24 hours.
NAFN introduced a central repository for policies, procedures and legislation and contributed to the development of best practice guides through joint-working with the Home Office, Audit Commission and CIPFA. NAFN also became a member of the National Fraud Authority Information Sharing Taskforce.
Introduction of Unitary Authorities in 2009 impacted on membership because smaller councils were incorporated into larger organisations. However, the number of user accounts and data enquiries continued to grow significantly.
Year Members User Accounts Membership Fee Enquiries 2000 213 800 £1,000 30,000 2005 342 1,600 £2,000 77,000 2010 336 6,500 £2,254 192,000 -
2010 to 2015
-
Online Services and Organisational Change This period was one of significant change for NAFN. In 2011 the organisation was re-branded as NAFN Data and Intelligence Services and overall governance was led by a new Chair (Wendy Poole) and Executive Board.
Further changes included moves to broaden NAFNs membership base and new members were attracted from housing associations, NHS trusts and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) who were keen to use the DVLA Overnight Vehicle Keeper Service.
In 2013, following collaborative working with the National Trading Standards Board, NAFN created and hosted a new Sanction Information Database (SiD) capturing all relevant sanctions in this service area. The new system was rolled out the following year.
Also, in 2013 the Government announced its intention to centralised housing benefit fraud investigations creating a new Single Fraud Investigation Service based in the DWP. As a consequence, all local authority housing fraud teams were transferred to the DWP along with 14 staff members from NAFN. The changes were implemented in 2015 with a significant short term reduction in enquiry intake.
Early in 2015 the NAFN Executive Board needed to determine how best to respond to the 50 per cent reduction in intake arising from the transfer of local housing benefit investigation teams to the DWP. Following an options appraisal, the Executive Board decided to close the Brighton office and focus on a single point of delivery based in Tameside, Greater Manchester. A new Head of Service was appointed (Mark Astley) and the establishment reduced to a team of 13 full-time staff.
Despite these major changes, the service offer to members was further improved with the introduction of a dedicated Help Section on the NAFN website and direct online links to the Callcredit and Equifax consumer credit reporting systems. Also, NAFN launched its Intelligence Enquiry service allowing members to conduct searches on-line across its range of data and intelligence to support fraud investigation work.
Year Members User Accounts Membership Fee Enquiries 2000 213 800 £1,000 30,000 2005 342 1,600 £2,000 77,000 2010 336 6,500 £2,254 192,000 2015 410 10,500 £2,420 211,000 -
2015 to 2020
-
New Challenges, New Opportunities, New Services The Executive Board updated the NAFN Constitution and governance arrangements and adopted a new service delivery strategy working closely with the new Head of Service to strengthen the operational team. The NAFN ICT infrastructure was outsourced to Rochdale MBC. A Project Manager was appointed to deliver a series of service improvements for members. The Leadership Team was further strengthened with the appointment of a Membership and Communications Manager.
The fee model was reviewed and simplified. The membership fee was reduced to £1,000 with the introduction of modest charges for enquiries that require an input from the NAFN Service Team. Existing direct access to Callcredit and Equifax credit reporting systems were upgraded and an Authorised Officer Service was introduced to support tenancy and council tax fraud investigations.
In response to marketing and promotional initiatives, NAFN began to attract new membership from housing associations and wider public authorities with a significant increase in the number of user accounts. Monthly newsletters and regular alert bulletins were issued to members.
Introduction of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 presented a significant challenge for fraud investigations and the use of personal data. NAFN had already established the National Training and Best Practice Working Group to articulate the concerns of local government and wider public authorities. NAFN lobbied Central Government to ensure that local authorities retained powers to acquire communications data and submitted evidence to a Parliamentary Committee and the Anderson Report (A Question of Trust). The Report recommended that, NAFN should be designated as the Single Point of Contact for all minor users of communications data.
Celebrating 20 Years
In 2017 NAFN celebrated twenty years of successful service delivery to members and organised a well-attended Summit in London. Mark Cheeseman (Cabinet Office) was the keynote speaker and the Executive Board and Service Delivery Team were pleased to share this achievement with a broad range of members.
Since 2017, NAFN has worked closely with partners and key stakeholders to promote and further develop the service offer to members and NAFN is now widely regarded as a key player in supporting criminal investigations through the sharing of data and intelligence.
Links with Central and Local Government have been strengthened through regular communications with the Cabinet Office, Home Office, Local Government Association (LGA) and other departments. NAFN now represents its members on a range of committees and working groups including Fighting Fraud and Corruption Locally.
Collaborative working has led to the introduction of new high-profile national services managed by NAFN. In 2017, investigations into right-to-buy fraud were strengthened through data sharing with National Hunter representing the banking sector. The following year, in partnership with the LGA, NAFN introduced the National Register of Taxi/PHV Licence Revocations and Refusals (NR3). In 2019, acting on behalf of Trading Standards, NAFN became the Single Point of Contact for the National Auto Number Plate Recognition System maintained by the Home Office.
NAFN continues to develop and promote a comprehensive programme of training and webinars to raise awareness, transfer skills and promote good practice. An e-learning package will be rolled out in 2020 to further enhance training initiatives and support continuing professional development for all members.
The organisation’s achievements have begun to be recognised and in 2019 NAFN won its first award: the iNetwork Innovation Award for Effective Information Sharing and Security.
Year Members User Accounts Membership Fee Enquiries 2000 213 800 £1,000 30,000 2005 342 1,600 £2,000 77,000 2010 336 6,500 £2,254 192,000 2015 410 10,500 £2,420 211,000 2020 433 13,000 £1,600 234,000