Northamptonshire Probation Trust is required by law to protect the public funds it administers. It may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud.

The Audit Commission appoints the auditor to audit the accounts of this Trust. It is also responsible for carrying out data-matching exercises.

Data-matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to see how far they match. This is usually personal information. Computerised data-matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Where a match is found it indicates that there is an inconsistency which 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 Audit Commission currently requires us to participate in a data-matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We are required to provide particular sets of data to the Audit Commission for matching for each exercise, and these are set out in the Audit Commission’s guidance, which can be found on the Audit Commission website

The use of data by the Audit Commission in a data-matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under its powers in Part 2A of the Audit Commission Act 1998. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 1998.

Data-matching by the Audit Commission is subject to a Code of Practice, to be found on the Code of Data-Matching pages of the Audit Commission website

For further information on the Audit Commission’s legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information, see the Fair Processing notice on the Audit Commission website

For further information on data-matching at Northamptonshire Probation, please contact :

Helen Hickman
Finance Officer
Northamptonshire Probation Trust
Walter Tull House

43-47 Bridge Street