DISTRICT councils have teamed up with other organisations to take part in a national pilot fraud initiative.

Ryedale District Council, Richmondshire District Council, Hambleton District Council and City of York Council, among other nearby authorities, have been selected to be part of the Non Domestic Rate pilot run in partnership with the Cabinet Office's National Fraud Initiative.

The National Fraud Initiative, in partnership with public and private sector authorities, conducts a series of data matching exercises every two years for the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud and error.

A new National Non-Domestic Rate (NNDR) pilot is being conducted this year as a separate exercise. The councils will send business’ information to the NFI who will cross match it with information from other public and private sector bodies to discover discrepancies between records which may indicate fraud.

NNDR, also known as business rates, is a tax charged on non-domestic properties such as shops, offices, warehouses and guest houses etc which are used for business purposes. There are various discounts and exemptions that can be applied on NNDR accounts with fraud in this area believed to be on the rise nationally.

This pilot will enable the councils to detect and prevent fraudulent and incorrect claims for discounts and exemptions on NNDR accounts. This will lead to the recovery of any underpayments due and limit future financial losses reinforcing the Council’s commitment to safeguard public funds. The council counter fraud team, Veritau Ltd, will be assisting in investigating the matches and legal proceedings.

Councillor Luke Ives, Chairman of Ryedale District Council’s Policy and Resources Committee says: “The majority of businesses in the Ryedale area operate honestly and above board. This exercise will help protect the council funds by identifying a small minority who may be operating fraudulently. We encourage anyone with any information on fraudulent activity to phone the fraud hotline on 0800 9179 247 or email counter.fraud@veritau.co.uk.”