NAFN NEWS SPRING2011 ISSUE 7. Welcome to the Spring edition of the NAFN Newsletter! INDEX. Service Updates Follow That Car! Turn Back The Clock

Transcription

1 NAFN NEWS ISSUE 7 SPRING2011 Welcome to te Spring edition of te NAFN Newsletter! Spring is in te air at NAFN as we see several new services cropping up. Driving and transport emerged as a natural teme tis quarter, wit te newly re-launced Foreign Veicle Service and Experian Car Mileage Cecks becoming available. Tese are in addition to te existing DVLA Veicle Keeper Ceck tat NAFN provide. Colleagues in all departments can make use of tese services, so read on to find out ow. As always, we re only a pone call away if you need a and. February saw IOCCO (Interception of Communication Commissioners Office) conduct teir second audit of NAFN s RIPA SPoC Service. Te inspection was anoter success and we re appy to say IOCCO will continue to promote our service. As a new feature to our newsletter we would like to introduce you to our team, to elp you put faces to tose voices on te telepone. In tis edition James Gray will be telling you about a day in te life of a NAFN Intelligence Officer. He will be saring is top tips to navigate te NAFN website more easily, and will be telling you ow to get te most from your enquiries. Many of you took part in our customer satisfaction survey. Tanks for participating. We need your feedback to make sure we get it rigt. We will also be sending out a member survey, to give you your say in saping our future. As wit every edition we ve got some success stories to sare wit you. We love earing wen someting goes well, and so do your counterparts in oter councils, so keep tem coming. Finally, we re all looking forward to time off at Easter. Weter you ll be waving a flag for te Royal Wedding, planning te weekend away, or just relaxing wit friends and family, we ope ave a good one. Jeremy Frost NAFN Business Manager INDEX Service Updates Follow Tat Car! Turn Back Te Clock Business Reports NAFN News Customer Satisfaction Survey RIPA IOCCO Inspection Free Training Feature A Day in te Life of a NAFN Intelligence Officer Success Stories Cleaner Comes Clean Trouble at Mill Mum s te Word Any Oter Business? Social Security Fraud Act Website Queries Unautorised Enquiries Experian SSFA Credit Ceck Results HBMS Undeclared Capital Matc STOP PRESS Pass It On! Easter & Royal Wedding Closure p

2 SERVICE UPDATES FOLLOW THAT CAR! FOREIGN VEHICLE SERVICE Tere are around 140,000 foreign registered veicles on Britis roads at any time. It s a sad fact tat one in tree of tese drivers contravene traffic regulations. Te anonymity of foreign registered cars as istorically made it difficult for councils to enforce penalties. For many, tis means writing off tousands of pounds eac year. We tougt it was time to cange tat. We ave teamed up wit EPC plc (Pan European Collection) to offer teir Foreign Veicle Service. EPC trace, issue and collect road traffic penalties for foreign registered veicles on bealf of Local Autorities. Tey currently work wit 450 autorities in ten European countries, and ave access to 20 veicle licensing autorities; te foreign equivalents of te DVLA. Not only does EPC plc provide an easy solution for autorities to collect fines, tey also make it easy for te contravener to pay. Penalties can be issued in 18 European languages and are supported by a multi lingual call centre based in London. Offenders can pay in 10 major currencies and can even do so at teir own ig street bank, werever tat may be. In 2010 EPC collected 3 Million on bealf of teir customers. Now tat NAFN and EPC ave joined forces, you too can recoup losses from across te border. EPC plc operate on a no win, no fee basis. As a member of NAFN you are entitled to reduced commission of 25%, payable only if te fine is successfully collected. Tere is noting to pay if te fine cannot be enforced, so tere is no financial risk to you. Be sure to access EPC via te NAFN website to obtain your member discount. In addition to te pursuit of traffic penalties, EPC can also assist member departments in te pursuit of oter investigations involving te veicle and its owner. Wen used for tis purpose, te enquiry is free of carge Last year, users of EPC reported a 30% improvement in road traffic compliance and a 50% average pay rate. Not only does it put money back were it belongs, it makes te roads safer and fairer for your local residents. Make sure your region makes te most of tis new service, and stop foreign visitors flouting your road rules. Please see see separate user guide attaced to tis newsletter for furter details.

3 SERVICE UPDATES TURN BACK THE CLOCK VEHICLE MILEAGE INFORMATION Tose of you in Trading Standards will be interested to know tat we now offer veicle mileage information as part of te new Autoceck product. Autoceck builds on te success of te Experian Gold Car Data ceck. You still ave access to all te same data, including a description of te veicle, existing finance information, and any warning messages e.g. weter te car as been scrapped or stolen. If tey re so similar, wy use Autoceck instead? Autoceck gives you access to mileage readings and te dates of capture, as well as te source of te data (i.e. Veicle Mileage Ceck, Britis Veicle Rental & Leasing Association, and te DVLA) taken over time. Tis could elp you establis weter te odometer as been travelling in te rigt direction. In addition to mileage data, you ll benefit from a muc friendlier report, wit all te information you need laid out in an easy to use format. Wy not see for yourself? To request mileage data, simply use te Experian Veicle Finance option on te enquiry type menu, stating in te free-text box tat you would like mileage data included as part of te report.

4 Business Reports Experian offers a wide variety of cecks to Investigators. In addition to te standard credit cecks tey also offer business reports. If you are looking into a case of undeclared work or income, and suspect te claimant owns or runs a business of teir own, te following reports could be of interest to you; Experian Individual Director Report Tis ceck sows any associations wit businesses or companies. It includes bot current and previous Directorsips and Secretarysips, as well as any disqualifications or convictions. Experian Bronze Company Report Tis basic company report includes company details, credit opinion, risk analysis, corporate structure, summary accounts, and directors. Useful for obtaining a quick overview of a company and its current status. Experian Gold Company Report Tis fully compreensive report provides more detailed information tan te Bronze. It includes full financial details, payment profile, mortgages/carges, legal notices and CCJ details. A ig-end option for tose wo want to conduct a detailed analysis of a company. Experian Company Director Report If you ave a company name, tis ceck will reveal all directors, past and present.

5 NAFN News Customer Satisfaction Survey We d like to tank tose of you wo took part in our customer satisfaction survey. As always te results were enligtening. On te wole you rated us igly. See below for an overview; 98% of you were appy wit our response times 98% of you felt te information we provided was useful 100% of you were appy to use us again 91% rated our support and advice as good/excellent 93% of you were satisfied wit te overall service, rating us good/excellent We received some great compliments; Te nature of our service requires a ig level of security and protection, even more so now we ave te document repository, were igly sensitive paperwork can be accessed online. As suc, te integrity of our security systems is paramount. We use penetration testers to attempt to break into te NAFN website. Tis identifies any weaknesses in our systems. Tis regular testing tells us tat using a combination of password, pin number, user code and grid card offers us te maximum protection against illegal ackers. Wilst we appreciate ease of use is vital to our customers, our priority as to be te safety of te data we old. For tis reason tere are no plans to cange te logging on procedure. All te staff are very elpful, offer valuable advice and are very patient wen requests are not clear Te support and advice received from te NAFN team is excellent. If tere was a iger category you would be in it! Tank you. Staff always elpful and pleasant to speak to and te results arrive speedily - unless of course it's because te sources are taking a long time to provide te information to NAFN! Very elpful staff members noting ever too muc trouble We received comments about delays, but you acknowledged tat tis was beyond NAFN control. Unfortunately some information providers are still struggling wit backlogs. As ever NAFN officers continue to campion your requests until te information is received. You gave us some feedback on ways we can improve too. We understand tat our logging in system can feel complicated and lengty at times. Finally, you told us tat wen logging additional SSFA enquiries on existing cases, you were confused by aving lots of boxes to complete. If you do not ave anyting extra to add to tat particular section of te enquiry, please feel free to put As Above in te bottom boxes. You only need write additional information were necessary. If you only need to say tat you now want a witness statement, simply write **Witness Statement Required** in te information to be returned section. You do not need to repeat wat as already been said, or copy and paste te top box into te bottom box.

6 RIPA IOCCO INSPECTION Once again NAFN as been audited by te Interception of Communication Commissioner s Office. February saw te second inspection of te RIPA SPoC service since te introduction of te online service in December IOCCO investigated 54 local autorities during teir two day stay at te NAFN office. NAFN takes full responsibility for osting te audit, meaning te autorities can get on wit teir day to day work undisturbed. In addition, tey do not ave to produce documentation for inspection, as would be necessary if conducting teir own enquiries. Te inspection produced great results due to te ard work and commitment of our team of 14 SPoC s. IOCCO praised NAFN staff for teir professionalism and customer focus. Tey continue to recommend NAFN to all interested parties. Special tanks go to our own Paul Coudry, wo as invested considerable time and effort to ensure te smoot running of te RIPA function. Te report igligted te rank of Designated Persons (DP) and te need to ensure te rigt person is cosen for te job. It is our duty to make sure tat DP s of te appropriate level are identified during te registration process. Tis elps to maintain a robust and secure RIPA service. Te position of DP is reserved for Heads of Service, Service Managers, Directors, or tose of equivalent status. In line wit IOCCO s recommendations we now accept confirmation of DP rank from Heads of Legal/Senior Legal Officers, or Monitoring Officers only. If you are registering as a DP for your autority, and ave any doubts as to your suitability for te role, please contact us for advice. FREE TRAINING Feedback on te RIPA process as sown tat some Investigators still lack confidence in processing teir enquiries. Free RIPA training/presentations are available on request. Please contact your regional office sould you wis to book a session. Please take advantage of tis no cost training. Recent feedback stated; It was extremely useful and very enligtening Our members were impressed by your talk and will opefully follow up on its content wen tey get back to te office. Howard Turton, Regional Enforcements Manager (Scambusters/Illegal Money Lending Teams)

7 Feature A Day in te Life of a NAFN Intelligence Officer James Gray as been an Intelligence Officer wit NAFN since December He works in te Nort office, wic covers Scotland, Nort West, te Midlands, and Nort East. If you work in one of tese regions you ll no doubt ave eard is voice many times, or received responses from im. He may ave even elped you wit lost grid cards or difficulties in logging on. Let s see wat makes im tick; 1. Wat did you do before you worked for NAFN? I worked for a carity in Mancester city centre for six monts tat provided support to victims and witnesses of crime. Prior to tat I was completing my Masters degree in Crime and Criminal Justice were I spent eigt monts carrying out primary researc on yout gangs in Sout Mancester. Wilst finising my Masters degree I was also working voluntarily for te Citizens Advice Bureau in Trafford and Victim Support and Witness Service in Trafford. 2. If your NAFN colleagues ad to describe you in tree words, wat would tey be? Tall, dark, andsome! 3. Wat do you do in your spare time? Having recently bougt a ouse te majority of my spare time is spent decorating, and fixing tings, altoug I m no DIY expert. 4. Wic regions do you cover? As part of my role witin NAFN I currently cover te region of Scotland and parts of te Nort East of England wic as enabled me to present at a conference in Glasgow and provide training as far a field as Elgin in Te Moray 5. If you could give one tip about te website to NAFN users, wat would it be? Tere are many areas on te website tat investigators don t ave te time to visit suc as te alerts, te libraries, and te discussion forums. I would advise anyone to take a moment out of teir day to ave a browse troug eac of tese sections as tere is lots of valuable information available witin tat can assist investigators in teir roles. 6. If you could sout about one particular service you feel is underused wat would it be and wy? RIPA. I tink people can feel intimidated by wat seems like a complicated process. Once you ve done a couple you soon get te ang of it toug. If you re not sure just give it a try and, if you do go wrong we ll elp you out. After all, tat s wat we re ere for. Tere are no questions too big or small to ask. 7. Wat guidance would you offer to someone trying to get te most from teir SSFA application? Tere are now elp tabs available on te NAFN site, wic appear as small blue question marks. I would advise anyone to click on tese prompts for assistance. We also ave NAFN in-ouse training tat is becoming available once a mont were investigators can receive training on te use of te NAFN system. Were te demand is in place we are also able to visit autorities to provide presentations and training on site. 8. Wat s te strangest case you ve dealt wit? Tere are too many to single down to an individual one te cases tat always make me cuckle are were te individual is living in a property in te middle of winter wit no eating or ligting because tey like living in te dark. 9. Wat advice would you give to someone wo feels tey ve reaced a dead end in an investigation? Give NAFN a call and anyone of us will ave a cat wit you, tere may be someting you aven t considered looking into or didn t know we could obtain for you. 10. Finally, wat s te worst job you ve ever done? Wilst I was a student at college and university I spent many weekends working witin te frozen food section of a large local supermarket, te banter wit colleagues was good altoug te conditions were pretty cilly. James is currently delivering a series of free one day courses at te NAFN Nort office. Attendees can learn ow to navigate te NAFN website better, as well as learn more about using RIPA, and wat is available under DPA. Please nort@nafn.gov.uk wit te number of places required to receive dates of availability.

8 SUCCESS STORIES Cleaner Comes Clean A pensioner wo falsely claimed benefits from Mancester and Tameside Councils as finally ad to come clean. Te woman received almost 16,000 wort of ousing and council tax benefit before Tameside Investigators pulled te plug on te deception. Te claimant, wo did undeclared work as a cleaner for five years, also failed to admit tat se ad inerited 33,000 from er late fater s estate. Te fraud was discovered after an HBMS capital matc found undeclared bank accounts in te woman s name. Tameside Investigators asked te claimant to provide statements due to ig interest payments on te accounts. Wen se only supplied partial details NAFN was able to fill te gaps. We approaced HBOS for te remaining statements to complete te full picture, wic sowed regular earnings and considerable capital. Te woman was ordered to pay 3,500 in fines and costs of 820 after admitting to te fraud. We re glad we could elp Tameside Council notc up anoter success! Trouble at Mill A man claimed nearly 17,000 in benefits before Investigators proved is undeclared partner was living wit im and working. Te pair, wo lived in a converted cotton mill in Greater Mancester, ad been living togeter for over tree years wilst claiming ousing benefit, council tax benefit, and income support. Te fraud was discovered after an anonymous allegation placed te partner at te property. NAFN was te first port of call for te investigator, wo approaced us for credit cecks under SSFA. Intelligence Officer Tracy Fort returned te Experian and Equifax results te following day. Tese formed te starting point for te investigation into teir financial interdependency. On proving te case, te man was given a 12 mont community order wit 250 costs to pay. Te DWP are currently seeking to recover te overpayment. NAFN officers provide tousands of Experian and Equifax searces for living togeter cases eac year. Tis is just one example of ow te umble credit ceck forms te foundation of many a successful case. Mum s te Word A single moter kept quiet about er live in boyfriend to fraudulently claim 6,000 in ousing and council tax benefit, and income support. Te couple, wo lived togeter at two claim addresses, were foiled after teir suspicious landlady questioned wy te boyfriend ad asked not to be named on te tenancy. Te investigator used NAFN from te outset, asking us to provide credit cecks at te claim addresses for bot parties. We also provided utility and telepone subscriber cecks tat corroborated te landlady s allegation. We finally assisted te investigator in obtaining witness statements to take to court. After building a strong case te investigator secured a successful prosecution. Te claimant was found guilty of benefit offences and will be sentenced sortly. Te defence added tat te couple ad been in an unstable relationsip and te partner ad since left for good, so te young mum was literally left olding te baby.

9 ANY OTHER BUSINESS? Social Security Fraud Act Website Queries Wen adding an SSFA enquiry te website you will see a notice stating Te potential maximum cost for tis enquiry is 100. Please be aware tat tis carge is in respect of Witness Statements from selected information providers only. A minority of IP s levy a carge for te Witness Statements required to support evidence obtained using te SSFA. All oter enquiries made under te above act are free of carge, including credit istory files for Experian & Equifax. You will be notified in advance of te request being processed if a carge applies. Unautorised Enquiries Wen submitting your enquiries te penultimate page asks Do you want to add anoter enquiry? Please note tat tis refers to adding anoter request to te same case only. If you ave finised adding requests for tat particular case, you must click NO in order to submit your request(s) to NAFN or for autorisation. If you navigate away from tis page witout clicking NO your enquiries will remain in te Unautorised Enquiries section of te website and will not be submitted for processing.

10

11 STOP PRESS... Pass it on! NAFN can be used by all departments of a member autority; tis can assist in reducing costs by saring membersip across cost centres. Please pass tis newsletter on to oter departments to ensure tat everyone at your autority is aware of NAFN services, and wat we can do for tem. Easter & Royal Wedding Closure Bot offices will be closed for te following dates; Good Friday 22nd April Easter Monday 25t April Te Royal Wedding 29t April May Day Bank Holiday 2nd May Tat s all from te NAFN newsletter for anoter season. Tanks for reading, and enjoy te Easter olidays. For more information please contact: Jeremy Frost on jeremy.frost@nafn.gov.uk