WIREDGOV

Plans designed to stop fraudsters using the identities of the deceased have been strongly backed in a consultation exercise.

A joint consultation analysis report was published yesterday by the Registrars General for England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The report provides analysis of responses to questions on proposals for a data release scheme aimed at stopping fraudsters from using the identities of dead people.

Identity fraud, of which Impersonation of the Deceased (IOD) fraud is a type, costs the UK economy in excess of £1 billion a year.

Timely disclosure of death registration information will help the police, other law enforcement bodies and public and private sector organisations to deal with offences and identify cases of attempted fraud by criminals using the personal details of the deceased. This will not only help to combat Impersonation of the Deceased fraud, but will also reduce the impact on relatives of the deceased who have to deal with the consequences of the identity of their loved ones being stolen.

The consultation exercise, which ended on March 6, allowed the Registrars General to seek views on how the information should be released. A total of 72 responses were received to the consultation, the majority of which were supportive of the proposals for the data release scheme. Comments received will inform the next phases of the work through to implementation later this year.

Background

Registrars General have statutory responsibility for the system under which births, deaths, adoptions, marriages and civil partnerships are registered. Civil registration has a vital role in securing and protecting basic human rights by providing a name and identity within society, a facility for marriage and civil partnership, evidence of parentage and evidence of entitlement to inheritance.

The three General Register Offices (GROs) are independent of each other, governed by separate legislation and accountable to different parts of government within the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, the GROs have a common purpose, many similar processes and, within each jurisdiction, the local registration service is administered in partnership between the GRO and local government.

Since the introduction of civil registration in the mid 19th century, society has changed dramatically. GROs across the UK are currently engaged in a programme of modernisation to enhance service delivery by investing in modern IT systems and, where an opportunity presents itself, bringing forward changes in legislation.

New legislation confers powers on the Registrars General to supply bulk information contained in any register of deaths to the police and other organisations in a timely manner for use only in the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of offences.

Identity fraud is widely recognised as a significant problem that can partly be addressed by wider sharing of information across government and the private sector. In particular, helping to address IOD fraud, a variant of identity fraud, has become an important policy objective.

Criminals can commit IOD fraud by using the obituaries column of a local newspaper, or other means, to identify someone who has recently died and obtaining more information about the deceased to build up an identity. This identity is used to access existing bank, building society or credit accounts or to apply for new financial services in the name of the deceased.

Every death must be registered within five days or in the case of Scotland eight days. The Registrars General are required to provide an index of all the records they hold. Death registration information is therefore already in the public domain as soon as a death is registered.

While the fraudster is obtaining sufficient information to impersonate the deceased, organisations with which the deceased had financial dealings may be unaware of the death. Sharing death information more widely, shortly after a death is registered, will significantly reduce the opportunity for fraud.

A Cabinet Office study in 2002 estimated that identity fraud, of which IOD fraud is a part, costs the UK £1.3bn per annum. Further work by the Home Office Identity Fraud Steering Committee published in 2006 indicated that the cost had increased to £1.7bn. CIFAS estimates that there were 70 000 instances of IOD fraud in 2004 and that the current rate of growth will see this reach 100 000 by 2007.