Right Benefit Initiative
Financial support for local authorities from the Right Benefit Initiative to reduce Housing Benefit fraud and error.
The Right Benefit Initiative (RBI) replaced the Fraud and Error Reduction Incentive Scheme (FERIS) in 2017/18.
The RBI provides financial support to ensure local authorities (LAs) are resourced to action Optional Real Time Information (RTI) referrals in 2017/18 to reduce Housing Benefit fraud and error. The funding was calculated using LAs working age and pension caseload.
The referrals provide details about Housing Benefit (HB) claimants’ earnings that differ from LA systems using HM Revenue & Customs’ Pay as You Earn information from employers and pension providers.
These referrals will reduce HB fraud and error by making sure HB claims use the most up to date and accurate earnings and pension information.
Guidance about RBI
The Housing Benefit circulars relevant to RBI are A7/2017 and S6/2017. The links to the HB circulars below link to pages that list all the circulars for that year.
Guidance about RTI and Optional RTI
The Housing Benefit circulars relevant to RTI and Optional RTI are A15/2014, A1/2015 and A5/2016. The links to the HB circulars below link to pages that list all the circulars for that year.
Updates to this page
Published 30 May 2017Last updated 29 June 2017 + show all updates
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Added link to 'Real Time Information (RTI) awareness aid for local authorities'.
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First published.