Under the Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006 and the Police and Justice Act 2006, the Registrars General for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have released death registration information for the purpose of facilitating the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of criminal offences. The Disclosure of Death Registration Information (DDRI) scheme was launched on 16th January 2008 to administer and distribute the death registration information and support the fight against impersonation of the deceased fraud (IOD).
IOD fraud is a rapidly growing form of identity fraud – The Home Office estimate that identity fraud costs the UK economy over £1.7 billion per year. Administered by the General Register Office (GRO) for England & Wales, the DDRI scheme provides successful applicants with a weekly electronic file of UK death registration information so that fraudsters may be quickly identified and dealt with before they can do any fiscal or emotional damage.
Before Tracesmart Corporate became the first approved company to receive the death registration information, we had to fulfil a variety of stringent prerequisites and undergo a full security audit of our site – in particular where the death registration information would be stored, processed and accessed. The GRO established these measures to ensure that the death registration information available via the DDRI scheme is only accessed by appropriate organisations for the purposes for which it is intended.
Uses of Death Registration Information
Now that we have been granted the weekly supply of death registration information from the GRO, the data will be employed as part of the Tracesmart Corporate identity verification and existence check solutions. The implementation of the death registration information offers further preventative measures against IOD fraud and means our customers can exercise KYC (know your customer) measures in line with the current anti-money laundering regulations. Furthermore the implementation of the death registration information allows for the demonstration of quality corporate governance as it shows an interest in protecting customers or scheme members from the negative emotional impact and repercussions of identity theft and fraud.
