Declarations or acknowledgements

Summary

Use declarations or acknowledgments to both communicate and confirm that a person understands their obligations and the consequences for non-compliance. The declaration could be written or verbal, and should encourage compliance and deter fraud.

Why this countermeasure matters

Not requiring declarations or acknowledgements may lead to:

• staff, customers and third parties committing reckless acts of fraud or error because they are not aware of their obligations and the consequences for non-compliance
• applicants providing false information or misleading statements to support a request or claim
• applicants concealing or withholding information that would affect their entitlement.

How you might apply this countermeasure

Some ways to implement this countermeasure include:

• requiring clients to complete a declaration when submitting a claim or request such as 'I declare the information provided is true and correct and I acknowledge the consequences for providing false or misleading information'
• requiring staff to sign a confidentiality declaration or acknowledgement confirming the applicant has read and understood privacy and information access policies
• requiring a statutory declaration to be provided with a claim or request
• completing an integrity review for all research reports before publishing, using a specific process and system
• obtaining consent from staff, recipients, contractors or providers for their personal information (including banking information) being shared to prevent, detect or investigate fraud.
• obtaining consent from contractors or providers to give access to premises/records to investigate fraud.

How to check if your countermeasures are effective

Here are some ways to measure the effectiveness of this type of countermeasure:

• confirm declarations and acknowledgements exist on relevant forms
• confirm the completion of a declaration or acknowledgement is mandatory and/or has legal effect
• review the content and wording to make sure it clearly encourages compliance and deters fraud
• check where/how records of completed declarations or acknowledgements are kept
• consult behavioural insights experts about the declarations and acknowledgements
• ask staff about their understanding of the declaration and the consequences for non-compliance.