DWP launches £510m fund to crackdown on benefits fraudsters

A £510 million funding boost targeted at fraudsters lying to the DWP about their benefit claims has been announced today.

The latest official crime figures published last month, showed that there were 5 million fraud offences in the last year, a surge of 32%.

The government says this “crackdown” will include 2,000 trained specialists to review claims by carrying out property checks, following up earning declarations of self-employed claimants and cross-checking bank details.

The department says this scheme builds on the work of its “highly skilled and agile” counter-fraud, cyber security and organised crime teams that they say prevented at least £1.9 billion in benefits scams.

The level of fraud and error in the benefit system almost doubled during the pandemic from what was already the highest rate since records began. Overpayments of benefits now stand at £8.3 billion, 7.5% of the DWP’s overall benefit expenditure—excluding State Pensions—of £111.4 billion.

Thérèse Coffey, Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions, said: “Investing in measures to fight fraud protects honest taxpayers’ money and stops criminals funding their illicit activities off the back of our welfare system.

She went on: “We know the characteristics of a suspicious claim. This half a billion-pound cash injection is a clear message to fraudsters and criminal gangs: Anyone trying to con us will get caught out.”

A recent case handled by the counter-fraud team supported a high value fraud bust with police in Stratford-upon-Avon. Operation Iggy was a sting on a woman who had made 14 Universal Credit claims using false identity documents for a total of £270,000. She was arrested, with the false documents found in her house, and sentenced to 30 months in prison, with DWP now recovering the money.