Fraud
(asked on 28th October 2024) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of fraud in each of the last five years.
No. of estimated fraud incidents against individuals | Year Ending June | ||||
2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
4,332,000 | 5,035,000 | 3,819,000 | 3,335,000 | 3,560,000 | |
The ONS’ Crime Survey for England & Wales (CSEW) has been used to assess trends in the level of estimated fraud against individuals in England and Wales in each of the last 5 years (Year ending June 2020 to Year ending June 2024)1.
Estimated incidents of fraud peaked sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a peak of over 5 million incidents in 2021. Fraud incidents then declined gradually, falling to 3.335 million incidents in YE June 2023.
The latest CSEW data shows that, in the year ending June 2024, there were an estimated 3.560 million incidents of fraud against individuals in England and Wales.
This Government takes the treat of fraud extremely seriously, and is committed to bring forward a new, expanded fraud strategy covering all elements of pernicious and damaging crime.
1 The CSEW only represents estimated incidents of fraud against individuals in England and Wales and does not capture fraud against businesses or HMG. Therefore, the true scale of fraud is likely to be larger than the figures presented above.