Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many individuals have been ordered to make repayments to the Department after being convicted of benefit fraud in a) 2025 and b) 2026.

We take action to recover debt on every conviction for benefit fraud through our debt recovery processes or through recovery under the Proceeds of Crime Act where appropriate.

The fraud classification on our Debt Management system includes people who have accepted a caution or an administrative penalty, as well as those who have been convicted. We cannot identify if someone has been specifically convicted of benefit fraud without looking at each individual case.

We do however report on the number of prosecutions yearly in the Annual Report and Accounts. Last years can be found here: DWP Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 25, page 114.

Figures for year ending 25/26 will be published in summer 2026.