Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to (a) identify and (b) reduce fraud within the benefits system.

The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) estimates on the value of both fraud and error in the benefit system, can be found in our annually published statistical report on the Monetary Value of Fraud and Error. Reports for each of the last ten financial years can be found at:

Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

This year’s figures show that the work we have been undertaking to reduce Fraud and Error is having an impact, with the headline rate of overpayment having decreased by 0.4% from 4.0% to 3.6%.

Our Fraud Plan, Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System, published on 19 May 2022, sets out our approach and explains how additional investment is allowing us to recruit 1,400 more staff into our counter-fraud teams and develop enhanced data analytics as a means of preventing and detecting fraud and error.

Additionally, we are creating a dedicated team to deliver Targeted Case Reviews of existing Universal Credit claims. This supports wider Government aims of strong oversight and control and efficiently managing the public purse. Over the next five years we expect to review millions of potentially high-risk claims, including suspicious cases which entered our system at the height of the pandemic.

More information on our Fraud Plan, which also explains our ambition to modernise and strengthen our legislative framework, can be found here:

Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).