Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to detect and prevent benefit claims made using fraudulent identities, fictitious households, or other forms of identity deception; and how many such cases were identified in the latest year for which figures are available.

Identity fraud is a serious criminal offence and one that the Department is committed to tackling.

DWP uses a range of data and analytics to identify claims at risk of fraud so that these claims can be reviewed by relevant DWP teams.

We have specialist teams and robust processes in place to detect fraudulent documents and fraudulent claims and to offer support to anyone who thinks that they may have been a victim of identity fraud. Some information around the losses attributed to fraudulent claims made using a hijacked identity can be found at page 294 of this year’s Annual Report and Accounts ANNUAL REPORT and ACCOUNTS 2025 to 2026, however, it would not be in the public interest to divulge further details of the information requested as it would compromise our ability to prevent and detect fraud.