Legal News

An all-party committee of MPs is calling on the government to publish more accurate figures showing the true extent of benefit fraud.

A new report published by the Work and Pensions Select Committee says that benefit fraud comprises 0.7% of total spending on welfare benefits – but the public perception of benefit fraud is 34% higher than that.

The committee is calling on the government to published separately figures for benefit fraud and overpayments, so that the true cost of benefit fraud is not confused with overpayments of benefit as a result of errors.

Labour chair of the committee, Dame Anne Begg, said:

“Statistics relating to benefit fraud are often conflated in media reporting with those relating to error – and people’s perceptions of the level of benefit fraud are completely out of kilter with the official estimate.

“This is not helped by the government publishing all of the statistics simultaneously.

“While we understand that the boundary between claimant error and fraud is not always clear, we believe that publishing separate summaries of estimated fraud and error rates would be helpful.”

The committee’s report says that there is twice as much error as actual fraud in the benefits system – an annual cost of £2.3 billion in erroneous overpayments, compared with £1.2bn annually in benefit fraud.

Overpayments can be the result of error on the part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or as a result of claimant errors.

However, the DWP is cracking down on benefit fraud, with more onus being placed on the claimant to make sure they declare monies received for work, or changes in their personal lives which might affect their benefit entitlement.

Duncan Lewis Benefit Fraud Solicitors

Duncan Lewis benefit fraud solicitors can advise claimants facing allegations of benefit fraud on their rights as a claimant and the charges they are facing, including child benefit fraud, housing benefit fraud, Disability Allowance fraud, pension fraud – or fraud charges relating to out-of-work benefits such as Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit.

Duncan Lewis is also a leading firm of Legal Aid solicitors – and can offer legal advice on other types of fraud charges, including:

• Blue Badge fraud
• Boiler room scams
• Company fraud
• Financial fraud
• Mortgage fraud
• Retail fraud
• Tax fraud
• VAT fraud
• Vehicle log book fraud
• Visa fraud.

For expert legal advice on all fraud charges – including benefit fraud – contact Duncan Lewis fraud solicitors on 020 7923 4020.