News story

5th September 2002

Government Claims On Benefit Fraud Are The Biggest Fraud Of All

Steve Webb MP, Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions Secretary, commenting on today’s claims by the Department for Work and Pensions that its latest figures on levels of benefit fraud are “good news”, said:

“The Government is making exaggerated claims about its so-called war against benefit cheats. Income Support is the most important benefit targeted by fraudsters, but no progress has been made in reducing this in the last 12 months. Recorded fraud has remained static at £720 million.

“This figure is actually up on 18 months ago, where the amount lost was £705 million. This is hardly a sign of a Government winning the battle on benefit fraud.

“The figures show that the Government is claiming success in meeting its income support targets because officials are making fewer blunders. Whilst this is welcome, it should not be used to cover up the fact that very little progress has been made on reducing actual levels of fraud.

“The Government is talking tough on benefit fraud, but failing dismally in practice. It must start taking effective steps to beat the fraudsters.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

· The Department for Work and Pensions today released the report “Fraud and Error in Claims for Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance from October 2000 to September 2001”. It reveals that losses from fraud and customer error in Income Support, the biggest benefit targeted by benefit fraudsters, remain at £720m - the same as the previous figures for October 1999 to September 2000. Losses in the period April 1999 to March 2000 stood at £705m, showing an increase in the last 18 months.

· This is the latest measurement of the Government’s targets to reduce fraud by 33% by 2004 and 50% by 2006. These anti-fraud targets bundle together fraud figures with official error figures. Only by counting falls in official error can the Government claim to be making major strides in cutting benefit fraud in income support.