Benefit fraud - The facts » Bill payments » 24dash.com

The track record of the Department of Work and Pensions in recovering money lost to fraud has been described as "embarrassing".

Now plans to check voice stress levels to catch benefit cheats are to be extended nationwide in a bid to save £30 million a year.

Benefit fraud - The facts:

• Benefit fraud is estimated to have cost taxpayers £800 million in the period 2006/7.
• This figure represents about 0.6% of the £120 billion annual benefits bill.
• Around 18 million people received benefits of one kind or another in 2006/7.
• According to a National Audit Office (NAO) report produced for MPs in January, the £800 million fraud figure represented a substantial fall from the £2 billion estimated for 2000-01 - a drop the report described as "a substantial achievement" by the staff of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
• The same report said: "However, losses due to fraud are still a significant drain on the public purse."
• According to the NAO, the DWP spent about £154 million in 2006/07 to identify an estimated £106 million of benefits which had been overpaid as a result of fraud. This suggests the department is currently spending £1.50 to identify £1 of overpayments. The NAO admitted these figures did not take into account the deterrent effect of public clampdowns.
• The NAO said the DWP actually recovered just £22 million of fraudulent overpayments in 2006/7 due to regulations covering the amount of cash which can be taken from people still receiving benefits. The outstanding debt is estimated to be around £339 million.
• Tory MP Edward Leigh, chairman of the House of Commons public accounts committee, said in January the track record of the DWP in recovering money lost to fraud was "frankly embarrassing".
• The area of the benefits system which has been targeted most my fraudsters is Income Support, which accounts for about £210 million of overpayment a year.
• Around 4,000 people are directly employed in countering benefit fraud.
• The DWP has launched a series of high profile campaigns to deter fraudsters. The latest No Ifs, No Buts initiative stresses the point that benefit fraud is theft.
• The DWP uses a variety of other strategies to counter fraud including the National Benefit Fraud Hotline, undercover investigation and computer-based investigations which compare applicants' recorded information to seek out inconsistencies
• In 2006/7 the hotline received 280,000 calls. The NAO said for every £1 spent on this service, around £16 of overpayments was identified.
• In 2006/7 there were around 6,700 successful prosecutions of benefit fraudsters.
• The 2008 NAO report said: "The United Kingdom has levels of social security fraud and error which are similar to those in comparable countries, but.....the Department for Work and Pensions has a better understanding than other nations of the problems and, on the basis of that research, is doing more to tackle them."