21 July 2005 - Housing Benefit fraud and error goes down, new figures show
Fraud and error in Housing Benefit is estimated to have fallen by £50 million since 2002/3, according to official figures published today.
Fraud in Housing Benefit is estimated to have fallen by about a third since 2002/3.
Anti-fraud Minister James Plaskitt said: “It is encouraging to see Housing Benefit fraud going down but we must not be complacent. Fraud is a serious offence that will be dealt with severely – tax payers’ money shouldn’t have to subsidise rents paid by criminals.
“We need to make sure our system is watertight to stop fraudsters in their tracks. We will redouble our efforts to make sure that there are strong controls on processing benefit claims.”
Estimates show that around £600m of Housing Benefit has been lost to fraud and error between October 2003 and September 2004 which is 4.9 per cent of total expenditure. In 2002/3 around £650m is estimated to have been overpaid.
The figures indicate an estimated £20m or six per cent cut in Housing Benefit fraud and error for working age customers. This is progress towards the DWP’s target to reduce fraud and error by 25 per cent by 2006 in working age claimants.
Strategies are in place to prevent fraud and error entering the system and to identify any that arises. These include:
- Working with local councils to make sure they implement the Verification Framework which helps prevent fraud entering the system.
- Improving the way DWP and the Inland Revenue shares information with local councils to help them assess claims accurately and keep up to date with claimants’ changes of circumstances.
- Supporting local councils to improve benefit administration through the Benefit Fraud Inspectorate’s Performance Development Teams.
- Further improving the quality of referrals, data matches and risk scoring processes so that fraud investigators can focus their efforts more clearly on those cases at the highest risk of committing fraud.
Notes to editors
- The Department for Work and Pensions has a target to reduce fraud and error in Housing Benefit for working age customers by 25 per cent by 2006.
- The figures are based on a sample of around 10,000 cases. The full report will be available from 9.30am today at www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd2/fraud_hb/fraud_hb.asp
- Figures for fraud and error in Housing Benefit will be published every six months.
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