Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were charged with benefit fraud in each year from 2010 to date; and how many of those people served a custodial sentence as a result of that benefit fraud.

The Counter Fraud and Compliance Directorate (CFCD), part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for the prevention, detection and where appropriate, investigation of Fraud and Error against all benefits administered by and on behalf of DWP.

DWP does not hold these data requested. However, Ministry of Justice has said The number of defendants proceeded against for benefit fraud offences and offenders sentenced to immediate custody for these offences in England and Wales 2010 – 2016 can be found by going to the ‘outcomes by offence’ tool at –

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/614418/cjs-outcomes-by-offence-tool-2016.xlsx

and selecting the following offences from the Offence filter:

• 53.3 Benefit fraud offences - triable either way, and
• 151 Benefit fraud offences – summary.