Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria his Department uses to distinguish between legitimate and malicious allegations of benefit fraud.
Claimants are formally interviewed, only if sufficient evidence is obtained. When an investigation concludes the alleged fraud is unsubstantiated the investigation is closed with no further action. This can occur at any stage of the investigation and judgement of this is on a case by case basis and influenced only on the basis of established facts, gathered through these processes. This does not necessarily imply this is a malicious allegation.