Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have been asked to pose with photos of street signs and the day's local newspaper to establish their identity.

Asking claimants to upload photographs is a targeted approach to verify evidence in cases where we have intelligence to suggest there is a medium to high risk of fraud.

We do not hold exact figures on the number of cases where photographs have been requested with prescribed background settings, but I can confirm that this only affects a very small proportion of claimants.

This approach is proving to be an effective measure in our efforts to identify and stop fraudulent claims. With overall benefit fraud costing the taxpayer £6.3bn in 2020/21, taking appropriate preventative action is the right thing to do.