Social Security Benefits: Fraud

(asked on 19th December 2023) - View Source
Questioner
Chris Stephens Portrait
Chris Stephens
(Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff in his Department investigate benefit fraud; and what recent estimate he has made of the cost of fraud to the public purse in the last 12 months.

Answered by
Paul Maynard Portrait
Paul Maynard
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 8th January 2024

The latest information of the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staff who are in paid employment and undertake investigations on benefit fraud is in the table below:

Nov

DWP Product

2023

CFC ESOC

527.7

CFC Fraud Investigations (Including Surveillance)

627.05

Totals

1154.8

Please note the following caveats

  • Data is drawn at the end of each month. Data is correct as of end of November 2023.
  • Figures were derived from the Department’s Activity Based Model (ABM), which provides Full Time Equivalent (FTE) figures based on point in time estimate by Line Managers. They cover only FTE of staff with paid employment. They have been rounded to one decimal place.
  • Figures include all staff on CFC Economic Serious Organised Crime and CFC Investigations including staff undertaking surveillance activities.
  • The data is frequently revised and changes to definitions / benefits / DWP structure effect comparisons over time. It should therefore be treated with caution and must be seen as an indication of how staff have been deployed.
  • The number of staff is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal department use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics standard. As the Department holds the information, we have released it.

Information on the cost of fraud to the public purse has been set out in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23. DWP annual report and accounts 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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