Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of investigations into benefit fraud result in (a) financial penalties and (b) court convictions.

DWP takes all allegations of fraud seriously, irrespective of reporting method, and will take appropriate action on those cases where there is concern about entitlement.

For regional fraud investigations, conviction data is not currently available for 24/25. There were however 639 prosecutions* (6% of investigations) and 272 Administrative Penalties (3% of investigations) issued.

For serious and economic crime investigations concluded in fiscal year 24/25, there were 26 such convictions** (7% of investigations) and 1 Administrative Penalty (0% of investigations).

Across all fraud investigations concluded in 24/25, 2191 cases had their benefit corrected and 8075 cases resulted in no change.

* Prosecutions refer to cases where the prosecuting authority (Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales, Procurator Fiscal in Scotland) have reviewed the case and have deemed the case suitable for prosecution.

** Please note that due to the length of time to bring a prosecution to conclusion, these conviction numbers will relate to cases commenced in previous years.