Social Security Benefits

(asked on 19th November 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria that are used by the Risk Review Team to prompt an investigation into a benefit claim.


Answered by
David Rutley Portrait
David Rutley
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 30th November 2021

The Risk Review Team (RRT) was created in May 2020 as a direct response to threats identified by the Department’s Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service (IRIS).

IRIS brings together the Department’s Risk and Intelligence Service, our Cyber Resilience Team and our co-ordination of our response to Serious and Organised Crime activity.

Last year, IRIS coordinated the detection of, and response to, fraud risks from organised crime groups seeking to exploit COVID-19, which meant that systematic attacks on the benefit system were detected and shut down. In this way cyber colleagues prevented an attack by organised criminals which would have seen £1.9 billion in benefits being paid to people trying to scam the system.

The role of the RRT is to review and take action on cases identified by IRIS as being a high fraud risk.

The numbers engaged in RRT activity have fluctuated dependant on the numbers of claims identified. However, 165 full time equivalent staff are currently engaged on the RRT.

The methods used to identify cases that are reviewed by the RRT are sensitive and, as such, we are not able to provide the mechanics of how they are identified. By putting such methods – or the guidance to the team – in the public domain, we would risk undermining the ability of DWP to detect and counter fraudulent threats.

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