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Benefit Fraud

Answer

The information requested is not available by individual benefit and comparable information is only available since 1999-2000. The available information is set out in the following tables. The figures in the tables represent the amount of fraud actually detected by the Department’s officials, and reflect the monetary value of adjustment (MVA).The MVA is the difference between the weekly amount of benefit that would have been paid or would have continued to be paid, and the benefit actually paid following the decision maker’s decision on the information gathered. It includes both increases and decreases. The MVA scheme was introduced from 1 April 1999.Instrument of Payment fraudDue to the increase in the number of customers who are paid by direct payment (around 98 per cent. of our customers are now paid in this way, compared to around 34 per cent. in 1999), there has been a very large reduction in the amount of Instrument of Payment fraud, as shown in the following table:

	Instrument of Payment MVA (£)
1999-2000	20,470,863
2000-01	15,302,840
2001-02	9,322,117
2002-03	9,217,555
2003-04	7,916,299
2004-05	4,474,984
2005-06	2,824,939

General Matching ServiceDWP can data match information from across a number of sources, to check:"Whether customers continue to be entitled for benefit; or""That customers’ benefit is being paid correctly."Data matching enables the Department to find inconsistencies in information and therefore identify where people are committing fraud (in addition to identifying customer and official error). For example, if someone was paying national insurance contributions on earned income at a time when their benefit claim showed that they had no earnings, clearly something is wrong.The MVA in respect of the Department’s General Matching Service is as follows, and shows the increased success of various data matching exercises in detecting fraud:

	General Matching Service MVA (£)
1999-2000	951,885
2000-01	1,034,865
2001-02	1,340,080
2002-03	1,672,893
2003-04	1,577,042
2004-05	1,056,966
2005-06	1,324,906

Other benefit fraudBenefit fraud MVA not including MVA from Instrument of Payment fraud and General Matching Service fraud is as shown in the following table.

	Benefit fraud MVA (£)
1999-2000	6,561,497
2000-01	5,771,922
2001-02	5,720,786
2002-03	5,167,365
2003-04	5,095,564
2004-05	5,190,263
2005-06	5,104,595

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

116593; 459 c1081-3W

Session

2006-07

Subjects

Fraud Social security benefits

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk