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Written question asked by Lady Hermon (Ulster Unionist Party) on Thursday, 6 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 10 November 2008. It was answered by Tony McNulty (Labour) on Monday, 17 November 2008 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Social Security Benefits: Fraud

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people called the Benefit Fraud hotline in each of the last 12 months; how many of those calls were followed up with an investigation; and how many successful prosecutions for benefit fraud there have been over the same period.
Answer

Every call to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline is examined by the Department. Where there is enough evidence the case is then passed to either the fraud Investigation Service for investigation or to our compliance teams in Jobcentres, who will scrutinise the relevant benefit claim and make adjustments to entitlements. Prosecutions take on average around nine months from investigation to the court case so many of the referrals this year are still under investigation with a view to determining whether a prosecution is in the public interest.Available information is set out in the following table.

Month Number of calls to National Benefit Fraud Hotline Referred to FIS (Intelligence) for further development Referred for criminal investigation Referred for customer compliance investigation
November 2007 23,364 2,648 5,455 3,083
December 2007 10,948 3,394 1,711 3,985
January 2008 26,516 4,553 2,630 5,238
February 2008 21,236 3,334 2,843 6,517
March 2008 18,890 973 2,250 6,114
April 2008 18,482 4,764 3,613 5,659
May 2008 21,346 6,974 3,085 5,683
June 2008 18,737 7,678 3,037 5,366
July 2008 24,935 9,142 3,746 6,536
August 2008 17,400 8,095 3,101 5,289
September 2008 18,709 4,995 3,220 5,141
October 2008 21,884 7,179 3,827 4,392
Notes:
1. Count for number of investigations includes both FIBS and FRAIMS data as final roll out was in February 2008.
2. Number of investigations is generated from the number of referrals/incidents accepted for investigation (those which result in a case being opened)
3. Figures represent GB only (do not include NI).
Source:
FIBS and FRAIMS

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
483 c84-6W; 234765
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Fraud Social security benefits
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk