Written question asked by Jim Cunningham (Labour) on Thursday, 9 December 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 16 December 2010. It was answered by Lord Grayling (Conservative) on Thursday, 16 December 2010 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Social Security Benefits

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what criteria he plans to use to determine whether benefit claimants have deliberately not informed the relevant agency of a change in their circumstances.

Answer: Where a customer deliberately does not inform the Department of a reportable change in circumstance this would constitute benefit fraud. The Fraud Investigation Service investigates cases thoroughly, and an admission of fraud or proof beyond reasonable doubt are the criteria used to determine whether fraud has been committed.The Department takes fraud very seriously and has recently published a new joint strategy with HMRC for tackling welfare fraud and error. This sets out a strong sanctions regime to punish those who are caught of committing benefit fraud and includes a new civil penalty for genuine mistakes.

Secondary information