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Written question asked by Lord McCabe (Labour) on Wednesday, 10 July 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 July 2019 (named day). It was answered by Lord Sharma (Conservative) on Monday, 15 July 2019 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Universal Credit: Fraud

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on the extent to which fraudulent claims for universal credit have been made by people using a loophole in the online application process to make an application and claim an advance using another person’s information.

Answer

The Department is committed to bringing fraudsters to justice. Last year we, working alongside local authorities, recovered more than £1.1bn in fraud and error across all benefits and brought almost 5,000 prosecutions in 2017/18.

As of June 2019, the Department has received around 42,000 fraud referrals from staff relating to potential fraudulent advance claims, which equates to less than 1 per cent of all Universal Credit claims.

Our investigations are ongoing and we are therefore unable to provide details of how many may have used another person’s identity to make their claim, or to quantify the amount spent on investigations of this type. However, any cases in which this has occurred will be treated accordingly, with the continued use of both prosecutions and tough financial penalties to deter this fraudulent behaviour.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
275665
Session
2017-19
Related items
Universal Credit: Fraud
Monday, 22 July 2019
Written questions
House of Commons
Universal Credit: Fraud
Thursday, 5 September 2019
Written questions
House of Commons
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Applications Fraud Internet Personation Universal credit
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk