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Fraud: Social Security Benefits

Answer

Pursuant to the answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, columns 244-46W, the number of men and women found guilty for offences relating to benefit fraud by court type in England and Wales from 2008 to 2012 (latest data available) is shown in the following table.

Please note that court proceedings statistics for the year 2013 are planned to be published by the Ministry of Justice on 15 May 2014.

Males and females found guilty for benefit fraud1, by court type, England and Wales, 2008-122, 3, 4
Court type	Gender	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Magistrates court	Male	3,228	2,437	2,210	2,161	3,026
	Female	3,695	2,935	2,582	2,337	3,314
Crown court	Male	343	394	393	370	277
	Female	504	576	627	622	484
1 Includes the following offences: Social Security Administration Act 1992 added by Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997—Dishonest representation for obtaining benefits Social Security Administration Act 1992—False representation. Contravention of regulations etc. Social Security Administration Act 1992 as amended by Social Security Act 1998—Knowingly being concerned in fraudulent evasion of contributions. Social Security Administration Act 1992—Illegal possession of documents relating to benefits etc. 2 The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 4 Excludes those cases where the defendant’s sex was ‘not stated’. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services: Ministry of Justice.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

197883; 580 c474W

Session

2013-14

Related items

Fraud: Social Security Benefits
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Written questions
House of Commons

Subjects

Crown Court Fraud Magistrates' courts Social security benefits

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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