07 October 2005
The public sector could employ an additional 5,700 doctors, 12,800 nurses or 9,100 police officers annually with the money it loses through two forms of benefit fraud.
A study by the Department for Work and Pensions reveals that the sector is still losing vast sums — around £400m each year — through fraud involving Jobseeker's Allowance and Income Support, despite more fraudsters having been caught and better preventive measures put in place since 1998.
Benefits minister James Plaskitt released estimates of fraud across 11 UK regions on October 3.
London, the most populous area, houses the most prolific offenders. Public authorities in the capital lose as much as £80m annually to JSA or IS fraud. The rest of the Southeast loses a further £68m annually, while authorities in the Northwest (£50m), Scotland (£42m) and Wales (£19m) also lose significant sums.
Earlier this year, the Commons' Public Accounts Committee criticised the DWP for failing to crack down on fraud and error payments effectively.
However, Plaskitt's latest figures compare favourably with past fraud estimates and he claimed that total fraud has halved since 1998. More than £53m of the stolen benefit cash was recovered by the DWP last year, he added.
'We have had real success but we are not complacent,' he warned. Plaskitt this week launched a TV and radio campaign warning potential fraudsters that the DWP had now introduced advanced computer programmes, which enable authorities to share the information about claimants held by different government departments.
PFoct2005
