More than 20 million people across the UK are claiming State Pension or benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to help with the additional costs of day-to-day living. However, earlier this year, the DWP shared details of a new £613 million plan to stop an estimated £4 billion being lost in fraud and error over the next five years.
Between 2021 and 2022, there have been 600 convictions for benefit fraud across the UK and the ‘Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System’ plan outlines how the DWP is creating a new 2,000-strong team dedicated to reviewing more than two million existing Universal Credit claims.
This new team will review the entitlements and circumstances of Universal Credit claims that the DWP deems are at risk of being incorrect, including suspicious cases which entered the system during the height of the pandemic - this review is expected to stop around £2 billion of losses due to fraud and error over the next five years.
