A number of Universal Credit claimants say they have received "bizarre" requests from the Department of Work and Pensions to prove they are entitled to benefit payments. The DWP says it is issuing specific requests in order to verify claims and prevent fraud.
One man shared an image on social media of a letter in which he was asked to upload proof. This proof included: "a full-length photo of yourself stood outside your address, with the door open, showing you clearly have access" along with a utility bill dated within the last three months, and "a selfie with your photo ID (passport) held next to your face."
The man said he found the request 'very weird', and others have described it as "hilarious" and "bizarre." Whilst another added it was "perfectly legitimate", reports Lancashire Live.
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These odd requests come after DWP re-examined 1.1 million Universal Credit claims in July 2022 and found 125,000 had an "element of incorrectness." During lockdown, some evidence checks for new Universal Credit claimants were relaxed due to jobcentres being closed and face-to-face appointments not being possible.
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This decision was made so people who had lost their jobs or had their wages cut could access vital state support as soon as possible. The DWP started revisiting claims made during this period in January 2021, and some people whose Universal Credit applications were approved have reportedly had to pay back all their benefits due to not being eligible for the funds.
The DWP plans to check more than two million Universal Credit cases over the coming five years. In December 2021, it announced it had received £510million of new Government funding to step up the fight against fraudsters.
At the time, the DWP said: "The money will be used to improve the Department’s capability and capacity to detect and deter benefit fraud and catch fraudsters, recovering more taxpayer money that funds essential public services. This crackdown will include 2,000 trained specialists to review claims by carrying out property checks, following up earning declarations of self-employed claimants and cross-checking bank details."
One of the ways the DWP carried out checks in asking for photographs, as some fraudsters use photo-shopped pictures in their attempt to verify a fraudulent benefit claim. A series of images have previously been released where people appeared to have doctored photos to pretend they were living at addresses they had claimed from.
One DWP counter-fraud official said: "These images show some people will try anything to feather their nest but these tactics won’t fly. While we obviously don’t need high tech to know fraud is happening here, this activity reflects the contempt these would-be con artists have for the taxpayer."
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: "When the pandemic hit, we saw a surge in Universal Credit claims, which demanded an extraordinary response to help all those in urgent need.
"Regrettably, unscrupulous fraudsters took advantage but we are rooting them out and have already reviewed 900,000 claims. We made savings from correction and prevention of fraud and error of £2bn last year alone. But we're going much further, through our robust fraud plan to prevent £2bn of loss over the next three years, and over £4bn over the next five years."
Suspected benefit fraud can be reported at this Gov.UK webpage or by calling the National Benefit Fraud Hotline on 0800 854 440.
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