A nation of cheats and frauds? The Department for Work and Pensions says benefit fraud will NOT drop to pre-Covid levels due to ‘growing propensity’ to cheat in Britain… with officials pointing to surge in shoplifting

The Department for Work and Pensions no longer expects benefit fraud to return to pre-Covid levels because of a “growing propensity” to cheat across British society.

In the department’s latest annual report and accounts, it was revealed that DWP officials predicted there would be a 5% increase in fraud each year.

During 2023-24, around £9.7 billion of taxpayers’ cash was overpaid on benefits – due to fraud and error – which was 3.7 per cent of total benefit spending.

This compares to £8.3 billion and 3.6 per cent in 2022-23 as benefit overpayment rates continued to remain well above pre-pandemic levels.

The DWP has repeatedly promised to strengthen anti-fraud measures in the wake of the Covid crisis, which has seen a sharp rise in both the number of benefit claims and the rate of fraud.

However, in its annual report it was revealed that officials had defended the failure so far to reduce the rate of social security fraud by pointing to a wider problem in society.

They highlighted a “long-term upward trend in the rate of fraud against organisations”, a “significant increase in shoplifting” and a “softened” approach to benefit skimming.

Campaigners said taxpayers would be left “scared” by the “remarkable revelation” that Whitehall officials “now accept increased fraud as a matter of course”.

“The welfare system is a deliberate target for both organized crime groups and opportunistic individuals,” the DWP’s annual report said.

“A body of evidence shows that there is a long-term increasing trend in fraudulent behavior towards organizations and a softening of attitudes towards fraud in wider society.

“While there may be fluctuations in the data over time, the overall trends appear to be continuing upwards.

“While direct comparisons with trends outside the welfare system are difficult and should be treated with caution, the evidence presented here is sufficiently comparable to suggest that these trends are likely to be reflected in the benefit system.

“This increases the scale of the challenges we face in fraud prevention and detection.”

An attached report from the head of the National Audit Office, Gareth Davies, who is responsible for auditing the DWP’s accounts, revealed that the department no longer expects benefit fraud to return to pre-Covid levels.

Mr Davies wrote: “Forecasts show that the DWP no longer expects Universal Credit fraud and errors to return to levels prior to the significant increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, which it says is due to the company’s growing propensity for fraud.

“The DWP forecasts a 5% increase in fraudulent behavior each year.

“He told us that he could not directly use his fraud and error statistics to assess whether this was an accurate predictor of the increased propensity to commit fraud, but in his performance report he analyzed the variance of the statistics against the forecast.”

Elliot Keck, head of campaigns at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers will be reeling from the remarkable revelation that officials are now taking increased fraud for granted.

“This should be a wake-up call to the political class and the public that the social fabric is disintegrating at an alarming rate, even as the costs to taxpayers and countries look increasingly unsustainable.

“The new Labor government should put this vital issue squarely at the top of its inbox.”