Vicky Ford – 2022 Parliamentary Question on Benefit Fraud

The parliamentary question asked by Vicky Ford, the Conservative MP for Chelmsford, in the House of Commons on 5 December 2022.

Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)

What steps his Department is taking to reduce benefit fraud.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mel Stride)

Dealing with fraud is, of course, a key mission for the Department. We have recently announced two tranches of additional investment totalling £900 million to prevent more than £1 billion-worth of fraud by 2024-25.

Vicky Ford

At difficult economic times like this it is particularly important for us to protect taxpayers’ money, so I welcome the Government’s further investment to tackle fraud, but what efforts are they making to address organised crime in the benefits system?

Mel Stride

My right hon. Friend has raised an extremely important matter. Unfortunately, fraud does not happen just at the level of the individual, but involves organised crime as well. Since July 2019, the Department has secured the removal of 1,500 social media accounts, many of which were related to organised crime, and since May 2020 it has suspended 170,000 claims.