Universal credit fraud costs taxpayers more than £5bn

Controversial: Politics & Govt Politics & Govt: In The News
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Universal credit fraud is at a record high of 13% of all spending on the benefit, costing the taxpayer £5.6bn.

It marks an increase of almost three-quarters on pre-pandemic fraud levels, and a slight rise on the previous year.

From the start of the pandemic, the government eased certain conditions to allow unprecedented numbers of people to access financial help.

Fraud levels across all benefits were 3%, which the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said was “unacceptable”.

The DWP statistics show one in four claims for universal credit was overpaid - either because of error or fraud.

Someone ought to get a grip on the situation … :scream:

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Absolutely but who? The Civil Servants are soon to be working to rule or going on strike because they have to reduce their headcount by 91K. Plod couldn’t give a flying fart because they probably don’t see it as a major crime. That leaves???

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Let me think … who’s in charge … :thinking:

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Even a glance at the kind of people poncing off the tax paying public it is obvious fraud will be endemic.

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@The_Artful_Todger , £5 billion is chicken feed compared to
creative book keeping losses !!
Donkeyman! :-1::frowning::-1:

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Yup, £35 billion last year….

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2021/sep/16/tax-lost-in-uk-amounts-to-35bn-almost-half-say-campaigners-due-to

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@Maree, Thanks for the figures Maree ??
I couldn’t find them !!
Donkeyman :frowning::frowning:
PS. £35,000,000,000 BILLION !! for the capitalists among us !

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When I saw £5bn, I thought that sounds a lot but needs putting into perspective.

“About 13% of universal credit claims were fraudulent”. Well that puts it into perspective. Even when assuming the journalist thinks of a figure then doubles it.

I can’t understand how this can happen. What is Universal Credit anyway? Sounds like some tory bright idea, give it away to whoever asks.

But if “About 13% of universal credit claims were fraudulent”, how do they know that and what are they doing about it?

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@d00d So does that mean that universal credit claims are £50 billion pa ??Bloody hell !!
What with the £35 billion the capitalists are fiddling we could build a
HS2 every year ??
Donkeyman! :frowning::frowning:

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Yeah they could pay for HS3, get them down there digging the dirt.

Sorry, are we talking about capitalists, uni credit fiddlers, or both?

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