DWP 'benefit fraud' warning as society 'becomes more dishonest'

Britons are increasingly dishonest according to a government report which said benefit fraud cost a record £7.4bn last year.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said that Britain’s “growing propensity to commit fraud” is expected to drive up the figure by more than £2 billion a year.

At the same time, it suggested people are happy to turn a blind eye to wrongdoing with “society increasingly tolerant of dishonesty”.

The DWP warned in its annual report that benefit fraud is likely to rise by 5 percent a year because of a broader social trend that sees people increasingly willing to cheat and steal from businesses and government.

Tolerance of tax evasion and benefit fraud by others has also risen, with officials citing a recent study suggesting that one in five Britons can now be classed as having “low integrity”, up from one in 14 just over a decade ago.

Last year a study by the University of Portsmouth measured people’s integrity based on whether they were prepared to commit “deviant acts”.

It found that the proportion of people who thought it was never justified to falsely claim benefits fell from 85 percent in 2011 to 67 percent in 2023.

Benefit fraud surged during the pandemic and the DWP has warned it is effectively powerless to bring it back down to the levels seen in 2019.

It admitted: “DWP no longer expects Universal Credit fraud and error to return to the levels seen before the significant increase during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

In its annual report, the DWP said that its efforts to combat fraud are running into a “headwind” of an increasingly dishonest society.

It is estimated that £7.4 billion a year is lost to benefit fraud and the DWP warns that the £266 billion welfare budget is a “deliberate target” for organised crime and “opportunistic individuals”.

The DWP said there was wider evidence of dishonesty in society. It pointed to a “notable uptick in shoplifting, which may suggest an increasing motivation to commit fraud/crime in order to ease financial pressure”.

The department linked this rise to the cost of living crisis, however it also cited data from the British Social Attitudes survey to conclude that “attitudes towards benefit fraud have softened”.

The most recent data from that survey shows that 27 percent say it is “not wrong” or only “a bit wrong” for someone on unemployment benefits to take a cash-in-hand job without reporting it, up from 16 per cent in 2016.

The DWP report said: “A range of evidence indicates that there is a long-term rising trend in fraudulent behaviour towards organisations and a softening of attitudes regarding fraud in wider society.

“The overall conclusion of this analysis is that there is an increasing trend in the underlying propensity towards fraudulent behaviour, which can be expected to place an upwards pressure on fraud in the welfare system.”

In the 12 months to March, the government lost about 2.8 per cent of total welfare spending to fraud. This was higher than the previous year and double pre-pandemic levels.

The department estimated that the “long-term behavioural trend” would mean a 5 per cent annual increase in losses from fraud each year over the next five years, suggesting taxpayers would lose £9.5 billion a year to fraud by 2029.

The government said new measures to tackle fraud, including enhanced identity checks, are being used to bring down the cost.

A DWP spokesman said: “This government will not tolerate fraud or waste anywhere in public services, including in the social security system. We are determined to reduce fraud and error and are currently exploring all options on how best to achieve our goal.”