The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted it is dealing with a huge amount of cases and a massive court backlog. And they are prosecuting only the most serious "big, organised" fraud cases - leaving some benefit cheats off the hook. Figures show a staggering surge in fraud against taxpayers' money, rising from £2.1 billion back in 2019 to £7.4 billion in 2024. Another £1.6 billion was incorrectly paid out due to what are thought to be genuine errors by claimants.

The spike in fraud has been attributed to a temporary halt in checks during the Covid-19 pandemic, to allow the fast-tracking of benefits to those who were struggling. This pause in checks provided a golden opportunity for fraudsters. But despite the numbers, DWP officials are optimistic they can bring down fraud to pre-pandemic levels - although not until the year 2030. Director General for Fraud, Disability and Health at the DWP, Neil Couling, said: "Fraud is such a big volume that you can't prosecute your way out of this problem. So we are reserving our prosecutions for the most egregious, the big, organised cases.".

He went on to explain: "For individualised frauds, there is a series of administrative penalties we would apply rather than go to the courts, because the courts themselves are very busy with their own backlogs of prosecutions that they are trying to work through." The crown courts currently have a backlog of 73,000 cases of all types awaiting trial. During a session at the House of Commons, Sir Pete Schofield, Permanent Secretary of the Department, highlighted a spike in fraud and error during the pandemic due to a surge in Universal Credit claims. A record 2.4 million applications were received within just three months.

He spoke about the difficulties the department faced: "There were some days where we had 100,000 people claiming in one day and we took a decision that it was a priority for the department to pay people and get people into payment which we were very successful at doing, but the result of that was that we saw fraud and error come into the system.". Reacting to the rise in fraud, the Government is on a recruitment drive to bring in 3,000 new enforcement staff. They are aiming to recoup approximately £2.5 billion by 2030.

A debate was sparked between officials and MPs when senior figures like Sir Pete pointed to an increase in fraud. Statistics reveal an increase in UK residents admitting to fraudulent actions against businesses or public authorities from 8% to 12% in just two years. Sir Pete voiced concerns about a growing tendency towards fraud in society, explaining to MPs: "We are fighting against these headwinds." Mr Couling expressed his agreement, saying: "This looks like a societal challenge.".

On the contrary, Debbie Abrahams, chair of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee, urged caution: "We need to be very, very careful before we make statements about 'this is a societal trend'. It's a very serious accusation to put on the public that we are becoming increasingly fraudulent.". MPs are set to debate proposed legislation this Monday (February 3) that could see benefit fraudsters lose their driving licences for a two-year period. The Government's upcoming Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill also aims to empower the Department for Work and Pensions' serious organised crime investigators with the ability to request search warrants from courts.