An estimated £9.5 billion was wasted on fraudulent or mistaken benefit claims last year, a shocking new report has revealed. That is the equivalent of around £254 per UK taxpayer.
Some £1 in every £15 of the total benefits bill was either falsely claimed or paid out in error during 2023-24, according to damning figures from the Department for Work and Pensions ().
A staggering £7.3 billion of the total was lost to outright fraud, which is equivalent to the entire running costs of the .
MPs on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have now slammed the for failing to get a grip on the problem, accusing it of a “dangerous mindset” and insisting that fraud levels are “unacceptably high.”
The all-party report states: “Levels of fraud and error in ’s benefit expenditure remain unacceptably high and have increased since 2022–23.
A staggering £7.3 billion of the total was lost to outright fraud (Image: Getty)
In 2023–24, excluding , 6.7% (£9.5 billion) of benefit expenditure was overpaid and claimants received an estimated 1.6% (£4.2 billion) less than they were eligible for.
“While now expects overpayment levels to come down, it also seeks to defend its current performance by referring to the challenge of working against a “headwind” of an increasing propensity for fraud in society.
“This is a dangerous mindset. We agree with the assessment of the previous Committee that there is no reason why an increasing propensity for fraud must inevitably lead to increasing losses to the taxpayer.
“It is ’s job to improve its defences and ensure benefit claimants receive the right amount of money.”
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP blasted the department’s failure to act, saying:
“We have little sympathy for the ’s argument that this rise is driven by a growing propensity for fraud in society.”
With Labour’s Sir under pressure to tackle Britain’s spiralling welfare bill, the government has vowed to crack down on benefit cheats with new laws designed to hunt down fraudsters and recover stolen taxpayer cash.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has also pledged to press ahead with plans to slash £3 billion from incapacity benefits by 2028, as ministers scramble to fix Britain’s broken benefits system.
The had promised major action on fraud and error, launching a £110 million crackdown and pledging to check millions of Universal Credit claims—but has already fallen short of its savings target, recovering just £90 million instead of the expected £115 million.
Despite the growing scandal, a spokesman defended the government’s approach, insisting its new Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill will save taxpayers £1.5 billion over the next five years.
With benefit fraud spiralling and billions wasted, the public will be watching closely to see if ’s government can finally put a stop to Britain’s benefits free-for-all.
A spokesman told : “The report does not consider that we are already taking action on fraud and error through our new Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill which will help us protect claimants by stopping errors earlier alongside saving an estimated £1.5 billion of taxpayer money over the next five years.”