Universal Credit fraud referrals total 42,000: minister

LONDON: Fraud referrals linked to the government’s flagship welfare reform project number 42,000, according to a work and pensions minister.

Justin Tomlinson said the figure represented around 1 per cent of the total 4.4 million claims made under Universal Credit (UC), which merges six benefits into one payment. He also labelled benefit fraudsters targeting UC as “parasites” and said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) would use the “full force of the law” where appropriate.

Tomlinson’s remarks came as MPs demanded answers following a BBC report which found criminals have been exploiting a loophole in the online claims system to apply for UC and claim loan advances on behalf of people who have no idea they are being signed up for the benefit.

According to an internal DWP message board, the suspected bogus claims included a 19-year-old with six blind children and claimants with names taken from characters in The Simpsons cartoon series.

Speaking in the Commons, Tomlinson said 42,000 “staff referrals for fraud have been brought forward”, adding: “Every case that is referred to us is taken very seriously and we will use the full force of the law where appropriate.”

SNP work and pensions spokesman Neil Gray, who secured the urgent question on the issue, said people were “desperately needing help” because of the fraud. He said: “They are being pushed into serious debt because of these actions of these appalling scammers.”

He added: “It’s also worth pointing out that from the cases we have heard, people have been doubly hit by their money being stolen by scammers and then having to pay it back because the DWP know that it is an advance payment which, as we all know, is a loan.” Responding, Tomlinson said: “We will look at each of the cases that are raised and where it is clear the claimant is an innocent victim who has been targeted then there would be an expectation that they wouldn’t pay that back.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Margaret Greenwood said UC was “clearly failing” to reduce social security fraud and protect people from poverty. She raised questions about the verification system, asking: “How is it then that advances have been made to claimants with names such as Lisa Simpson, Bart Simpson and Homer Simpson?” Tomlinson reiterated that issues of fraud, error and overpayments were taken seriously by the government.

Labour’s Mel Onn (Great Grimsby) said the public would be “incredulous at the level of incompetence” around UC. She said: “How can it be possible that a brand new system is open to grotesque fraud, as has been revealed this week? Is the minister seriously expecting us to accept that the Bank of Springfield is somehow an acceptable system that Universal Credit recognises and will allow these payments be paid into?”

Tomlinson replied: “There have been 4.4 million Universal Credit claims, that as it stands today there have been 42,000 referrals — each very, very important — and in context, since January every month we’ve had over 110,000 requests for advance payments and

we’ll continue to tighten up the procedures using real-time information, data matching, digital platforms so we can be as robust as we can. But we must not lose sight of being able to make sure vulnerable claimants have access to funding as quickly as possible.”