Fraud Bill targets benefits cheats
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Your support makes all the difference.New powers allowing social security officials to fine and caution people who make fraudulent claims are being planned by ministers.
The measures, likely to be included in a Fraud Bill which will feature in this week's Queen's Speech, will boost the Government's bid to crack down on fraudsters who are estimated to cost the Government around pounds 3bn a year.
Of the 400,000 people who each year make incorrect claims, only the most serious offenders - a small proportion - are prosecuted.
The Government wants new sanctions in addition to current powers to recover money which has been claimed fraudulently. This would help target people who have been caught but have so far escaped any penalty.
One new proposal is a caution, which would warn fraudsters that if they offended again, they would be prosecuted.
More serious offenders, who admitted their offence when caught, would be forced to pay a penalty on top of the repayment of any money claimed illegally. They too would be receive a caution.
The fine would be deducted from future benefit entitlements, with the money taken in weekly instalments. Social security staff would probably not be able to deduct more than 20 per cent from benefit pay-outs, but could carry on reclaiming the sum over a long period.
The department feels that removing more benefit than that would risk leaving people in dire financial straits.
Proponents argue that because the new fining powers would only affect those claimants who admitted their guilt, the measures would not put civil servants in the position of being judge and jury.
Ministers at the Department of Social Security are pressing for the measures to be included in the Fraud Bill which is designed to allow the Benefits Agency to examine Inland Revenue data - thereby coordinating the battle against fraud.
Earlier this year Peter Lilley, Secretary of State for Social Security, launched a new initiative to tackle fraud which included a free telephone hotline for people to inform on benefits cheats. That initiative, together with the department's Spotlight campaign, has been hailed by ministers as a big success.
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