Benefit fraud exaggerated as assessments are “counter-productive”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 4:23 pm

Government figures show that the true cost of incapacity benefit fraud to the taxpayer has been greatly exaggerated by the press, as the majority of lost money is attributable to “official error”.

According to the Huffington Post, 2.4% of claims for incapacity benefits come under the classification of “fraud and error”. Of this figure, just 0.3% can be attributed to fraud – a cost of £20million to the taxpayer. This number is dwarfed by the 1.2% (£70million) lost through “official error” and the 0.9% (£50million) from “customer error”.

These figures appear to combat the impression given by many mainstream tabloids that the incapacity benefit system is “wide open to fraud” by placing the majority of the blame with the government’s own procedures.

Meanwhile, the government has come under criticism for paying benefit fraud investigators Atos Healthcare hundreds of millions of pounds a year to carry out assessments designed to identify those truly in need of assistance. The process is described as “costly and counter-productive”, as the assessors have no knowledge of claimants’ conditions and are not trained to identify them properly. This can lead to poor treatment and false classifications.

According to the Post, there is a risk that those genuinely unable to work may be wrongly classified and forced to comply with strenuous Job Seekers Allowance procedures. Kit Marsters, a journalist, says that “a yearly assessment…carried out by heal professionals would make more sense” rather than specialist benefit fraud investigators. It remains to be seen whether or not the government will reconsider their position.

If you have been accused of benefit fraud, we can help. David Phillips & Partners have over 25 years of experience and specialise in providing expert defence in fraud cases of all types, including tax fraud, VAT fraud and white collar fraud.