‘Disgraceful' theft of housing benefits in Wales

Jan 29 2008 by Steffan Rhys, Western Mail

NEARLY £18m of housing benefit was overpaid to claimants in Wales last year, according to government figures.

The Local Government Data Unit Wales figures also show that only 67% of the overpayments were recovered and that more than £2m of housing benefit was written off completely.

When the total amount of overpayments identified during 2006-07 is added to housing benefit debt outstanding at the start of the year, the figure tops £43m.

Politicians last night said the figures proved there was “widespread fraud taking place in the benefit system”.

There were more than 300,000 housing benefit claimants in Wales last year and it took administrators a total of 5.4m working days to process all new claims during the year, with each new claim taking an average of 31 days to process.

Cardiff had the most claimants with more than 32,300, followed by Rhondda Cynon Taf and Swansea, with 27,800 and 25,200 respectively.

The smallest number of claimants was in Ceredigion, where there were 5,800, while there were 6,000 in Monmouthshire and 6,400 in Anglesey.

The figures also show there were nearly 11,000 potential frauds reviewed by 76 fraud investigators, 1,300 of which resulted in prosecutions.

Though too recent to be included in the figures, one of Wales’ highest-profile prosecutions for benefit fraud is a company director jailed for nine months in November after pocketing £47,000 in benefits by claiming he was too ill to stand up – despite running a successful organ transplant delivery business.

A National Audit Office report last week said benefit fraud and errors in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), until last week headed by Peter Hain, were costing taxpayers across Britain more than £2.5bn a year.

The report also found that for every £1 the DWP saved in benefit fraud it had to spend £1.50, but said the Government was making good progress in tackling benefit fraud.

Last night, politicians criticised the ease with which housing benefit is claimed and said benefit fraud was not being seriously targeted.

Monmouth MP David Davies, who has in the past blamed the welfare system for creating a “huge underclass and a culture of drugs, crime and alcoholism”, said, “There is widespread fraud taking place within the benefit system and not enough is being done to manage it.

“I suspect there is no real drive to sort it out. It just doesn’t seem to be at the top of anyone’s list of priorities.

“Unfortunately, the social security budget is the biggest part of the Government’s budget and people are paying higher taxes because of these overpayments.

“People are getting money when they shouldn’t be and people have a right to ask why that is. Everyone paying taxes should remember that the lion’s share of their taxes is going on the DSS [Department of Social Security, the DWP’s forerunner] budget and much of that is being fraudulently claimed or going to people who aren’t entitled to it.”

Conservative AM Alun Cairns said, “Good government means good management and it’s quite obvious with these breathtaking overpayments that there are huge numbers of fraudulent claims and instances of money being paid out in error.

“Clearly it needs to be tackled as a matter of priority as it is a huge cost to the taxpayer. It is money that could be better used elsewhere.”

The DWP’s anti-benefit fraud Minister James Plaskitt said, “We have had great success in cutting benefit fraud by more than half since 2000 and housing benefit fraud has also been virtually halved since 2002-03.

“Thieves are intent on stealing money from those most in need and we are determined to stop this disgraceful and shameless theft.”