A correspondent writes:

The cost of paying huge sums to courts, for judges and solicitors to prosecute over small individual amount and then jail people which also costs huge sums is a foolish way to deal with a problem.

Stop being prejudiced. Fraud exists throughout the class spectrum. The cost of tax fraud and evasion is 10 times higher and costs £40 billion, 40 times more than the £1.1 billion that benefit fraud costs. - stats national fraud office.

First, there's always another problem that looks bigger, but it doesn't follow that everyone should concentrate on the biggest one and ignore the rest.

Second, it's easy to show benefit fraud's probably at least £3.5bn - see here and comments in this blog from people who work in the system and say I've understated it. Others have contacted me privately saying the same.

Third, public prosecution has a deterrent effect. Imagine how much benefit fraud there would be if no one was ever prosecuted for it.

Finally, if you choose to visit a site or blog about benefit fraud, don't be surprised if it turns out to be discussing ... benefit fraud.