Freud speech on benefit fraud confused

Criminal gangs who cheat the taxpayer out of billions through benefit fraud face a lifetime ban on claiming welfare under a new crackdown, reports the Daily Mail.

Lord Freud said officials will use the latest technology to cross reference Government and consumer computer databases to identify emerging patterns of fraud.

Speaking yesterday at the Institute of Revenues, Ratings and Valuation annual conference, Lord Freud said:

We will put a stop to the fraudsters who infiltrate and steal money from our benefit system. Criminal gangs and identity fraudsters who persistently steal money meant for the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society will be severely punished.

We will track them down using the latest technology and when they have been caught and prosecuted, we will strip them of their assets and ban them from claiming benefits for long periods.

‘Arguably that should be for life in the most serious cases. If the gangs have come from abroad, we will deport them. (Even when they are from other parts of the EU? I doubt it.)

‘We are launching a major new initiative to fight organised benefit crime – one that not only prevents fraud, but detects, punishes, deters people from going down this criminal path.

The DWP said the rules, to be unveiled over the next few weeks, will target organised criminal gangs and identity fraudsters rather than punish those who are simply baffled and genuinely misunderstand the system. But what about the thousands of deliberate individual frauds like those featured here week in week out?

A simpler benefits system which will reduce opportunities for fraud and error will also be introduced.

Ministers will be looking at a wide range of sanctions for low-value fraud, "including non-criminal fines" (someone should tell the DWP that such penalties exist already) – but they warn that tougher punishments will apply to those who are prosecuted ‘so that no one is under any illusion that the Government takes benefit fraud extremely seriously’.

Earlier this year, six Czechs were jailed for a total of 30 years over a highly-organised tax credits fraud which allowed them to rake in more than £450,000. Thirty-six-year-old ringleader Petr Bogar set up a building firm in Gateshead, and then flew fake employees into Britain to claim benefits.

Last year, DWP investigators undertook more than 1,200 organised fraud investigations. More than 90 per cent of the cases led to prosecutions, with some getting between five and seven years’ imprisonment.

At the start of the article, "fraud and error ... costs taxpayers at least £5 billion a year". By the end of the piece the problem has grown so much that

The £5billion extent of fraud includes £3.1billion in benefits and £2.1billion in tax credits.

Those would be the most realistic figures yet from government if anyone had actually announced them.

But there seems to be no new policy announcement about routine benefit fraud - which is what most offends voters.

That's what they see with their own eyes.