Information for council tax and housing benefit is not available. The available information for DWP administered benefits is in the following table:
Internet contacts Internet referrals 2008-091 84,852 81,063 2007-08 80,127 78,230 2006-07 71,01 69,866 1 April 2008 to October 2008 Note: The National Benefit Fraud Hotline only started systematically collecting management information on fraud referrals from the 2007-08 operational year.
All reports made to the National Benefit Fraud Hotline via telephone and internet can be made anonymously. No figures are available on the number of occasions when individuals have chosen to identify themselves when reporting their suspicions.
The information in the following table provides aggregated details of outcomes derived from all hotline referrals, which were then followed up by an investigation and how many were successfully prosecuted in the last three years. The outcome data are not currently split into telephone and internet categories.
The available information is in the following table:
2005-061 2006-071 2007-082 Investigations 62,886 51,458 54,284 Prosecutions 811 679 910 Convictions 723 533 664 Recoverable overpayments (£ million) 21 17 18
The following information is available for overall convictions during the same period:
2005-061 2006-071 2007-082 Overall convictions 8,858 6,878 6,107 Notes: 1. Figures for National Benefit Fraud Hotline outcomes from 2005 to 2007 include only FIBS (Fraud Information by Sector) data. 2. Figures for National Benefit Fraud Hotline outcomes for 2007-08 also include FRAIMS (Fraud Referral and Intervention Management System) figures with the exception of ‘Convictions’ as this information is not yet available. 3. The figures in all three tables above relate solely to DWP referrals and outcomes and do not include referrals sent to local authorities by NBFH nor their outcomes.
Information on housing benefit fraud is not available broken down by either gender or by the number that received a custodial sentence.
The available information for total convictions, cautions and administrative penalties for housing benefit is in the following table.
Convictions Cautions Administrative penalties 2004-05 Q1 1,026 1,216 897 Q2 1,238 1,652 1,019 Q3 1,165 1,711 1,184 Q4 1,259 2,070 1,396 Year 4,688 6,649 4,496 2005-06 Q1 1,443 1,925 1,264 Q2 1,449 2,327 1,662 Q3 1,542 2,087 1,502 Q4 1,800 3,369 1,771 Year 6,234 9,708 6,199 2006-07 Q1 1,409 1,991 1,229 Q2 1,471 2,586 1,645 Q3 1,377 2,569 1,676 Q4 1,477 3,205 1,981 Year 5,734 10,351 6,531 Source: Housing benefit administrative returns supplied by local authorities
For DWP-administered benefits, there is no information available prior to June 2007 on departmental systems which provides a break down by gender of convictions, custodial sentences, and court fines.
This information is now being captured on an individual case basis by the Fraud Referral and Intervention Management System (FRAIMS) which was rolled-out on a region by region basis between June 2007 and February 2008.
However, this information cannot currently be extracted from FRAIMS at summary level.
The available information 2005-07 is as follows.
2005-06 Convicted Custodial Cautions Adpens Q1 2,055 113 3,025 2,657 Q2 2,024 88 2,488 3,116 Q3 1,789 87 2,607 2,561 Q4 2,235 102 2,423 2,536 Total 8,103 390 10,543 10,870
2006-07 Convicted Custodial Cautions Adpens Q1 1,972 222 3,282 2,773 Q2 1,790 146 3,221 2,771 Q3 1,408 137 2,970 2,325 Q4 1,708 108 2,503 1,941 Total 6,878 613 11,976 9,810 Source: 2006-07 figures are FIBS (Fraud Information by Sector) only.
For 2007-08 the available data are as follows.
2007-08 Convicted Custodial Cautions Adpens Q1 *1,729 *216 3,878 2,928 Q2 *1,831 *145 4,242 2,713 Q3 *1,429 *130 3,167 1,902 Q4 *546 *94 1,688 870 Total *5,535 *585 12,975 8,413 Notes: 1. For 2007-08 figures marked with an asterisk (“*”) are not yet available from FRAIMS. Therefore, the information for the four quarters represents FIBS data only. Although this information is recorded on individual cases, it cannot be extracted at a summary level. Work is currently being undertaken to enable this to be done. 2. The same applies to providing data on the number of persons being fined following conviction, although it is not envisaged that average fine values will be able to be generated. The amount of fine imposed is a matter for the courts 3. Information has been included in the above tables showing the number of Administrative Penalties issued. 4. Administrative Penalties are used for less serious cases of fraud; those where the overpayment is below £2,000. Formal cautions are designed to correct claimant behaviour by getting them to admit to the offence. Administrative Penalties, which became available through the Social Security Administration (Fraud) Act 1997, give the claimant the opportunity to avoid prosecution by paying a penalty of 30 per cent. of the overpayment, as well as having to repay the overpayment in full. Source: 2007-08 figures are a combination of FIBS (Fraud Information by Sector) and FRAIMS (Fraud Referral and Intervention Management System) data.