Reported cases of universal credit claimed fraudulently by misappropriating identity rose from less than 0.01 per cent of total claims in March 2020 to more than 1 per cent in July 2020

Freedom of Information response also reveals that almost 5,000 fraudulent claims were reported between April and August 2020

The number of reported cases of universal credit claimed fraudulently by misappropriating identity rose from less than 0.01 per cent of total claims in March 2020, to more than 1 per cent in July 2020, a DWP response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.

Following the FOI request, submitted on 2 October 2020, that questioned how many households on legacy benefits had reported that a new claim for universal credit had been fraudulently submitted in their name, the DWP has responded - 

'During COVID-19, DWP saw a massive increase in demand and paid an additional 3 million claims. Universal credit stood up well to the challenge. However, we are aware that there have been attempts to claim universal credit fraudulently by misappropriating identity ....'

Based on the number of fraudulent claims reported each month, the DWP outlines that the percentage of these cases, when compared against the total of all new universal credit claims made in that month, is -

NB - the data is based on when the issue was reported, and not necessarily when the allegedly fraudulent claim was submitted.

The DWP adds that it - 

'... has introduced a series of additional checks and countermeasures to prevent this type of fraud occurring happening [and] ... also introduced a new dedicated helpline for such cases to be reported and have carried out a review of our processes to improve responsiveness.'

The FOI request and response is available from whatdotheyknow.com