The UK Government estimates that fraud and error loss outside of the tax and welfare system cost central government between £2.7 billion and £20.3 bn in 2016-17. That’s according to the Cabinet Office has brought out ‘Cross-government fraud landscape annual report 2018’. The 40-page document covers fraud and error loss and what government is doing about it.
The huge range in the estimate further contrasts with what the document admits is the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of known loss – fraud and error loss that government departments detect amounts to only £191m. The document puts the upper and lower range for likely losses in unmeasured areas of government spend at between 5pc and 0.5pc of expenditure, although it’s believed ‘likely that the true scale of fraud and error loss lies towards the lower end of this range’.
In 2016-17 government departments reported a total of 11,530 fraud allegations, a 32 per cent increase on 2015-16. While the report did not spell out whether this was due to more actual crime or simply more reporting and awareness, the report did describe the increase in the volume of suspected fraud as ‘a key indicator of our ability to reinforce the right culture where we acknowledge that fraud exists, and where staff are confident in identifying and reporting fraud’.
In a foreword, Cabinet Office minister Chloe Smith said: ” In central government, we are now talking more about fraud and have changed our culture from one that can dis-incentivise the detection of fraud, to one that actively promotes it.” She said the UK Government had made ‘considerable progress’ in the last year that showed the government’s ‘strong commitment’ to combating public sector fraud. “As well as putting the structures in place to professionalise our staff, we are also working with other countries to share best practice on countering fraud and economic crime.”
The report notes that in October the government launched ‘a counter fraud profession’, with over 3,000 public sector members. The Cabinet Office has run data sharing pilots in Personal Independence Payments (PIP), Legal Aid applications, Northern Ireland healthcare provisions and student loan applications.
To view the document visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cross-government-fraud-landscape-annual-report-2018.
