Three Department for Work and Pensions benefits are most at risk from an Andy Burnham crackdown if he becomes Prime Minister. DWP figures show fraud and error is costing the taxpayer an eye-watering £10 billion a year.
Burnham's Welfare Plans
New Labour Party MP for Makerfield, Mr Burnham, looks set to replace Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. The former Greater Manchester Mayor is vowing a welfare crackdown. “I am not squeamish about saying that the plan would be to reduce the welfare bill,” Burnham told The Times newspaper earlier this month. “Not at all.”
Mr Burnham's comments come as the DWP gains new powers under the Eligibility Verification Measure, allowing staff to get banks to hand over details on claimants.
Benefits at the Centre of New Powers
The three benefits at the centre of the new powers—as well as strict new rules which could see claimants stripped of licences—are Universal Credit (fraud and error rate around eight per cent), Pension Credit, and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
The number of alleged fraudsters facing criminal proceedings has fallen by more than 90 per cent since 2017, figures from The Telegraph show, down from over 4,400 to 385 last year. Convictions have plunged 94 per cent over the same period, with only 461 people convicted of benefits fraud last year, down from almost 8,000 in 2017. These convictions resulted in just 283 individuals being sentenced, down from close to 4,000.
Rising Costs and Fraud
Benefit overpayments have been driven by a surge in fraud, now representing 2.2 per cent of all payouts—more than double the pre-pandemic rate. This costs taxpayers £6.5 billion a year, according to latest figures. The welfare bill is forecast to hit £333 billion this year, according to analysis by the Centre for Social Justice.
Shimeon Lee, a policy analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said taxpayers would be “appalled to see ministers going soft and effectively decriminalising benefit fraud.” He added: “With the welfare bill ballooning and hard-working Brits struggling under a record tax burden, benefit cheats deserve more than a slap on the wrist. The new prime minister must immediately crack down on welfare fraudsters and recoup any money stolen from taxpayers.”
Reactions and Government Response
Sir Iain Duncan-Smith, architect of Universal Credit, said: “They should be keeping up with individual prosecutions to send a message to the public that fraudsters will be caught.” A government spokesman insisted that “benefit fraud will not be tolerated” and that the number of cases is coming down. “We’re delivering the toughest anti-fraud crackdown in a generation, with new powers to catch cheats, a focus on preventing fraud and error early and a commitment to recovering funds,” they added. “Our Targeted Case Review has already examined over 1.1 million claims, resulting in nearly a quarter of a million corrections and Debt Management teams have also recovered a record £3.1 billion in 2024-25. While the overall rate of fraud and error is at its lowest since the pandemic, we have plans to go even further.”
