§ Lord VAIZEYasked Her Majesty's Government:
140WAWhether they will update the table on page 51 of the Committee of Abuse on Social Security Benefits and detail the sum for each benefit which has been fraudulently claimed.
§ Lord WELLS-PESTELLAs forecast in paragraph 154 of the report, a uniform basis for the analysis of net losses was instituted from the 1972–73 financial year. The table below is derived from that revised form of analysis and also includes benefits which have been introduced subsequently. It cannot therefore be compared with the figures which were originally given for 1971–72.
It should be noted that these are net losses (that is gross losses less any amounts which have been repaid) and that figures of the sums which were initially found to have been obtained by fraud are not available from central records.
1976–77 Irrecoverable overpayments of benefits recorded during the year Total £ Fraud on the part of the claimant or other person not being a servant of the Department £ Family benefits 415,967 52,518 Unemployment benefit 2,133,726 432,521 Sickness and invalidity benefit 2,137,618 361,396 Maternity benefit 46,628 6,718 Widow's benefit 266,274 108,726 Retirement pension 550,643 50,934 Industrial injury 201,836 16.981 Others 169,297 4,682 Supplementary benefit 8,031,782 2,170,907 Total 13,953,771 3,205,383