§ Mr. Alan HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many calls have been made to the fraud hotline, broken down by type of benefit and outcome of investigation. [13051]
§ Mr. HealdUp to end of December 1996, in the region of 130,000 calls had been made to the national benefit fraud hotline. Approximately 97,000 referrals have been received by the benefit fraud investigation service so far. Of these, around 76,000 were recorded on the fraud management information system and 5,000 have been recorded separately as part of spotlight initiative. The remaining 16,000 cases are either in transit between offices, awaiting initial scrutiny before entry on to the system, or linked to a referral previously received where an investigation is already under way.
From the recorded referrals, so far around 31,000 are being investigated, with 15,500 completed, of which 5,100 have scored benefit savings in the region of
Income support/housing benefit/council tax benefit recipients with disregarded earnings: May 1995 Income support Housing benefit Council tax benefit Number Per cent. Number Per cent. Number Per cent. Couples 51,000 5.4 149,000 28.9 190,000 23.9 Single without dependants 33,000 0.9 98,000 10.1 81,000 6.7 Single with dependants 43,000 3.8 102,000 76.9 92,000 74.3 All cases 127,000 2.2 349,000 21.6 362,000 17.1 Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand. 2. Numbers refer to cases with earnings brought into account above the relevant disregard. 3. Proportions expressed are recipients with earnings above the relevant disregard as a proportion of the relevant group type (i.e., all couples/single/lone parents). 4. Figures refer to benefit units which may be a single person or a couple. 5. For the purpose of housing benefit and council tax benefit, earners have been identified as those with earnings from employment and self employment including those with part-time earnings. 6. Housing benefit/council tax benefit cases also in receipt of income support have been excluded as earnings have not been disregarded in terms of the housing benefit/council tax benefit assessment as they have already been taken into account in the Income Support assessment. Sources: 1. Income support statistics quarterly inquiry May 1995. 2. Housing benefit management information system annual 1 per cent. sample inquiry, without income support, taken at the end of May 1995.