§ Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the total amount recovered in Social Security payments in each of the last 10 years as a result of investigations into fraudulent claims; and how much this figure represented as a proportion of total payments of benefits in each year.
§ Mr. EnnalsThe information is not available in the exact form requested but the following figures relating to recoveries of overpayments in the last 10 years may help my hon. Friend.
TABLE SHOWING RECOVERIES OF OVERPAYMENTS OF NON-CONTRIBUTORY BENEFIT IN THE LAST TEN YEARS AS A PROPORTION OF BENEFIT PAID Year Gross payments of supplementary pensions and allowances* Recoveries of over-payments (3) as percentage of (2) (1) (2) (3) (4) £ £ 1959–60 161,000,000 480,000 0.30 1960–61 182,000,000 478,000 0.26 1961–62 175,000,000 525,000 0.30 1962–63 204,000,000 511,000 0.25 1963–64 222,000,000 589,000 0.27 1964–65 228,000,000 547,000 0.24 1965–66 252,000,000 589,000 0.23 1966–67 305,000,000 575,000 0.19 1967–68 397,000,000 625,000 0.16 1968–69 442,000,000 816,000 0.18 * Assistance grants and non-contributory old age pensions before 28th November, 1966. Notes:
1. The figures in columns (3) and (4) relate to recoveries of overpayments from all causes including fraud. About one-quarter of overpayments discovered is attributed to fraud.
2. Comparable figures for other benefits are not available because of differences in the way in which records are kept. Tests on contributory benefits show that overpayments attributable to fraud, and amounts recovered, are a substantially smaller proportion of benefit expenditure than for supplementary benefit.