<p>The department’s view is that serious and organised crime accounts for only a small minority of the total fraud reported for 2022/23, with the vast majority being individual claimants who have misrepresented their own personal circumstances.</p><p> </p><p>The department has a strong counter-fraud function, which includes specifically targeting serious and organised crime, including cyber-crime, which identifies and stops illegal activity and saves money for the taxpayer.</p><p> </p><p>Current estimates are that serious and organised crime accounts for no more than 5% of the £6.4 billion of benefit fraud reported in the 2022/23 statistics, as it is most likely captured in the Abroad and Conditions of Entitlement (Identity) categories of fraud reported there.</p>