Campaign to tackle benefit fraud could impact on genuine claimants
This week David Cameron announced plans to crack down on benefit fraud in an attempt to cut down on the £5.2billion a year of social security and tax credits overpayments. This is to include the use of private agencies such as credit reference agencies to help identify false claims. The Prime Minister also said that tougher penalties for those found guilty of benefit fraud would be introduced.
The latest available figures for Northern Ireland show that in 2008 the total estimated figure for overpayments due to fraud and error in social security benefit expenditure amounted to £44.4million. Of this figure £12.6million of overpayments was due to customer fraud, £13.4million was due to customer error and £18.4million was due to official error.
Citizens Advice recognises the importance of cutting down on fraud in the social security system. However we are concerned about the emphasis on tackling fraud when the figures in relation to customer and official error account for £31.8million of the overall £44.4million. These errors are caused by claimants failing to report their circumstances correctly in many cases due to the complexity of the benefits system. Worryingly the largest proportion (£18.4million) of the overall total figure has been caused by incorrect advice or errors in the administration of claims by officials. The figures for estimated underpayments due to error in 2008 also give cause for concern. These show a total of £19.7million in underpayments of which £17.2million is official error and £2.5million is customer error. These figures clearly show that more money is lost through administrative error rather than fraud.
These figures highlight the very real and continuing need for work on Benefit Uptake. Citizens Advice in Northern Ireland has been working with the Social Security Agency (SSA) for the last number of years on an important contract to increase the uptake of social security benefits for vulnerable people in Northern Ireland.
In the last year this project helped vulnerable people to indentify and claim £6.1million in social security benefits which will eventually amount to £38.8million over the average length of the resulting claims. This is money that these people were rightfully entitled to and had not claimed either due to ignorance of their entitlements or because they needed help or encouragement to navigate the complex system of benefits. The impact of this money in a recession cannot be understated as this money is spent in local businesses and will make a significant impact on poverty in Northern Ireland.
As part of the Benefit Uptake project CAB advisers have noticed a significant number of people who are not making claims for benefit despite having a legitimate entitlement to claim. These recent statements from David Cameron on benefit fraud and the high profile benefit fraud campaign do little to encourage many of these older and more vulnerable clients to claim the benefits they are rightfully entitled to. This leaves many people in real need unable to afford the basic necessities of life.