Fight against fraud saves £7.5 billion

New statistics show that £7.53 billion has been saved thanks to a crackdown on public sector fraud.

The Counter Fraud Function has been working on prevention, recovery, and enforcement. Uniting specialists from across government, the Function works to identify and dismantle fraud across the public sector.

Working with local authorities and using data-matching tools like the National Fraud Initiative (NFI), fraudulent claims have been identified, by comparing records across the public sector.

In Hillingdon Council, 15 council houses have been recovered in the past year alone, with over 100 fraudulent housing applications removed from the waiting list.

Work is also ongoing to recover COVID-related fraud. The COVID Fraud Reporting Site has received over 770 reports regarding potential fraud in pandemic spending since its launch in September.

Cabinet Office Minister Satvir Kaur said: "This government is making the biggest investment ever to tackle public sector fraud, and that investment is now delivering real results for the taxpayer. Every pound stolen by fraudsters is a pound taken away from our schools, our hospitals, and our communities.

"By using better data and hiring more expert investigators, we are finding and stopping fraud faster than ever before. We are relentless in our commitment to protect the public’s money and ensure it is used to deliver the high-quality services that people across Britain rely on every day."