Spending on benefits rose to £266.1bn in 2023/24, so it is no surprise organised gangs, such as the group of Bulgarians that were jailed for stealing £54m through fraudulent benefit claims last month, and tens of thousands of individuals are taking advantage of the system to profit from the negligence of the DWP.

Since before the pandemic fraud has increased by £3.7bn to £8.2bn at the height of covid with the figure then rising even further to £9.78bn in 2023-24.

The majority of the fraud came from universal credit, accounting for £6.46bn. In 2019 there was just £1.73bn of fraud related to universal credit. However, housing benefit overpayments have reduced, albeit marginally.

The DWP said that this growing trend of people willing to commit ‘small scale fraud’ will increase by a further 5% annually if it is not curbed.

T