The savings, achieved by detecting or preventing incorrect payments, included £144.8m in occupational pension fraud and overpayments. This is an increase from £85.1m in 2014/15, which the NFI says can be attributed to an increase in the numbers of deceased person cases identified as well as work with large public sector pension schemes to improve the frequency and quality of outcomes reporting.

In addition, there were savings of £32.6m in fraudulent or wrongly received council tax single-person discount; £24.9m of housing benefit fraud and overpayment; £5.5m from tenancy fraud; and £25.5m in social housing waiting-list misrepresentation.

The NFI also identified £18m of blue badge misuse – 31,223 blue badges, which are intended for use by disabled people who require access to parking for cars, were revoked or withdrawn.

The NFI compares sets of data, such as the payroll of a company with benefit records, allowing fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. Between April 2016 and March 2018, the NFI worked with over 1,200 public and private sector organisations. Of the £300m total, the bulk (£275.3m) was from England alone.

Chloe Smith, minister for the constitution, said: ‘We are determined to build a fairer society, and stopping a small group of unscrupulous people who break the law will help us achieve this.’

National Fraud Initiative report 2018 is here

Report by Pat Sweet