A staggering 97% of the predicted £7.1m was attributed to housing benefit, council tax, blue badges, housing waiting lists and pensions discovered the National Fraud Initiative (NFI). This was the largest figure since 2018/19, when £8m worth of fraud was identified.

On the plus side, the amount of fraud identified, and prevented in Wales shot up by £600,000 compared to 2020/21.

A clampdown on abuse over the course of the year resulted in £3.2m being prevented by stopping fraudulent applications.

Auditor general of Audit Wales, Adrian Crompton said: ‘While the debate about public finances often focuses on spending cuts and/or raising taxes, relatively little is said about fraud and error. Yet it continues to be a blight on public services.