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Iain Duncan Smith: The Government Has Saved More Than £100m In Benefit Fraud Crackdown

Iain Duncan Smith

First Posted: 28/11/11 16:10 GMT Updated: 28/11/11 16:10 GMT   PA

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The Government has saved more than £100 million by cracking down on benefit fraud, the Work and Pensions Secretary has told the Commons.

Iain Duncan Smith also confirmed nearly 10,000 people were prosecuted for benefit fraud last year - more than 1,000 up on the previous year.

Mr Duncan Smith was answering a regular questions session in the Commons and was questioned by Conservatives Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) and Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) about areas where rates of benefit fraud are high.

He told MPs: "The inheritance we got from the last Government was that fraud and error was at £3.1 billion in the benefits system.

"A joint strategy with the HMRC started in October 2010 which was about regional taskforces, which were mobile to look at different areas. They targeted claimants in high fraud areas with visits and phone calls and letters.

"One pilot was completed in Birmingham, two more in Cardiff and Croydon, and evaluation of a fourth is being completed. But so far, since October, just from case cleansing alone we have saved over £100 million.

"We prosecuted almost 10,000 benefit fraudsters in 2010/11, up from 8,200 the year before. In all cases, benefit fraudsters are required to pay back the money that they have stolen."

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The Government has saved more than £100 million by cracking down on benefit fraud, the Work and Pensions Secretary has told the Commons. Iain Duncan Smith also confirmed nearly 10,000 people we...
The Government has saved more than £100 million by cracking down on benefit fraud, the Work and Pensions Secretary has told the Commons. Iain Duncan Smith also confirmed nearly 10,000 people we...
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trudidog7
2 Fans
02:45 PM on 12/03/2011
shame he cant put the same effort into tax avoidance in off shore accounts and closing loop holes for the rich. .... That might be because he is one of them.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Connie Concepcion
Subverter of paradigms.
87 Fans
 
01:36 PM on 11/29/2011
Save a lot more money and get rid of the corporate benefits bankers and parliamentarians have received by bilking those who can least afford it.
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ajairley
30 Fans
07:28 AM on 11/29/2011
i have posted twice on here no wearing just putting my point over as soeone who is chronically ill and twice it has been removed. I pointed out that i can walk without help as long as i have someone there who knows my condition. i could be dead in a few months. depending on how fast my condition deteriorates.i will slowly chock to death as i will be unable to breathe properly. i dont get a car or a scooter. I get £5000 a year. my wife works as a cleaner. my son as a gardener and my daughter is well on her way to becoming a legal executive in a company of solicitors. i worked ll my life since leaving school. 2 stints in army. Should i now be left to beg becuse i am ill. Before i became ill i was working 7 days a week 100 hours a day. give me a break.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
paulie boy
Justice for all..not the few
53 Fans
07:52 AM on 11/29/2011
I know exactly what you are saying, I worked two jobs for 30 years, before collapsing at work. and being told by the hospital your working days are over...I am now practically housebound and in severe pain. My wife works 60 hours a week and still we cannot afford to have the heating on for long. I thought Cameron said he would help the genuine sick and disabled. I like yourself, have paid into the National insurance and taxes for all our working life, we are only getting back our own money and Cameron would rather give the money to foreign countries than help his own people.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
saviour1263
173 Fans
 
12:20 PM on 11/29/2011
This is so bad and they should be looking for the idiots that can work ,and truthfully this IS what pisses me off with this country they go for the easy targets because they are too scared too actually go for the thugs who just breed and smoke their drugs and claim for whatever they can, and cameron is a class one idiot ,who was still giving foreign aid too china up to a year ago (£118.4m), and giving money like water too the EU (what a waste), then bailing out the banks what a waste if he actually gave every family in the uk £50k (which is equivalent too the bank bail out) the economy would improve and debt would be lower ,but he gives money too stupid places that will never learn lessons.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
saviour1263
173 Fans
 
12:30 PM on 11/29/2011
Cameron and foreign aid ,someone should take his access too money off him until he proves that he will think of the British people before every other country.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
AceNewsServices
Changing The World One Step At A Time
72 Fans
 
07:37 PM on 11/29/2011
Hi there aj,

Firstly read your post and felt like l was lucky to be healthy and sorry to hear about your circumstances don`t know if l can help and get you a better deal but will try if you would like me to as spent 30 years in getting people out of debt and was able to help and guide people. Check out my profiles below if you want to see if l am genuine and post a reply with a contact email if l can help and by the way my spelling was crap until l worked hard to make it better. I have fanned you so l can at least follow your posts. My profiles link is https://profiles.google.com/109154000903224926110
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dlm838
8 Fans
07:16 AM on 11/29/2011
YIPPI DO YIPPI DO.......! Is that it then... can we bring the price of fuel down to an affordable level ...???? "HELLO anybody there HELLO" No gues not...! So since getting in, this is flagged as the great Coalition acheivement is it, well YOU MUPPETS get down of your soap boxes, and start taking a look around your general policies are hurting the lowest earners within our society, so don't you think you should start to look at what you are not doing for the majority of the British people before standing up there and patting yor selves on the backs.
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New Labour Legacy
10 Fans
06:32 AM on 11/29/2011
Does that mean that all MPs (without exception) who had previously been caught fiddling their BENEFITS under the last government will also now be fully investigated and forced to pay back whatever money they had fraudulently extracted from the taxpayers?

. . . . . or am I missing something?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
saviour1263
173 Fans
 
12:38 PM on 11/29/2011
we must all be missing something as the Baroness Uddin still owes £125,000 owns 3 properties and says she cant afford to repay ,if you could imagine someone tearing their hair out screaming and banging their head on the desk that would be me
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uktaxpayer
1 Fans
06:23 AM on 11/29/2011
The UK tax payer has saved 100 million after MP fraud crackdown!!
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British4Ever
355 Fans
06:06 AM on 11/29/2011
I know I keep saying this but National Service will keep Immigration out and put an end to all of the FREE HANDOUTS and create more jobs too!
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uktaxpayer
1 Fans
07:00 AM on 11/29/2011
Your right National Service would solve a lot of problems
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
saviour1263
173 Fans
 
01:42 PM on 11/29/2011
A stint would sort a lot of the bad things out in this country teach them disapline and get paid for doing it ,no excuse then about finding jobs etc ,also stop them breeding too which can only be a good thing after all it will stop them just jumping into bed and screwing up "our system" as well as their own ,maybe that answer was too easy a solution for cameron
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European1919
I am the PigmⒶn
548 Fans
05:46 AM on 11/29/2011
Excellent result. But what are they going to do with these social parasites who'll not be able to repay the money they owe. The only punishment I can see which will reimburse society/the tax payer instead of making him throw good money after bad is community hours. Rated at the minimum wage.
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Happyho hum
0 Fans
01:35 AM on 11/29/2011
Read the ragged trouserd philanrapist, same game different names. What changes only is technology not the persecuting capitalist thought!
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DaveLomass
0 Fans
01:01 AM on 11/29/2011
...And the economy is going into recession again meaning you have got things wrong. I bet most of the crack down you are refering to is simply oppressing the alrady oppressed (the deprived). Those who really need the money but weak to fight for it. While the sofisticated scrongers remain untouchable.
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northwilds
4 Fans
12:30 AM on 11/29/2011
What about charging for lorries and cars to use our roads when they enter the UK as we all have to do via France, Spain, Belgium etc. Anything that comes into the Uk pays nothing to use the roads and muck them up even more than they are already. How much would that generate per year???
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angelusan
149 Fans
 
12:21 AM on 11/29/2011
Yet another lame attempt to keep the anti-welfare hate campaign going, tainting all claimants with the actions of a small minority, which is the real motivation here. This has nothing to do with any fraud of claimants and everything to do with this governments fraudulent campaign to destroy the welfare that evermore people in this country are sadly going to need.

The University of Glasgow has completed a study/report on the negative effects of all of this drivel whether coming from politicians or the tabloid press - the conclusions drawn included that all of this had vastly increased prejudice and discrimination, leading even to abuse, violent assualts and suicides of the sick and disabled, let alone the rest. They further discovered that many peoples idea of the extent of fraud and related issues were completely overblown and had little resemblance to reality (no doubt due to such as the Daily Express, and Mail headlines which claimed that 75% were fit to work - whereas the DWP's own information states that 99% or so of claimants are genuine).
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rash8909
58 Fans
11:52 PM on 11/28/2011
Does that total include the millions screwed out of the public purse by the 'Honourable Members' in Westminster?
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katertaif
My wife thinks I have one fault. Everything I do!
527 Fans
05:47 AM on 11/29/2011
A very good point rash8909, I doubt it very much. The only thing you have left out is how many ofthem are still busily (and happily) engaged in screwing as much as they can out of it/us.
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waddytog
97 Fans
11:42 PM on 11/28/2011
thats's good news, now when are we having a "pilot" into MEP's expenses ?
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Arkleson
100 Fans
10:30 PM on 11/28/2011
And yet £6.3 billion in MOD assets has mysteriously disappeared and contracts not completed. makes the £100 million seem like chicken feed.
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katertaif
My wife thinks I have one fault. Everything I do!
527 Fans
05:52 AM on 11/29/2011
Ah but lessons have been learned,so that makes it all right. The fact that we're broke is irrelevant.
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