Millions pumped into anti-fraud work as DWP staff costs jump almost 200 per cent

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has increased its anti-fraud staff costs by nearly 200 per cent since 2021, as it seeks to crackdown on fraud.

A freedom of information (FOI)request as detailed by AP automation firm Basware, shared exclusively with City AM, showed the DWP’s anti-fraud staff cost rose to £44.5m in the financial year 2023/24, up from £15.5m in 2021/22.

This is due to the government department more than doubled its anti-fraud staffing headcount, rising from the average full time staff of 398 in 2021/22 to 1,076 in 2023/24.

The data also noted that the DWP saw a dramatic increase in rejection of suspicious invoices.

The department revealed that it rejected 2,416 suspicious invoices valued at £186,824,180 over 2023/24, an increase in value on 2021/22, where 2215 invoices rejected at £64,389,942.

Commenting on the data, Jason Kurtz, chief executive of Basware, noted: “Rooting out fraud is a major challenge facing large organisations, with many lacking the technical resources and specialist capabilities to tackle it effectively.”

“Clamping down on [fraud] requires a concerted effort from finance teams, harnessing the power of AI to identify and verify legitimate payments, whilst isolating and rejecting suspicious submissions before payment is made”, he added.

The FOI comes after it was revealed this week that the DWP will be given new powers to take money directly from the pockets of benefit fraudsters, as the department anticipated a 5 per cent increase in fraud each year.

While last month, the government announced it would bring forward a new Fraud, Error and Debt Bill in this parliamentary session to crackdown on fraud in the social security system.

The new law is tipped to give DWP more powers to catch fraudsters faster and prevent customers from getting into debt sooner, and is expected to save £1.6bn over the next five years.