Universal credit fraud costs taxpayers more than £5bn

Key Facts

• Total spending on benefits in the year to April 2022 went up by 2.1% or £4.1bn, mainly because of a rise in the number of universal credit claimants, and an inflation-linked increase to the payments.
• It was introduced to replace a range of different benefits for those who are unemployed or low-paid, in a bid to make the system simpler.
• Earlier this month, the DWP set itself a target of cutting £2bn in fraud over the next three years.
• "It's unacceptable to see that fraud rose as a result of callous criminals exploiting measures to help those in need during the pandemic.

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