Benefit cheats are being warned that government will work with a credit reference agency (CRA) to track down fraudsters across the country.
HMRC and DWP are delivering on the Prime Minister’s commitment to draw on the expertise of CRAs to tackle fraud and error. The departments have signed a 12-month contract with Experian to help drive down unacceptably high levels of tax credit and benefit fraud and error.
HMRC and DWP will work with Experian to identify undisclosed partners and income – all of which affect how much money claimants are entitled to receive.
A recent pilot of this work has already protected more than £16 million of anticipated losses in tax credits.
The first cases identified by Experian as part of this work are already with fraud investigators. Using the Experian data, the departments expect to save around £800 million over the life of the contract.