Softening of attitudes to fraud putting pressure on welfare system, report warns

Society’s attitude to fraud is “softening” with the effects being felt in the billion-pound benefits system, the Department for Work and Pensions has said.

The £266.1 billion welfare budget “is a deliberate target for both organised crime groups and opportunistic individuals”, the department’s annual report warned.

In the year to March, fraud accounted for overpayments of £7.4 billion, the report said.

It estimated that fraud levels could grow at around 5% each year without action to reduce them.