Disability fraud rare

Fraudulent claims for incapacity benefit account for less than
one in 200 cases, the Department for Work and Pensions has
revealed.

Campaigners for disabled people hope the results of a government
review of the benefit received by more than a million people will
end the belief that many claims are bogus.

In fact, fraud is suspected in just 0.5 per cent of cases
compared with official errors in 2.1 per cent and customer errors
in 0.9 per cent.

Lorna Reith, spokesperson for the Disability Benefits Consortium
and chief executive of the Disability Alliance, said: “We hope the
level of incapacity benefit paid out will now replace claims of
fraud at the top of the political agenda.

“Currently, the benefit does not provide for those who cannot
work. Far too many incapacity benefit recipients are living in or
on the margins of poverty.”

Fraud and Error in Claims to Incapacity Benefit from:

www.dss.gov.uk/publications/dss/2001/incapacity/frerin.pdf