Benefit fraud website nets just 24 cheats

A high-profile government website allowing people to inform on suspected benefit fraudsters has led to just 24 prosecutions in three years.

The Targeting Benefit Fraud website was launched in May 2000 as part of wider government plans to crack down on the UK's £2bn annual loss from stolen benefits.

The site allows people to fill in a 'report a cheat' form that is followed up by investigators at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

But the latest figures seen by silicon.com reveal that 85 per cent of 'report a cheat' forms are not deemed worthy of further investigation, while just 24 people have been successfully prosecuted as a result of information provided through the website.

The site had 123,575 hits in 2002/03 compared with almost 1.5 million in its first year and while the number of cheat forms submitted has risen to 8,309 for this year, just 1,201 of these were investigated.

A spokeswoman for the DWP said the Targeting Fraud website is primarily an information resource on the aims of the wider campaign to tackle the problem.

She said in a statement: "We are making excellent progress in the fight against benefit fraud. By March 2002 we had successfully reduced fraud and error in Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance by 24 per cent, against a target of 33 per cent by 2004 and 50 per cent by 2006."