The National Audit Office (NAO) said the current estimate of the cost of fraud to people used by the government is based on data and prices from six years ago. The NAO found that the Home Office did not have a reliable estimate of the cost of fraud to business or how much companies spend tackling crime. Fraud made up 41% of crime in the year to June 2022 and 987,000 fraud offenses were recorded by the police in England and Wales. However, only a fraction of fraud cases end in a criminal charge or summons to appear in court – 4,816 in the year ending March 2022. The NAO report said: “The [Home Office] does not have a complete or up-to-date estimate of the cost of fraud to the economy. “The latest estimate of the cost of fraud to individuals is £4.7 billion [in 2015-16 prices]. This is based on 2015-16 data and the department is currently working on a more up-to-date estimate. “It has no reliable estimate of the cost of fraud to businesses. It also has a limited understanding of the perpetrators of fraud or those who enable it by their action or inaction.” The NAO also found that the Home Office did not have a full picture of what was spent on tackling fraud by business or the public sector. There were also “inherent tensions” between government and the private sector over some anti-fraud programs that could “slow down the customer journey”. NAO chief Gareth Davies said: “Five years after our last report on this issue, the Home Office has taken limited steps to improve its response to fraud. “Her approach lacks clarity of purpose, lacks the data needed to understand the full scale of the problem and is unable to accurately measure the impact of her policies on this growing area of crime. “For its planned fraud strategy to succeed, the Home Office must be robust in leading a cross-government response based on a thorough understanding of what works to combat fraud.” The NAO recommends that the Home Office finalize and publish its anti-fraud strategy as soon as possible, obtain updated estimates of the costs to individuals and businesses and improve understanding of international anti-fraud work. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. It said 10 separate public communications campaigns are being run by different government departments about fraud, despite earlier warnings that this could cause confusion. Meg Hillier MP, chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “Too many citizens and businesses face a significant and growing threat from fraud. “In 2017, the commission warned the government of the urgency of this neglected and growing problem. I am concerned that the Home Office has yet to produce a clear funded plan for how it will deal with this. While its recent efforts are welcome, they don’t go far enough or fast enough. “The 3.1 million victims of fraud deserve action, leadership and a plan that mobilizes partners across government, not more words on a page.” A government spokesman said: “This government is absolutely committed to cracking down on fraud and financial crime, spending an extra £400 million over the next three years to tackle it. “We thank the NAO for this report and recognize that more can be done to understand the threat we face and how best to deal with it. We have reflected their recommendations in our forthcoming fraud strategy, which sets out how we will work together – with industry, law enforcement, the courts and the third sector – to ensure there is no safe space for fraudsters.”
