Open Season

via email. The UK is about to set bounty hunters onto state beneficiaries.

I nominate Boba Fett

Finance experts will identify welfare cheats by trawling through their records, household bills and credit card applications.

Full credit checks will be carried out on all new benefits applicants as well as on existing claimants who are suspected of fraud.

The agencies will get a “bounty” payment for each fraudster they identify under government plans to cut the £5.2billion annual fraud bill.

By having access to the Government’s database of incapacity and housing benefit claimants, the companies believe they can shave at least £1billion from the welfare bill, earning as much as £50million.
The Prime Minister will say today that the level of fraud is “absolutely outrageous” and an “uncompromising” strategy is needed.

Mr Cameron will also call on members of the public to report suspected cheats and promise tougher punishments for offenders.

The Daily Telegraph understands that Experian, the credit reference agency, will begin working with the Department for Work and Pensions within weeks.

Bloody brilliant, now this is a policy that Paula Bennett should really be looking at thoroughly. If she won’t do it then ACT should adopt this policy immediately.

People with “lifestyles that are inconsistent with those claiming incapacity benefit” will also be highlighted.

Claimants spending large sums on gardening, DIY and foreign holidays may come under scrutiny.

Financial experts will also be looking for people who apply for benefits while claiming to be living alone but in fact have an undeclared partner with a job.

The use of private credit reference firms is the centrepiece of the crackdown on benefit fraud.

Mr Cameron says in a newspaper article: “At a time when we’re having to take such difficult decisions about how to cut back without damaging the things that matter the most, we should strain every sinew to cut error, waste and fraud in our welfare system.”

Mr Cameron discloses that £5.2billion of the £87billion welfare budget is lost to fraudulent claims for tax credit and welfare, while administrative error wastes £1.6billion.

“That’s the cost of more than 200 secondary schools or over 150,000 nurses,” Mr Cameron says. “It’s absolutely outrageous and we cannot stand for it. It’s quite wrong that there are people in our society who will behave like this. But we will not shrug our shoulders and let them get away with it any longer.”

And the best part of all this:

It is understood that the proposals being discussed involve the credit reference agencies being “paid by results”.

They would receive a percentage, likely to be less than five per cent, of fraudulent claims recovered.

For example, they would receive less than £5million for every £100million of fraudulent claims identified.

In June, Experian calculated that its techniques could dramatically reduce incapacity benefit, social housing and council tax fraud.

The company set out in a report how £1billion could be saved, including £600million on housing fraud and £300million on incapacity benefit fraud.

Brilliant again, they don’t get paid unless they get results. Now that is what I call risk and reward, a concept so foreign to civil servants they think buying a Lotto ticket is both.