People found guilty of social security and tax credit fraud could get jail terms of up to 10 years, says the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, as part of his department’s new “tough stance” on those who flout the system.
Announcing new guidelines for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Mr Starmer said that people suspected of benefit fraud can now be charged under the Fraud Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Historically, suspects have been pursued under specific social security legislation, which carries a seven-year maximum sentence. In addition, a financial threshold that prevented benefit fraud cases of less than £20,000 being sent to Crown Court will also be abolished.
Previously, benefit fraud of less than that amount was referred automatically to the magistrates courts, which can only hand out sentences of up to 12 months.
Driving home his reasoning behind the changes, Mr Starmer said that the £1.9bn annual cost to the public purse of benefit fraud needs to be at the “forefront of lawyers’ minds”, as should the myth that cheating the system is a victimless crime.
The CPS boss said that benefits exist to protect and support the most vulnerable in society, so whenever someone cheats the system, they are actually depriving those people of money.
Mr Starmer’s advice is that prosecutors should look for an element of dishonesty rather than error when investigating such crimes and frauds that have been professionally planned and carried out over time will be specifically targeted.
Last year, the CPS saw more than 8,600 prosecutions in benefit and tax credit cases, along with 4,000 in the first five months of this year and the current conviction rate is 89.7 per cent.