Recommendation 15

In May 2022 the Department published its strategy to reduce fraud and error following the pandemic, which is set out in Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System. The three main strands of this are:26 • £613 million investment in counter-fraud measures during the Spending Review period. Most of this will fund an expansion of frontline staff headcount, and a ‘Targeted Case Review’ of around two million open Universal Credit claims. • New powers to access third-party data, seize evidence, and make arrests, which will require the passage of legislation. • Close working across the public and private sectors. Most significantly with HM Revenue & Customs, as the Department is dependent on information from its systems to tackle fraud relating to self-employment earnings.