Recommendation 22

By January 2022, DHSC had only investigated two fraud cases and so far had only recovered £1 million. We asked whether DHSC had published data on amounts recovered and it confirmed it had not, but agreed to provide this information to the Committee on an ongoing basis. We asked why it had not made a more vigorous attempt to challenge those seeking to commit fraud. DHSC told us that it would “continue to go after those cases where we can” but that some cases were difficult to pursue if the culprit was overseas. It also told us that in most cases the individual amounts at stake were small and it needed to keep in mind whether the cost of recovery was greater than the benefit to the taxpayer of doing so.39 35 Q 112; C&AG’s Report Figure 6 36 Qq 87–88 37 Qq 89, 96–97; C&AGs Report paras 2.34–2.35 38 Qq 89, 92–93 39 Qq 90, 94–95; C&AG’s Report para 2.35 Managing cross-border travel during the COVID-19 pandemic 17