Starmer to promise welfare fraud crackdown in bid to free up cash for public services

Welfare fraudsters will be dealt with faster under new legislation expected to save the taxpayer £1.6 billion over the next five years, the Prime Minister is set to announce.

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to promise to “leave no stone unturned” as his Government seeks to “rebuild our public services” during his speech to the Labour Party conference on Tuesday, his first conference address as Prime Minister.

Part of his speech will include a new Fraud, Error and Debt Bill to modernise the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), allowing it to recover money lost to fraud while protecting vulnerable claimants from mounting debts.

It will also contain powers to help officials keep up with more sophisticated fraud, as Labour said fraud and error in the social security system cost the country £10 billion a year.

Alongside the Bill, the Prime Minister is expected to announce plans for wider welfare reform to help get people back into work, with details to be unveiled later this year.

Tax avoiders

Sir Keir is expected to say: “We will get the welfare bill down, because we will tackle long-term sickness and get people back to work.

“We will make every penny work for you because we will root out waste and go after tax avoiders.

“There will be no stone left unturned, no innovation ignored and no return to Tory austerity.

“We will rebuild our public services, protect working people and do this in a Labour way. That is a promise.”

Tackling welfare fraud forms part of the Government’s wider war against corruption, fraud and tax evasion, with plans for a Covid Corruption Commissioner already announced.

Sir Keir is expected to argue that savings made by tackling fraud can then be redirected into other public services as his Government seeks to fill what it describes as a £22 billion “black hole” left by its predecessors.

Among the measures included in the proposed Bill are new powers to allow the DWP to take control of fraud investigations and to recover money from those who could pay it back but have avoided doing so.

Clash

Labour also stressed that the Bill would contain safeguarding measures for vulnerable welfare claimants, and staff would be trained to the highest standards on the appropriate use of new powers.

But the announcement could set up another clash with the left of the Labour Party, which has previously argued that the Government should focus more on tax avoidance by large corporations and the rich rather than benefit fraud.

Labour has also promised a crackdown on tax avoidance, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves saying the Government would hire 5,000 more compliance officers at HMRC to do so.