To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the risk of fraud in (a) the pathfinders for universal credit and (b) the roll out of the universal credit system.
This answer is the replacement for a previous holding answer.
Answered on
16 June 2014
DWP has taken a number of steps to design out Fraud and Error in the Universal Credit system.
Prior to the introduction of Universal Credit (UC), DWP assessed the risk of fraud and error and concluded the risk would be mitigated by restricting the initial claims in Pathfinder areas to those with the lowest risk of fraud, and to exclude more complex claims where fraud or error was more likely. DWP also implemented an automated data-matching capability to defend the UC system against the top causes of fraud or error. This Counter Fraud Capability introduced an automated pre-payment check for the first time to prevent fraud. It checked the very first UC claim and has checked every claim made since. This process also conducts a weekly scrutiny of all the data DWP holds against all UC claims to detect any fraud that may have subsequently started so we can take action immediately.
To provide a secure roll out of UC nationally, DWP's specialists in security and counter-fraud work are working with the UC Programme to ensure that the essential security and counter-fraud controls are in place before the digital 'end state' service can go live. By drawing on security and counter-fraud knowledge from across Government and external security expertise, we are ensuring that the core digital service is 'secure by design' from the outset, and that the service is also supported by the right online security and counter fraud capabilities.