Just one in two hundred fraud cases lead to charges

The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned of a lack of progress in tackling criminal fraud.

NAO analysis shows that fewer than one in two hundred cases of fraud reported to the police resulted in a criminal charge last year.

The report shows that although the number of cases of reported fraud had risen from 631,000 in 2017 to 987,000 this year, the number of criminal charges fell from 6,400 to 4,816.

The NAO, which warned the Government five years ago that fraud was being overlooked and demanded an urgent response, has accused the Home Office of failing to take the issue seriously enough. It said that in the period since, the threat had “increased and evolved” but the response from ministers had not. The NAO said that there were “significant gaps in the Home Office’s understanding of the threat” from fraud.

Dame Meg Hillier, Chairwoman of the Public Accounts Committee, said “I am concerned that the Home Office still hasn’t set out a clear funded plan for how it will tackle it.” The NAO found that fraud made up 41% of crime in England and Wales in the year to June 2022. It also calculated that fraud costs victims £4.7bn a year.”