The government’s National Fraud Initiative (NFI) has saved £144.8m in pension fraud and overpayments over the past two years, it has been said.

Prevention of occupational pension fraud and overpayments made up the largest proportion of savings according to the NFI’s study, the National Fraud Initiative Report, published today, 31 August.

Detecting and preventing fraud and error in the public sector through the NFI has led to over £300m of taxpayers’ money in total.

Minister for the Constitution Chloe Smith said: “I am delighted that the National Fraud Initiative has been able to save UK taxpayers over £300m since April 2016.”

The retention of taxpayers’ money will allow the government to spend some of the cash previously lost to fraud and error on public services.

Smith continued: “In England alone, more than £144m will be going to protect vital public services instead of pension fraud and error. We are determined to build a fairer society, and stopping a small group of unscrupulous people who break the law will help us achieve this.”

Around £32.6m was previously lost in fraudulent or wrongly received council tax single-person discount, £25.5m in social housing waiting list misrepresentation, £24.9m of housing benefit fraud and overpayment, £18m of blue badge misuse and £5.5m in tenancy fraud.

In order to detect the fraudulent activity, the NFI worked with over 1,200 public and private sector organisations between April 2016 and March 2018, allowing them to prevent over £300 million of fraud and error in the UK.

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