Chart: The welfare and tax gaps including proportion due to systemic error “Some coalition ministers point out that of the £3.1bn of identified fraud and error in the benefits system in 2009-10, only £1bn is attributable to fraud, as opposed to system failure. Of the £2.1bn identified in the tax credit system in 2008-9, only £460m is attributable to fraud.” Meanwhile, before the election in March, HM Revenue and Customs updated its ‘Measuring tax gaps 2009‘ report and outlined that, “The size of the UK tax gap is estimated to be around £40 billion in 2007-08.” The tax gap is “the difference between tax collected and that, which in HMRC’s view, should be collected.” Only £3 billion is attributed to error with £5 billion due to criminal attacks, £7 billion due to tax evasion and a further £7 billion due to tax avoidance.
Richard Excell writes:
“Friday’s DWP report on Fraud and Error in the Benefit System really ought to get more coverage.
With this publication we now have figures for the whole of the financial year 2010/11, and they show:
0.8 per cent of benefit spending is overpaid due to fraud, amounting to £1.2 billion, and this proportion is the same as in 2009/10.
If we look at the estimates for different benefits, they are:
Retirement Pension 0.0 per cent;
Incapacity Benefit 0.3 per cent;
Disability Living Allowance 0.5 per cent;
Council Tax Benefit 1.3 per cent;
Housing Benefit 1.4 per cent;
Pension Credit 1.6 per cent;
Income Support 2.8 per cent;
Jobseeker’s Allowance 3.4 per cent;
Carer’s Allowance 3.9 per cent.
Look at the figures for disability benefits, see how low the figures are.
Remember them next time the BBC is running one of its 30 minute hate programmes, pushing the idea that every disabled person on benefits is a fraudster.“
Black Triangle member Joe Kane writes:
“Latest stats from the DWP on the patients who’ve broken the rules of their concentration camp and have had to be brutally punished accordingly, because that’s how a civilised society treats the sick and the disabled.”
“Long-term sick and disabled patients who are too sick and ill to work can be punished by a British Government department of state.”
“The sadism and cruelty required to write such disgusting and depraved ideas into legislation is mind-boggling“
Employment and Support Allowance: Sanctions
The latest statistics on Employment and Support Allowance sanctions produced by the Department for Work and Pensions were released on 16 May 2012.
Statistics on Employment and Support Allowance sanctions include data for England, Scotland and Wales for the period up to the end of February 2012.
The key statistic from the latest release is:
11,410 sanctions were imposed on ESA customers between 1 March 2011 and 28 February 2012
http://research.dwp.gov.uk/esa/sanctions
One response
Well bullies tend to act like this, and the fact that they are lying fascist bullies makes it even worse. Yes the biggest drain on the UK economy is Tax avoidance and evasion. Funny i think Sun and Mail readers might find those words a bit too hard to comprehend.