Fighting fraud: An evaluation of the government's social security fraud strategy

Abstract

This article examines the government's strategy for dealing with social security fraud. The Social Security (Administration) Fraud Act 1997 has been enacted to facilitate the detection, prosecution and punishment of benefit fraud. In addition, the government has published a Green Paper on fraud and, more recently, a Command Paper on ‘Safeguarding Social Security’, both of which emphasize the importance of preventing fraud and re-educating the public about its nature and severity. Both papers, however, fail to deal adequately with the motivations to commit fraud and how this may impact on public attitudes to fraud. This article examines public reaction to benefit fraud, and points out that the public have differentiated fraud on the basis of ‘greed’ or ‘need’. I suggest that, if the government's anti-fraud strategy is to be effective, the link between justifiable motivation and public opinion needs to be taken into account.

Key Words:

• criminalization
• motivations
• prevention
• public attitudes
• reform
• social security fraud