Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
FOI Reference: FOI/202300384042
Date received: 7 November 2023
Date responded: 30 November 2023
Information requested
Request for information 1: The number of reports of suspected fraud that Social Security Scotland has received since 2019 (broken down by calendar year).
Request for information 2: The amount of money spent by Social Security Scotland on benefit fraud related projects and services since 2019 (broken down by calendar year).
Request for information 3: The number of clients that have been removed as a recipient of a benefit as a result of benefit fraud investigation since 2019 (broken down by calendar year).
Response
Request for information 1:
The number of reports of suspected fraud that Social Security Scotland has received in each calendar year since 2019 is broken down below:
2019 – 825 allegations of fraud received
2020 – 626 allegations of fraud received
2021 – 848 allegations of fraud received
2022 – 2062 allegations of fraud received
2023 – 3509 allegations of fraud received
Request for information 2 and 3:
An exemption under section 35(1)(a) of FOISA applies to the information you have requested. This exemption applies where disclosure of information under the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the prevention or detection of crime. To disclose the information requested would give an indication of the size of team involved in this work, jeopardise ongoing fraud prevention work and risk compromising ongoing fraud investigations.
This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is a public interest in disclosing information as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in maintaining the Agency’s ability to prevent and detect instances of fraud.
I have included a link below to our Annual Report, which contains information related to our Counter Fraud strategy, which you may find helpful.
Social Security Scotland - Annual Report and Account 2022-2023
About FOI
Social Security Scotland is committed to publishing responses to requests. The Scottish Government also publishes responses to requests. You can view the responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.