Social Security Scotland fraud information: FOI release

Information requested

Request for information 1: In each year since 2018-19, how many cases of potential fraud have been reported to SSS? Note, this may be different from the number referred to the crown office.

Request for information 2: In relation to Q1, please break this down by benefit type.

Request for information 3: In relation to Q1, please break down by outcome. E.g. no action taken, referred to crown office etc.

Response

We have interpreted your requests to relate to allegations of fraud made to Social Security Scotland. Allegations do not automatically become fraud investigation cases as research and assessment is carried out prior to tasking to an investigator. Social Security Scotland does not decide when fraud has been committed; that is for the justice system. Therefore, we do not classify a behaviour as fraud until conviction (or the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service has decided on a non-court disposal as an alternative to prosecution).

Requests for information 1 and 2:

Some of the information you have requested is available from prior Freedom of Information responses: Reports of suspected fraud received by Social Security Scotland (SSS): FOI release gov.scot and Social Security Scotland reported allegations of fraud: FOI release - Social Security Scotland. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Attached is the information covering the financial years 2024-2025 and 2025 to 16 March 2026.

It should be noted that an allegation can cover many different benefits at the same time.

We do not hold record of a breakdown of allegations of fraud by benefit type prior to 2024, however, the total number of allegations for each calendar year 2022 and 2023 can be found in the table below.

Allegations of fraud 2022 to 2023
Year	Allegations of fraud received
2022	2,039
2023	2,176

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing all of the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. To carry out the necessary analysis to provide a breakdown of the allegations by benefit type across 2022 and 2023 would require us to manually interrogate the 4,215 allegations received across 2022 and 2023. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit, which is currently set at £600 by Regulations made under section 12.

You may, however, wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600 e.g. by requesting information on a small sample size. You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner's 'Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs' on his website at: How do I ask for information? | Scottish Information Commissioner (foi.scot)

Requests for information 3:

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested. This is because we do not hold this information for the financial year 2022-2023.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that Social Security Scotland does not have some of the information you have requested.

The below table shows cases of suspected fraud reported by Social Security Scotland to Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) broken down by financial year.

Financial Year	Number of reports
2023-2024	1 Funeral Support Payment 1 Adult Disability Payment
2024-2025	8 Adult Disability Payment 3 Scottish Child Payment 1 Funeral Support Payment
2025 – 6 March 2026	22 Adult Disability Payment 6 Scottish Child Payment

It should be noted that whilst Social Security Scotland records outcomes of crime reports submitted to COPFS, any further information regarding outcomes should be requested directly from COPFS itself - Freedom of Information requests | COPFS

You may find further information of interest to you in our Counter Fraud Strategy.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202600509751 - Information released - Document 1

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