Peter McGuire Workers Party Representative for Derry City said the new drive to tackle fraud and errors in the benefits system needs to be clarified and separated .
Mr McGuire said errors in benefits should not be confused with fraudulent claims, and during this drive to sort out benefit fraud is he also going to continue the make the call campaign as last year £63 million unclaimed benefits were identified , and secured for people in need. Despite this millions of pounds remain unclaimed.
He added most of the unclaimed benefits are universal credit and pensions support , these categories are the ones most susceptible to poverty. The Workers Party believes the statistics on fraudulent benefits claims should be made public. Not just to name and shame.
Mr McGuire believes the public should be told just how wide spread the fraudulent claims are, and in what category of benefits it occurs, and the total amount claimed and what percentage of the over all buget is lost to fraud. The Workers Party said errors in payments should not be classed as fraudulent as these errors occur from inside the welfare systems.
It should also be made public the cost of the campaign so it can be measured against monies retrieved, to ensure value for money on the campaign costs. The Workers Party have said in all our responses to government consultation documents that poverty drives people to commit illegal acts, and very little has been done to lift those on benefits out of poverty, and to support the working poor, which should be a number one priority for our government.