Sara Morris, a 50-year-old resident of Stone, Staffordshire, is not the only person in midlife to document her jogging achievements online. As a member of the Stone Master Marathoners and a mother of three, she frequently posted her participation in numerous 5k and 10k events on Facebook.

But unlike most social media running enthusiasts, Morris’s posts ultimately exposed her for welfare fraud. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2005, she drastically overstated her condition in a 2020 claim for Personal Independence Payment (PIP). She told officials she couldn’t stand to cook, needed help getting out of the bath, and suffered such severe anxiety that she would cry at the pharmacy—conveniently omitting any mention of her long-distance running routine.

In July of last year, she was sentenced at Stoke Crown Court to eight months in prison for submitting a false claim, having received £20,528.83 in overpaid benefits between October 2020 and April 2023. Investigators discovered she had taken part in 73 races between May 2019 and December 2022. She admitted her claim had crossed into dishonesty and ended up serving nine weeks.

Last week, at a Proceeds of Crime hearing, the same court ordered her to repay £22,386.02 within 28 days or face an additional nine months in prison.

Welfare fraud persists post-pandemic

While Morris’s case might seem almost absurd, it comes at a politically sensitive moment. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under pressure over defence spending pledges and slowing economic growth. Just this week, he unveiled a strategic defence plan committing to 12 new attack submarines and a rise in military spending to 2.5% of GDP. NATO, meanwhile, is pushing for the UK to hit 3.5% by 2035, and U.S. officials have called for 5%.

All of this is happening against a backdrop of an OECD forecast that UK growth will drop to a mere 1% next year, partly due to concerns over Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs and persistent inflation. Starmer has pledged welfare reform but may be forced to raise taxes—a move unlikely to sit well with voters frustrated by cases like Morris’s.

Official statistics reveal that public concern about benefit fraud far exceeds the reality, though the numbers remain substantial. According to Ipsos CEO Ben Page, the public believes nearly a quarter of welfare spending is lost to fraud, while the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) puts the figure at just 2.2%. Still, with the DWP’s total budget at £268 billion, even that small percentage equals around £6.5 billion in fraudulent claims—more than the UK spends on higher education, foreign aid, or fixing potholes.

Convictions down, claims up

Benefit fraud prosecutions have dropped dramatically. Ministry of Justice data shows a fall in convictions from over 4,000 in 2017 to fewer than 700 in recent years. At the same time, welfare uptake is rising: in January 2025, 7.5 million people were on Universal Credit, up by over a million from the previous year.

Public anger is often reignited by high-profile frauds. In one 2023 case, five members of a Bulgarian gang were jailed for a £50 million benefits scam—the largest in British history. In another, authorities had to write off £240,000 in unpaid debts left by Christina Pomfrey, who defrauded over £1 million by pretending to be blind and wheelchair-bound. In October, a man named Hossein Ali Najafi received a 29-month sentence for illegally claiming £349,000 under two identities.

Cultural and technological challenges

Universal Credit fraud has been a particular challenge. While state pension fraud remains negligible, fraud in Universal Credit surged from £700 million in 2018 to £6.5 billion in recent years—roughly 10% of its total cost. Much of this rise is attributed to relaxed checks during the pandemic, including a shift from in-person to remote assessments.

Peter Schofield, the DWP’s permanent secretary, linked the trend to a broader rise in fraud across the economy. The DWP acknowledges that pre-pandemic fraud levels are unlikely to return. Still, efforts to fight fraud have saved about £400 million in Universal Credit alone over the past year, according to the department.

Think tank director Joe Shalam argues that fraud, like shoplifting, has become more normalized due to economic stress. He also notes a changing social dynamic, where people compare their benefits to others and feel entitled to more. Meanwhile, the Motability scheme, offering subsidised cars to PIP claimants, now includes over 800,000 users. Some social media influencers even share tips on how to qualify.

Restoring trust and accountability

Former DWP secretary Amber Rudd recalls how job centre staff often voiced frustration over benefit fraud. She noted that technology could play a stronger role in identifying abuse. “Fraud takes many forms,” she said, “and while we can try to reduce it, we’ll always be fighting it.”

In Morris’s case, her lawyer argued that running helped her manage her condition and that she faced severe financial difficulties, even losing her home.

But for Starmer, the political stakes are high. Upon taking office, he pledged to crack down on benefit fraud. A key proposal would give fraud investigators the same data access powers as HMRC, potentially requiring banks to share information about suspected fraudsters. The plan is projected to save £1.6 billion over five years.

However, not everyone supports this approach. Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan has raised concerns about potential overreach and mass surveillance of welfare recipients. Writing in The Guardian, he warned that under current proposals, simply needing benefits could make someone a suspect.

In contrast, Finland provides an example of effective welfare administration. With its digitised, simplified system, Finland recorded just £6 million in suspected benefit misuse in 2024—about 0.5% of total spending.

Shalam believes AI could offer similar opportunities for the UK, enabling a more efficient and fair distribution of benefits. But until such systems are widely implemented, the government remains vulnerable to public backlash over fraud and perceived mismanagement.

For voters, individual fraud cases—like Sara Morris’s—may be symbolic of a much larger issue: a lack of trust in the system, and in those who govern it.