Majority of benefit cheats not prosecuted, official figures show The figures came to light in response to a parliamentary question from Richard Fuller, Conservative MP for Bedford and Kempston. They are "extremely disappointing" and show "there's a lot more work to be done," said Brooks Newmark, Tory MP for Braintree. The DWP does not transfer all the cases to the CPS instead ordering fraudsters to pay a "civil penalty" of between £500 and £2,000 and repay the money they have wrongly claimed. The department maintain that these fines represent new, tougher sanctions. The CPS only pursued prosecution against 22 per cent of the 45,000 cases of benefit fraud they identified. In 2010/11 only 7,514 of those prosecuted received a custodial sentence, and in 2011/12 only 403 of the 8,911 prosecuted were jailed. Benefit fraud is thought to have cost the taxpayer £1.2 billion last year, up 9 per cent on the year before. A DWP spokesperson said: "We are determined to stop fraudsters who see benefits as a way of lining their pockets. We are giving our investigators the resources to catch these criminals and always push hard for the strongest punishments. We look to ensure overpayments are repaid even if cases do not end up in court, and we have introduced civil penalties to deter claimants from making errors in their claims that lead to overpayments.