Ministers must recover every penny possible and make sure fraudsters face the full force of the law," said Simon Lee, policy analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance.
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Conservative figure Sir Iain Duncan-Smith urged the department to maintain legal accountability to preserve public deterrence.
"They should be keeping up with individual prosecutions to send a message to the public that fraudsters will be caught," said Sir Iain Duncan-Smith.
Government Response
In response to the figures, a DWP representative stated that the agency has utilized enhanced legal mechanisms to verify banking data directly and recover misallocated funds.
"The Government inherited a broken system, but we now have stronger powers to go directly to banks and check what fraudsters are really sitting on as part of a commitment to save £14.6bn over the next five years," said a DWP Spokesman.
The agency asserted that systemic monitoring has already halted significant sums of erroneous disbursements.
"If you're hiding savings to claim benefits you're not entitled to, our message is simple – we will find out, stop the payments and recover money," said a DWP Spokesman.
The department maintained that internal corrective processes are actively expanding to means-tested pensioner benefits.
"We're committed to tackling all types of fraud and error and have already reviewed over a million Universal Credit claims via our Targeted Case Review and stopped £1bn in incorrect payments," said a DWP Spokesman.
A separate government spokesperson reiterated that statutory bodies are executing comprehensive measures to reverse the long-term decline in fraud containment.
