The bailout figure is £1.3trillion, the established Bank of England estimate.
The benefit fraud figure is calculated by adding up Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) estimates of fraud for the last ten years - see "Fraud and Error in the Benefit System, 2009-2010", page 17 Table 3.1.
Thanks to James Meadway for this comparison.
Also see: 'Who are the real fraudsters?'
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And of course what about the estimated (see link for 2010) £16bn in *unclaimed* entitlements? You don't hear the Tories saying a lot about that, though, do you?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/press_office201022
Excellent point - thanks Beth. The DWP document I linked to has some figures on that too, but strangely ministers aren't so keen to talk those up.
ReplyDeleteO-M-G!!! *faints*
ReplyDeleteBy the time people start talking about "trillions", surely somebody somewhere will begin to realize it cannot possibly be real money.