Combatting benefits fraud

Benefit schemes for occupational injury are susceptible to fraud from internal sources, claimants and professionals involved in claims. The pressure to reduce expenditure, together with the changes to the public sector generally, have affected how the fraud is dealt with. One such scheme in Australia, the Workcover Corporation of South Australia, provides a case-study from the practitioner perspective on the analysis of fraud and the cost-effective targetting of resources for its prevention, detection and prosecution.Ben Wait is a financial analyst with Workcover Corporation. The article was written during his time as a researcher with the Unit and is written in a personal capacity.