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Benefit cheats are to face increased prison sentences of up to 10 years, under new guidelines set out by the director of public prosecutions.

Keir Starmer QC said it was time for a "tough stance", as he issued guidance for prosecutors in England and Wales.

He said the £1.9bn annual cost of the crime to the nation should always be at the "forefront of lawyers" minds.

The prime minister's spokesman said he welcomed the move, adding that benefit fraud was "very serious".

It was a myth "getting one over" on the system was a victimless crime, he said.

Cash limit

The move comes after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) merged with the Department for Work and Pensions' prosecutions division last year. 

The guidelines set out the approach prosecutors should take in deciding which offences to use, so that the charge fits the crime.

Commons' Work and Pensions Committee

Suspects can now be charged under the Fraud Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, according to the CPS.

In the past, benefits cheats were commonly charged under social security legislation carrying a maximum sentence of seven years.

And benefit frauds of less than £20,000 were automatically tried in magistrates' courts, which could only sentence people to up to 12 months imprisonment for multiple offences. For a single offence, the maximum is six months.

This financial threshold has been scrapped under the new guidelines, so smaller cases can be referred straight to crown courts for tougher sentencing.

The BBC's legal correspondent Clive Coleman said the changes meant welfare cheating would now be classed alongside offences such as money laundering and banking fraud.

'Most vulnerable'

Mr Starmer said: "It is a myth that 'getting one over on the system' is a victimless crime: the truth is we all pay the price. But it's not only the taxpayers that suffer.

"Benefits exist to protect and support the most vulnerable people in our society and, whenever the system is defrauded, it's also taking money away from those with a genuine need."

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Benefit fraud statistics (2011)

6,080 offenders were sentenced - the lowest number since 2001. (A total of 16,317 offenders were sentenced for all types of fraud in 2011)

79% of cases were seen at the magistrates' court

41% were given a community order, which means offenders serve their whole sentence in the community

17% were fined

16% were given an absolute or conditional discharge

4% were given immediate custody

54% of offenders sentenced were female (compared with 26% for all fraud offences)

Source: Fraud Offences Sentencing Data (June 2013)

Jonathan Isaby, political director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, welcomed the move.

"This is people stealing from taxpayers - stealing from vulnerable people. A message needs to go out that this is unacceptable and increasing sentences will act as a deterrent," he told the BBC.

But Labour MP Theresa Pearce, who is a member of the Commons' Work and Pensions Committee, accused Mr Starmer, who is due to stand down from his CPS role in October, of "trying to look tough" on benefit cheats.

"Ten years in prison, really? For something that could be like a couple of thousand pounds. Yes that's bad and there's a way you should get it back but I just don't understand why this is his priority in his final months," she said.

Earlier this year, MPs on the Communities and Local Government Select Committee called on the government to give a "swift assurance" that the introduction of its new welfare system, known as universal credit, would not cause a rise in benefit fraud.

Universal credit will eventually replace six key means-tested benefits with one payment.

Last year, the CPS saw more than 8,600 prosecutions in benefit and tax credit cases, and 4,000 in the first five months of 2013, Mr Starmer said. The current conviction rate is 89.7%, he added.

The government has claimed to have saved hundreds of millions of pounds by introducing better fraud prevention and reducing errors in the tax and benefit system. BBC