10 March 2011
More than £2bn of benefits was overpaid to claimants last year, the Public Accounts Committee has found.
The latest PAC report on errors in the benefits system, published today, also revealed that £1.3bn in benefits was underpaid in 2009/10.
PAC chair Margaret Hodge said the cost of errors in the system ‘hadn’t improved for years’.
She said: ‘People aren’t getting the money they’re entitled to and the taxpayer is losing out on money paid when it should not have been.
‘The Department for Work & Pensions needs to improve its performance if it is to meet its target of reducing the total cost of fraud and error by 25% by 2015.’
Hodge also criticised the department for focusing solely on its own losses to fraud and error and not on the issue of underpayment to poorer people.
‘It is essential that the department does not neglect this problem,’ she said.
The report also expressed concerns that the DWP hadn’t yet formulated a clear plan to reduce fraud and error levels.
It urged the department to ensure that any interventions were well targeted and to work harder on understanding the cost and impact of its interventions.
A DWP spokesman said: ‘Our welfare reforms
will simplify the benefits system, making it easier to understand and less open
to mistakes. We are absolutely committed to reducing fraud and error, and our
new strategy sets out our plans to tackle this problem.
‘We will respond formally to the [PAC] report in due course.’
