Fraud and Error in the benefit system: financial year 2012/13 estimates
Final estimates of total overpayments and underpayments across the benefit system in financial year 2012/13.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Documents
Details
This National Statistics report has been published according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.
The report estimates fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain:
- for 2012/13 it is estimated that 2.1% of total benefit expenditure was overpaid due to fraud and error, the same as the 2011/12 estimate
- the estimated value of overpayments is 拢3.5 billion, which is a rise from the 2011/12 estimated value of 拢3.4 billion
- for 2012/13 it is estimated that 0.9% of total benefit expenditure was underpaid due to fraud and error, which is a rise from the 2011/12 estimate (0.8%)
- the estimated value of underpayments is 拢1.6 billion, which is a rise from the 2011/12 estimated value of 拢1.3 billion
The report includes Employment and Support Allowance official error estimates.
These statistics have recently been assessed by the .
Additional information
DWP published the preliminary 2012/13 estimates on 9 May 2013. These have been archived and should only be used for comparison with the final estimates on this page.
If you have any comments, questions or any general queries regarding our publication, please email the Fraud and Error Measurement Analysis Team
Next release: May 2014.