Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2018 to 2019 estimates
Estimates of fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain in the financial year 2018 to 2019.
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Documents
Details
This report provides estimates of fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain for the financial year 2018 to 2019.
The main points from the report are:
- 2.2% of total benefit expenditure was overpaid due to fraud and error
- the estimated value of overpayments was 拢4.1 billion
- the net government loss, after recoveries, was 拢3.0 billion, or 1.6% of benefit expenditure
- 1.1% of total benefit expenditure (or 拢2.0 billion) was underpaid due to fraud and error
Send any comments or questions about the fraud and error estimates to: [email protected].
Interactive information and charts.
Use DWP鈥檚 to explore the fraud and error statistics.
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Updates to this page
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Published a revised version of the data tables, correcting the Element/Premiums total overpayment figure for Pension Credit in table 3 from 拢5 million to 拢15 million.
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Published a revised version of the release to correct the Jobseeker鈥檚 Allowance overpayments chart labels (see page 7 of the PDF). Revised data tables were also published - footnote 8 about Universal Credit has been corrected. .
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First published.