Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) pays benefits to around 20 million people across the UK and every May publishes a document called ‘Fraud and Error in the Benefit System’.
This annual report estimates how much money the Department has incorrectly paid out, either by paying people too much benefit, called an overpayment, or by not paying enough benefit, called an underpayment.
This is calculated as a percentage of the total amount of benefit the DWP pays – expenditure. Overpayments and underpayments happen for a number of reasons including fraud, claimant error and official error - processing errors or delays by DWP, a Local Authority, or HM Revenue and Customs ( HMRC ).
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