Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average value was of a benefits underpayment in the 2022-2023 financial year.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP does not produce an estimate for the average value of a benefit underpayment.
We estimate that the total rate of benefit expenditure underpaid in 2022-2023 was £3.3bn: Fraudand error in the benefit system Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report by the National Audit Office entitled Department for Work and Pensions Accounts 2022-23, published on 6 July 2023, whether his Department has taken recent steps to amend the methodology it uses to estimate the financial impact of its counter-fraud activities.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We review the methodology as part of publishing our annual accounts each year and will report on any agreed changes in the Annual Report and Account 2023/24 expected to be published in Summer 2024, following discussion with National Audit Office.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average value was of Universal Credit claim overpayments in the 2022-2023 financial year.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP measures its overpayments via annual national statistics published each May. However, we do not produce an estimate for the average value of a Universal Credit overpayment.
We estimate that the total value of Universal Credit overpayments in 2022-2023 was £5,540m: Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2022 to 2023 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much and what proportion of fraud and error was (a) prevented upfront and (b) detected after the event in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Our estimate is that the Department prevented up front £17.1bn of fraud and error and detected £0.6bn after the event in the financial year 2022/23.
Further details can be found in the Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23, link below.
Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 for the year ended 31 March 2023 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
DWP will update these figures in the Annual Report and Accounts for financial year 23/24, expected to be published in Summer 2024.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the total value was of underpayments of the Personal Independence Payment due to recipients’ failure to update their medical need in the 2022-2023 financial year.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP measures its underpayments via annual national statistics published each May. However, we do not produce an estimate for the average value of a benefit underpayment.
Our estimates relating to PIP underpayments in 2022-23 can be found at the link below:
Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2022 to 2023 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Table 6 provides the total estimated value of PIP underpayments in 2022-23.
Table 8 provides the estimated value of PIP underpayments due to claimant error. All claimant error underpayments were due to errors where the claimant’s condition had got worse, and they failed to inform the department (Functional Needs).
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average value was of an underpayment of the Personal Independence Payment in the 2022-2023 financial year.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP measures its underpayments via annual national statistics published each May. However, we do not produce an estimate for the average value of a benefit underpayment.
Our estimates relating to PIP underpayments in 2022-23 can be found at the link below:
Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2022 to 2023 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Table 6 provides the total estimated value of PIP underpayments in 2022-23.
Table 8 provides the estimated value of PIP underpayments due to claimant error. All claimant error underpayments were due to errors where the claimant’s condition had got worse, and they failed to inform the department (Functional Needs).
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the financial impact of his Department's counter-fraud activities in the 2023-24 financial year.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP will publish details of the Department’s counter-fraud activities in the Annual Report and Accounts for financial year 23/24, expected to be published in Summer 2024.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people were underpaid the State Pension due to incorrectly updated National Insurance records in the 2022-23 financial year; and what the total amount is that these people are owed.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This response covers both missing Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) and UC National Insurance issues.
The exercise to correct National Insurance records for those individuals impacted by errors in their HRP record is underway. The HRP corrections exercise started with HMRC dispatching letters in late 2023. Cases subsequently notified from HMRC started being processed in DWP in early 2024.
In the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023, the central estimate was around 187,000 cases who may have an underpayment of State Pension and for whom we expect to correct, with a total underpayment estimate of £1,043 million.
We intend to publish an update on the exercise in this year’s Annual Report and Accounts.
DWP has corrected the UC data issue for the cases impacted for the tax years up to and including the tax year 2022/2023. This data has been shared with HMRC. As HMRC updates NI records, these updates are sent to DWP. Any State Pension entitlement will be reassessed, and any underpayment addressed accordingly.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average value was of an underpayment of the State Pension due to incorrectly updated National Insurance records in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This response covers both missing Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) and UC National Insurance issues.
The exercise to correct National Insurance records for those individuals impacted by errors in their HRP record is underway. The HRP corrections exercise started with HMRC dispatching letters in late 2023. Cases subsequently notified from HMRC started being processed in DWP in early 2024.
In the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts 2022-2023, the central estimate value of an underpayment was £5,000 for alive cases above state pension age and £3,000 for deceased cases.
We intend to publish an update on the exercise in this year’s Annual Report and Accounts.
DWP has corrected the UC data issue for the cases impacted for the tax years up to and including the tax year 2022/2023. This data has been shared with HMRC. As HMRC updates NI records, these updates are sent to DWP. Any State Pension entitlement will be reassessed, and any underpayment addressed accordingly.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to paragraph 3.21 of the report by the National Audit Office entitled Department for Work and Pensions Accounts 2022-23, published on 6 July 2023, how many and what proportion of the incorrect National Insurance records have (a) been and (b) not yet been updated.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
To date we have processed over 23 million pieces of data to HMRC and less than 1% (0.88%) needs data validations. We expect this will be completed by Summer 2024.