Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many cases of underpaid benefits have occurred in each of the last five years.
The Monetary Value of Fraud and Error estimates provide information on overpayments and underpayments in the benefit system.
Levels of fraud and error, both overpayments and underpayments, remain low in percentage terms. Figures for the last 5 years are as follows:
Year | Overpayments | Expenditure | Underpayments | Expenditure |
2012/13 | £3.5bn | 2.1% | £1.6bn | 0.9% |
2013/14 | £3.4bn | 2.1% | £1.5bn | 0.9% |
2014/15 | £3.0bn | 1.8% | £1.5bn | 0.9% |
2015/16 | £3.3bn | 1.9% | £1.7bn | 1.0% |
2016/17 | £3.6bn | 2.0% | £1.7bn | 1.0% |
We do not publish information on the total number of benefit claimants who have been underpaid benefits, but the stats publications offer information on the percentage of cases overpaid and underpaid by client group and error type.
Final fraud and error estimates for 2017/18 will be available later this year.