Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effects on trends in the level of fraud and error of paying childcare costs in arrears through the universal credit payments system.

DWP asks claimants to provide key documentation at the beginning of a Universal Credit childcare claim, which allows the Department to validate childcare from the outset. After the initial costs have been verified, the claimant must continue to report – and where appropriate verify – the childcare costs they pay. Transaction risking helps ensure that changes are being reported correctly.

Our recently published Fraud and Error estimates show that ‘child care’ related overpayments and underpayments in Universal Credit remain very low.