Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answers of 29 September to Questions 95101 and 95102 what estimate she has made of the number of people affected by administrative errors made by her Department which led to (a) the overpayment of benefits and (b) financial hardship for claimants in the last five years.

DWP is focused on paying people their correct entitlement and a quality checking regime is in place. However, there are occasions where administrative or ‘official errors’ have arisen from processing or delays, which we look to correct as quickly as possible.

The latest National Statistics Fraud and Error statistics were published on 14^th May 2020 and show that estimated losses from official error in 2019/20 accounted for 0.4% of total benefit expenditure.

These statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2019-to-2020-estimates

Whilst the official error rate is the same as in the previous 4 years, changes to the way in which the statistics are calculated make it difficult to make exact comparisons beyond 2018/19.

The Department is unable to provide data in response to the second question, as any request to reduce the rate of repayment due to financial hardship will have been the result of individual circumstances.