Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the fraud and error rates of (1) the £20 Universal Credit uplift, (2) the suspension of the minimum income floor for self-employed claimants, and (3) the increase in local housing allowance, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. The £20 UC uplift - Our sample-based measurement of Fraud and Error levels found no significant difference between the rate of overpayments on the £20 uplift part of the payment and the rest of the UC payment. See section 3 of Background information: Fraud and error in the benefit system statistics, 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK

2. The MIF – We published an estimate of the increased level of overpayments in 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 that resulted from suspension of the MIF. See Fraud and error in the benefit system for financial year ending 2021 - GOV.UK , Fraud and error in the benefit system Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2022 - GOV.UK and Fraud and error in the benefit system Financial Year Ending (FYE) 2023 - GOV.UK

They show that, as a result of the suspension of the MIF, the estimated rate of overpayments as a percentage of UC expenditure was:

• Between 0.7% and 1.5% higher in 2020/21
• Between 0.8% and 0.9% higher in 2021/22
• 0.4% higher in 2022/23

3. The increase in LHA rate - We have not made any estimate of the increase in F&E as a result of the increase in the LHA rate during the pandemic.