Guidance

Fraud and error in the benefit system: publication strategy

Updated 6 July 2023

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

© Crown copyright 2023

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-publication-strategy/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-publication-strategy

Read the statistics on Fraud and Error in the Benefit System.

Introduction

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) publishes National Statistics about the levels of fraud and error in the DWP benefit system. They estimate the amount of money overpaid and underpaid to claimants and are an important metric that is included in the department’s annual report and accounts and audited by the National Audit Office. Management Information, data and analysis is regularly provided to officials within the department, allowing trends to be identified promptly and issues addressed, ensuring a continued focus on the issue of fraud and error.

This document explains how we plan to release these statistics in future, and how further welfare reforms will be included.

Future reporting

For FYE 2024, we are measuring the following benefits for fraud and error:

  • Universal Credit
  • Housing Benefit (pension age cases)
  • Pension Credit
  • State Pension
  • Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
  • Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

The State Pension measurement will include claims administered through the Get Your State Pension (GYSP) online service for the first time in FYE 2024.

This will also see the measurement of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for the first time since FYE 2005, which concludes our response to a consultation that we ran in summer 2018.

Read the full response to the consultation.

We continuously review our reporting to ensure that our statistics are as accurate and relevant as possible. As Universal Credit (UC) continues to replace existing benefits, and the managed migration of claims progresses, we want to ensure that our longstanding measurement methodologies of Fraud, Claimant Error and Official Error align with UC legislation. We will therefore, over the next year, be carrying out a review of these methodologies to ensure they align with UC legislation.

We intend to publish our FYE 2024 estimates in May 2024.

For more information about the information within this document, please email us: caxtonhouse.femaenquiries@dwp.gov.uk

The National Statistics can be found in the collection of Fraud and Error in the Benefit System.

ISBN: 978-1-78659-525-6

Back to top