Research and analysis

Housing Benefit fraud and error: Local Authority Insight Survey Wave 27

This research seeks to understand what local authorities are doing to prevent fraud and error in Housing Benefit.

Documents

Findings from wave 27 of the local authority insight survey: Housing Benefit fraud and error

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Details

The Local Authority Insight Survey aims to discover how local authorities administer benefits and gather their points of view on current issues.

This wave of the survey asks about fraud and error in Housing Benefit.

Housing Benefit fraud and error is estimated to account for 6.0% (£1,450 million) of total Housing Benefit expenditure. The main contributor to this is claimant error, which accounts for 3.7% (£900 million) of total benefit expenditure. To reduce Housing Benefit fraud and error DWP wishes to understand:

  • how local authorities are approaching fraud and error prevention
  • what support we can provide

We are using the results to help understand how best to work with local authorities around fraud and error in Housing Benefit in the future.

Published 12 February 2015