National statistics

Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2015/16 estimates

Final estimates of fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain in the financial year 2015/16.

From:
Department for Work and Pensions
Published
8 December 2016
Last updated
27 April 2017 — See all updates

Documents

Fraud and error in the benefit system: final 2015/16 estimates first release

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78425-885-6

PDF, 639 KB, 15 pages

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Tables: Fraud and error in the benefit system, final 2015/16 estimates

ODS, 286 KB

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Fraud and error in the benefit system: background information and methodology

HTML

Fraud and error in the benefit system: background information and methodology

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78425-886-3

PDF, 411 KB, 41 pages

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Details

This report provides estimates of fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain for the financial year 2015/16.

The main points from the report are:

  • 1.9% of total benefit expenditure was overpaid due to fraud and error (up from 1.8% in 2014/15)
  • the estimated value of overpayments is £3.3 billion (a rise from the 2014/15 estimated value of £3.0 billion)
  • the net government loss, after recoveries, is £2.2 billion, or 1.3% of benefit expenditure
  • 1.0% of total benefit expenditure (or £1.5 billion) was underpaid due to fraud and error

New interactive information and charts

Use our new online tool to explore DWP’s fraud and error statistics.

More information

The final estimates on this page replace the archived preliminary 2015/2016 estimates published in May 2016.

Send any comments or questions about our fraud and error estimates to caxtonhouse.femaenquiries@dwp.gov.uk

Published 8 December 2016
Last updated 27 April 2017 + show all updates

  1. Amended Table 13 in 'Tables: Fraud and error in the benefit system, final 2015/16 estimates'. Some negative values were formatted incorrectly affecting some occasionally measured benefits. Footnote amended in relation to Housing Benefit recovery data.

  2. First published.

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