Fraud and Error in the Benefit System

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The latest national statistics report, Fraud and Error in the Benefit System: Preliminary 2010/11 Estimates was released on 12 July 2011 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. This report is produced by the Department for Work and Pensions.

The latest report estimates fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain.

Important notes:

The report includes an estimate of the total overpayments and underpayments across the benefit system as well as individual estimates for Housing Benefit, Income Support, Jobseeker's Allowance, Pension Credit and Incapacity Benefit.
The latest report replaces:

a National Statistics First Release, containing only headline figures, which was published on 16 June 2011
a National Statistics report entitled "Fraud and Error in the Benefit System: Preliminary 2010/11 Estimates". This report had all figures updated except Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit and was published on 22 June 2011.

These documents are available on request. Please see our contacts page, using the menu on the left, for details of how to contact us.

The latest report now includes all the preliminary 2010/11 estimates, including Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit estimates and revised total estimates.

The key points from the latest release are:

Fraud and Error in the Benefit System: Preliminary 2010/11 Estimates

For 2010/11, it is estimated that 2.1 per cent of total benefit expenditure was overpaid due to fraud and error. This is down from the 2009/10 level of 2.2%.
The estimated value of overpayments is £3.3bn which is the same value as in 2009/10.
For 2010/11, it is estimated that 0.8 per cent of total expenditure was underpaid, a fall from 0.9 per cent in 2009/10.
The estimated value of underpayments is £1.3bn which is the same value as in 2009/10.

The National Statistics First Release is available here