§ Mr. R. Carrasked the Minister of Social Security how much money had to be written off as a loss in each of the last three years in respect of supplemen 292W tary benefit, sickness benefit and unemployment benefit, respectively.
§ Mrs. HartThe amounts of sickness benefit and unemployment benefit recorded in the published accounts of the National Insurance Fund as irrecoverable overpayments and losses are set out below. This does not mean that no part of these amounts was, in fact, subsequently recovered or will be recovered.
Year Sickness benefit Unemployment benefit £ £ 1964–65 355,245 111,367 1965–66 435,772 87,607 1966–67 555,632 123,754 Overpayments and repayments of supplementary benefit (previously national assistance or non-contributory old age pensions) are at present recorded differently. The excess of all overpayments and losses recorded in the years in question over all repayments received in those years was as follows:
Year in which overpayments and losses recorded Excess of overpayments and losses recorded in year over repayments recorded in year £ 1964–65 677,431 1965–66 771,179 1966–67 731,883
§ Mr R. Carrasked the Minister of Social Security what estimate she has made of the amount of money overpaid in each of the last three years attributable to fraudulent claims; and how much of this total is due to the claimant working while in receipt of unemployment benefit and supplementary benefit, respectively.
§ Mrs. HartThe relevant Appropriation Accounts included statements of overpayments of family allowances, supplementary benefits (previously national assistance and non-contributory old age pensions) and war pensions attributable to fraud or misrepresentation on the part of the claimant or other person, not being a servant of the Ministry, as follows:
Year in which overpayment recorded *Family Allowances Supplementary Benefit *War Pensions £ £ £ 1964–65 10,736 328,649 5,488 1965–66 8,110 433,086 5,605 1966–67 9,306 349,354 2,515 *Overpayments recorded as irrecoverable. In the case of National Insurance, no separate estimate of the losses attributable to fraud is available but the following are the amounts of overpayments 293W recorded as irrecoverable in cases where it was not shown to the satisfaction of the statutory authorities that the claimant had throughout used due care and diligence to avoid overpayment:
Year in which overpayment recorded Amount £ 1964–65 133,000 1965–66 128,000 1966–67 185,000 The information asked for in the second part of the Question is not available.
§ Mr. R. Carrasked the Minister of Social. Security what steps are taken to reclaim overpayments of benefit and what percentage of the total amount overpaid is eventually recovered.
§ Mrs. HartThe steps taken to recover overpayments of benefit depend on the circumstances of the particular case, including the claimant's financial situation and the degree to which he may be at fault. The methods used are deduction from future benefit, direct repayment, and, where appropriate, legal proceedings.
I regret that the information asked for in the second part of the Question is not available, since, in general, the central records are confined to the part of the overpayment which is classified as irrecoverable because there is no immediate prospect of recovery.