§ Mr. DewarTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish figures showing, for each year since 1987(a) the total amount of cash losses due to irrecoverable payments of pensions, etc., income support and family benefits recorded during the year, (b) the total amount of errors in benefit payments recorded and (c) total savings for the year from anti-fraud initiatives.
§ Mr. Roger EvansThe administration of benefits is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available.
Letter from Michael Bichard to Mr. Donald Dewar, dated 16 December 1994:
934WThe Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking about irrecoverable overpayments of benefits, recorded benefit payment errors and benefit savings obtained from fraud initiatives.Decisions about whether an overpayment of benefit has occurred, how much has been overpaid, whether it is recoverable and from whom it should be recovered are made by the independent adjudicating authorities. However, an officer acting on behalf of the Secretary of State may subsequently decide not to pursue recovery.Complete information concerning the amount and number of irrecoverable overpayments is not available. I have provided the details which are available at Appendix A, B, C and D. These give the total benefit losses and do not differentiate between irrecoverable and unrecovered losses. The data provided was used to compile the Benefits Agency's (BA) annual accounts for the years 1987–92; figures for 1993–94 are not included because the National Insurance Fund Annual Account has neither been audited by the National Audit Office, nor signed by the Accounting Officer.Records and data on Retirement Pension and Widows Benefit for the year 1987–88 are no longer available. In addition, the data on losses by category for Income Support and Family Benefits for the period 1987–92 are no longer available as they have been routinely destroyed.A statistically valid sample of payments is selected for accuracy checking and I have provided at Appendix E the percentage accuracy and error rates as requested. These figures are taken from the BA's Management Information Statistics. They do not tally directly with National Audit Office figures because they are derived from different forms of check.The DSS/BA Fraud estimated benefit savings are set out at Appendix F. All the Appendices have been placed in the Library.I hope you find this reply helpful.
Appendix A—Losses due to irrecoverable and unrecovered overpayments of Income Support, and Family Benefits £000 Year Supplementary Benefit/Income Support Family Benefits 1986–87 31,987 3,234 1987–88 32,024 2,718 1988–89 41,112 3,333 1989–90 40,211 3,901 1990–91 28,608 3,417 1991–92 32,974 3,908 1992–93 44,576 4,073 1993–94 52,435 3,730 TOTAL 303,927 28,314 Source:
1986–1991 VOTE 2 Supplementary benefits/income support
1986–1991 VOTE 3 Family benefits
1991–1994 VOTE 1 Amalgamated pension benefits/income support/family benefits
Appendix B—Losses by category £000 1992—93 1993—94 Mistake by beneficiary Income Support 7,216 8,758 Family Benefits 2,564 2,243 Mistake—other Income Support 22,007 28,194 Family Benefits 496 574 Fraud Income Support 15,353 15,483 Family Benefits 1,013 913
Appendix C—Irrecoverable and unrecovered overpayments by category—retirement pension £000 Year Total Mistake—Other Mistake—Beneficiary Fraud 1988–89 2,500 1,942 465 93 1989–90 2,676 2,099 536 41 1990–91 2,879 2,368 438 73 1991–92 3,474 2,808 587 79 1992–93 3,544 2,820 695 29 Source:
Management Information Statistics.
Appendix D—Irrecoverable and unrecovered overpayments by category—widows benefit £000 Year Total Mistake—other Mistake—beneficiary Fraud 1988–89 605 449 75 81 1989–90 535 363 119 53 1990–91 534 397 131 6 1991–92 610 427 175 8 1992–93 704 497 168 39 Source:
Management Information Statistics.
935W
Appendix E—Benefit Errors: Percentages 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 Supplementary Benefit/Income Support Per cent. Correct 90 88.5 90.5 92 94 96 94.5 91 Per cent. Incorrect 10 11.5 9.5 8 6 4 5.5 9 Child Benefit Per cent. Correct 98.5 98.5 98.5 99 98.5 98 Per cent. Incorrect 1.5 1.5 1.5 1 1.5 2 One Parent Benefit Per cent. Correct 96.5 97 97.5 97.5 96.5 96 Per cent. Incorrect 3.5 3 2.5 2.5 3.5 4 Family Credit Per cent. Correct 90 92 92.5 91.5 89 92.5 Per cent. Incorrect 10 8 7.5 8.5 11 7.5 Guardians Allowance Per cent. Correct 100 100 100 100 100 Per cent. Incorrect — — — — — Retirement Pensions/Widows Benefits Per cent. Correct 96.5 98 98.5 98.5 99 98.5 98.5 Per cent. Incorrect 3.5 2 1.5 1.5 1 1.5 1.5 Source:
Management Information Statistics.
Appendix F—Estimated fraud benefit savings £ million Year Estimated benefit savings 1987–88 196 1988–89 262 1989–90 309 1990–91 341 1991–92 447 1992–93 558 1993–94 654 Source:
Management Information Statistics.