HC Deb 19 December 1994 vol 251 cc933-5W
Mr. Dewar

To 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 Evans

The 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: The 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.

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.

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