HC Deb 07 February 2000 vol 344 cc60-2W
Mr. Burstow

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many Benefits Agency claimants were overpaid(a) benefit and (b) income support in each of the last 12 months; and how many of these claimants have repaid that (i) benefit and (ii) income support in full; [108643]

(2) how much (a) benefit and (b) income support was overpaid in each of the last 12 months; and how much of this (i) benefit and (ii) income support was recovered from claimants; [108642]

(3) what estimate he has made of the annual administrative costs of recovering unpaid (a) benefit and (b) income support per claimant; and how much was spent by the Benefits Agency recovering overpaid (i) benefit and (ii) income support in each of the last 12 months; [108644]

(4) what is his policy in respect of recovering overpaid benefit from claimants overpaid by (a) over £5.00 and (b) under £5.00; [108645]

(5) what methods are used by the Benefits Agency to recover overpaid benefit from claimants who do not repay such benefit voluntarily; and in what percentage of overpayment cases these methods are used. [108646]

Angela Eagle

Administration of benefits and recovery of overpayments is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency, Peter Mathison. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Mark Fisher to Mr. Paul Burstow, dated 4 February 2000: The Secretary of State has asked Peter Mathison to respond to your recent questions about overpaid benefits. As he is unavailable I am replying on his behalf. The Benefits Agency (BA) aims to obtain the recovery of overpayments as quickly and efficiently as possible by the most cost-effective method, without causing hardship, and in accordance with Government Accounting and Departmental Policy. The BA spent £44m on recovering overpayments in the period April to December 1999. A monthly breakdown of this figure is set out in the attached appendix. Some of the information is not available in the format requested. For example, the BA does not break this down by benefit or by the number of overpayments recovered. Prior to April 1999, the BA did not separately identify costs relating purely to overpayment recovery across the whole BA. The BA captures information on the value of recoveries made. The number of overpayments arising during 1998/99 totalled just over one million, and 707,000 have been raised so far this year. A monthly breakdown of the recovery figures for the last 12 months is attached, they also provide a breakdown showing Income Support (IS) and all benefits (including IS) as you have requested. The BA does not normally seek repayment of overpayments less than £25. This is based on cost-effectiveness and in line with Government Accounting. However, there may be occasions when this is not adhered to, for example, when the overpayment has been quickly identified and the sum to be recovered is still likely to be held by the claimant and easily recoverable. The BA recovers overpayments by deductions from ongoing benefits, instalments, by a lump sum, or by civil proceedings. Typically, the BA will firstly invite repayment and in the vast majority of cases, recovery is implemented by mutual agreement between the debtor and the BA. Where the debtor remains in receipt of benefit and is not in a position to repay the overpayment immediately, recovery is normally pursued by deduction from ongoing benefit entitlement. This deduction can also be imposed compulsorily if no offer of repayment is forthcoming. Deductions from benefit, whether voluntary or compulsory, account for 74% of the overpayments currently being recovered. Where customers are not in receipt of any benefit, repayments will be expected. A person's failure to respond to an invitation to repay (or making an unreasonable offer) could lead the BA to

Appendix A January 1999 February 1999 March 1999 April 1999 May 1999 June 1999 July 1999
Total number new recovery OPs in month (IS) 27,123 26,630 30,777 18,567 18,281 21,877 22,266
Total number new recovery OPs in month (All Benefits) 56,966 58,612 65,771 45,059 43,379 51,070 49,601
Value of new recovery OPs in month (IS) £18,795,578 £18,737,449 £22,131,924 £13,447,701 £12,600,292 £14,728,335 £14,754,107
Value of new recovery OPs in month (All Benefits) £33,294,104 £33,589,813 £37,199,443 £23,982,129 £22,195,461 £25,180,629 £25,467,597
Total number new non-recovery OPs in month (IS) 20,339 22,045 24,800 17,554 19,761 23,760 19,561
Total number new non-recovery OPs in month (All Benefits) 26,778 28,099 29,198 22,047 22,408 24,825 21,004
Value of new non-recovery OPs in month (IS) £5,591,023 £6,182,900 £6,961,243 £4,986,998 £5,457,898 £6,464,630 £5,488,999
Value of new non-recovery OPs in month (All Benefits) £5,734,980 £5,672,743 £5,181,333 £4,356,669 £4,303,023 £4,946,916 £4,881,638
Value of Recoveries (IS) £10,398,441 £11,310,508 £12,936,673 £11,604,654 £11,371,316 £13,273,713 £11,978,626
Total Value of Recoveries (All Benefits) £13,497,835 £14,757,275 £16,479,909 £15,475,968 £14,825,677 £16,818,919 £15,315,710
Overpayment Recovery Costs (All Benefits) n/a n/a n/a £4,721,919 £4,684,713 £4,847,579 £4,787,460

Appendix A August 1999 September 1999 October 1999 November 1999 December 1999 Total
Total number new recovery OPs in month (IS) 19,434 21,918 21,616 23,987 16,483 268,959
Total number new recovery OPs in month (All Benefits) 44,354 50,362 49,992 54,602 35,520 605,288
Value of new recovery OPs in month (IS) £13,507,006 £15,013,895 £14,698,705 £15,726,724 £10,876,725 £185,018,441
Value of new recovery OPs in month (All Benefits) £22,366,215 £25,009,507 £25,793,776 £26,768,767 £17,864,733 £318,712,173
Total number new non-recovery OPs in month (IS) 18,013 18,523 15,083 20,114 14,800 234,353
Total number new non-recovery OPs in month (All Benefits) 22,285 22,138 22,810 21,079 15,546 278,217
Value of new non-recovery OPs in month (IS) £5,119,030 £5,310,799 £4,415,309 £5,669,686 £4,292,804 £65,941,319
Value of new non-recovery OPs in month (All Benefits) £4,252,299 £4,397,912 £4,695,007 £3,863,935 £2,705,772 £54,992,228
Value of Recoveries (IS) £12,381,124 £12,178,512 £11,982,626 £13,126,183 £11,594,655 £144,137,031
Total Value of Recoveries (All Benefits) £15,615,466 £15,587,541 £15,181,118 £16,712,401 £14,612,603 £184,880,422
Overpayment Recovery Costs (All Benefits) £5,494,698 £4,502,158 £4,886,722 £5,538,471 £5,222,073 £44,685,793

consider seeking recovery through a civil action. The threshold for acceptance for civil action is currently £150. There is a six year time limit on proceedings. 6.5% of overpayments currently being recovered have been subject to civil proceedings. The remaining are being recovered by other voluntary arrangements. Policy on civil proceedings to recover overpayments is that litigation is not pursued where the debtor remains in receipt of benefit. For those not in receipt of benefit, litigation is pursued as a last resort where voluntary arrangements are unsuccessful or break down. Recovery procedures follow guidance as provided in Government Accounting, where the recovery is likely to be detrimental to the health and/or welfare of the debtor or a member of their family, the Secretary of State has the power to exercise discretion and abandon recovery. Recovery of an overpayment arising as a result of an official error is pursued if the overpayment is identified quickly and it is reasonable to expect the customer to have been aware of the overpayment. Duplicate payments are classed as over provisions of benefit and are recoverable under common law. The Secretary of State has a duty to seek recovery of such overpayments where it is cost effective to do so.

I hope this is helpful.

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