Benefit Overpayments (Hansard, 4 March 2004)

§ Mr. Pond

The latest available information is in the table.

Estimates of the amounts of overpayments due to official error in 2002–03
	£ million
Benefit	Official error overpayment 2002–03
Income Support	140
Minimum Income Guarantee	50
Jobseekers Allowance	110
Housing Benefit (see Note 2)	100
Incapacity Benefit and Severe Disablement Allowance	43
Long-Term Benefits (Retirement Pension, Widow's Benefit, and Bereavement Benefit) (see Note 3)
14

Notes:

1. All figures are sample-based estimates and are subject to sampling error and other uncertainties.

1056W

2. The reported figure for housing benefit relates only to the 85 per cent. of expenditure covered by the housing benefit review. It does not include an allowance for overpaid expenditure due to non-residence at address, a small part of which may be the result of official error.

3. Official error on long-term benefits is a very low proportion of expenditure, and sample is a very small one which excludes some types of cases. The resulting estimate is the best available but is subject to considerable uncertainty.

4. The figures for income support, minimum income guarantee. Jobseeker's allowance and housing benefit have been published in national statistics publications which report on the Department's performance against Public Service Agreement targets to reduce fraud and error.

5. Estimates are not available for official error in other benefits in 2002–03. Estimates of official error overpayments were published in reports on the benefit review exercises undertaken on disability living allowance, in 1997 and invalid care allowance (now called carer's allowance) in 1996. These out-of-date figures are not reliable indicators of the current level of official error in these benefits. A new review of disability living allowance will take place this year and provide an updated figure for that benefit.