UK Inquiry Tracker

Tackling fraud and error in benefit expenditure 2024-25

Public Accounts Committee Open Inquiry

Opened: 10 Jul 2025 Parliament page

In 2023-24, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spent £268.5bn on benefit and pension payments. That same year, the National Audit Office (NAO) reported that benefit overpayments by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) were at £9.7bn, their highest ever level in cash terms, with the majority of … Read more In 2023-24, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) spent £268.5bn on benefit and pension payments. That same year, the National Audit Office (NAO) reported that benefit overpayments by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) were at £9.7bn, their highest ever level in cash terms, with the majority of overpayments accounted for by Universal Credit. The DWP set out its approach to tackling fraud in 2022, with three main areas of activity: investing in counter-fraud professionals and data analytics, creating new legal powers, and working closely with the public and private sectors. The PAC has examined fraud and error in benefit expenditure extensively. Its January 2025 report on DWP Customer Service and its 2023-24 accounts warned that levels of fraud were unacceptably high, while finding that disability benefits claimants were at increased risk of hardship with underpayments also rising. The PAC considered that there was no reason why the DWP’s perception of an increasing propensity for fraud in society must inevitably lead to increasing losses to the taxpayer, and concluded that it is the DWP’s job to improve its defences and ensure benefit claimants receive the right amount of money. The National Audit Office (NAO) publishes two reports in this area in 2025 – the DWP Report on Accounts 2024-25, which sets out core trends in benefit fraud and error; and a separate study examining the effectiveness of DWP’s approach to tackling benefit overpayments due to fraud and error . Following the NAO’s two reports, the PAC will take evidence from senior DWP officials on topics including progress on reducing overpayments now and in the future, on building trust with claimants, and its use of machine learning to help identify cases of fraud. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Thursday 20 November 2025. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is the Committee which decides what information to publish and how. It may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues . Show less

14 Recommendations

16 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

8 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 11 events

29 Jun
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions relating to Treasury Minute: Tackling fraud and error in benefi…

8 Jun
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Director General, DWP Services and Fraud at the Department for Work and Pensions relating to Follow up to DWP Public Accoun…

21 May
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Chair to the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Work and Pensions relating to Treasury Minute – Tackling fraud and er…

7 Apr
2026

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Sixty-sixth report from Session 2024-26

12 Mar
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Director General Public Spending at HM Treasury relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 29 January 2026 on Governme…

11 Feb
2026

Report published

66th Report - Tackling fraud and error in benefit expenditure 2024-25

2 Feb
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 04 December 202…

8 Jan
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 04 December on …

8 Jan
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions relating to the transcript of the Committee’s evidence session …

4 Dec
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

4 Dec
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Work and Pensions relating to OBR fraud and error forecast, 1 December 2025

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

4 Dec 2025

View on parliament.uk

Neil Couling CBE · Department of Work and Pensions Sir Peter Schofield KCB · Department for Work and Pensions Vikki Knight · Department of Work and Pensions

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
66th Report - Tackling fraud and error in benefit expenditure 20…	HC 1231	11 Feb 2026	30	Response document linked

Recommendations & Conclusions

30 results

2 Recommendation

66th Report - Tackling fraud and e…

Set out actions to address root causes of official error by 2025–26 annual report

Errors by the Department or other parts of government caused £1.0 billion of overpayments and £1.2 billion of underpayments in 2024–25. Official error occurs when a benefit is paid incorrectly due to action, delay or a mistake by the Department, … Read more

HM Treasury

Tackling fraud and error in benefit expenditure 2024-25

Activity timeline 11 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

Set out actions to address root causes of official error by 2025–26 annual report

Set out plans for spending £3.5 billion fraud funding and measuring its return on investment

Set out plans for cross-departmental data sharing to verify Universal Credit household composition

Report annually on usage and impact of new Public Authorities Act 2025 powers

Evaluate impact of communications on reporting changes and update on fraud reporting feedback

Update Committee on progress resolving Carer’s Allowance overpayments due to inaccurate guidance

Committee scrutinises DWP evidence on tackling benefit fraud and error expenditure

Challenges in controlling Universal Credit fraud relating to household composition persist

Cost-effective controls vital for DWP to achieve unqualified audit opinion

Official error in benefit payments remains substantial and is increasing

DWP’s root cause analysis overlooks official error, focusing on claimant fraud

DWP acknowledges importance of addressing official error in benefit payments

DWP allocated £3.5 billion dedicated funding to tackle fraud and error

DWP plans to extend Targeted Case Review for Universal Credit and Pension Credit

DWP lacks clarity on spending over £2 billion fraud funding and new powers’ costs

Targeted benefits increase complexity and risk of fraud and error

DWP demonstrates successful use of real-time PAYE data to verify Universal Credit earnings.

DWP identifies potential in cross-government data to combat benefit fraud and error.

DWP's modernisation programme seeks to extend digital fraud prevention to other benefit platforms.

New Act grants DWP expanded powers to compel third-party data for fraud investigations.

DWP will implement codes of practice and HMICFRS oversight for new fraud powers.

DWP gains new power to directly recover debts from bank accounts without court order.

Unfulfilled eligibility in disability benefits caused £3.7 billion in underpayments during 2024-25.

DWP needs to build greater claimant trust to encourage reporting of changing circumstances.

DWP launches "Tell DWP" campaign and expands online reporting for changing circumstances.

DWP to explore providing more feedback to public fraud reporters within legal confines.

Carer's Allowance overpayments, driven by exceeding earnings limits, fluctuated significantly annually.

Independent review found DWP's incorrect guidance caused systemic Carer's Allowance overpayment issues.

DWP identifies 26,000 individuals affected by incorrect Carer's Allowance guidance, initiating £75m review.

DWP appointed Carer's Allowance service owner and cleared backlog of HMRC earnings alerts.

Correspondence 8 letters