The Department is not doing enough to share data with other government departments and thereby improve the accuracy of benefit payments. Administering the benefits system is complex: for example, targeting benefits such as Universal Credit to claimants’ needs and circumstances introduces complexity and increases the risk of fraud and error. Access to reliable data is key to keeping benefit payments accurate. However, the Department’s benefit systems are not fully integrated and it lacks common data standards, which makes it difficult to take a data-driven approach to preventing and detecting fraud and error. The Department uses real-time PAYE earnings data from HM Revenue & Customs to verify claimants’ employment earnings, which it holds up as a ‘gold standard’ example of data sharing. However, it does not seem to have similar data-sharing arrangements with other government departments, which could help it tackle key loss areas such as household composition. 4 Data from the Department for Education, for example, could help the Department to verify the number of children in households claiming Universal Credit. recommendation The Department should set out in the Treasury Minute how it plans to work directly with other departments on data sharing, including how it can work with the Department for Education to help verify household composition as part of its checks for Universal Credit.