Excluding State Pension, £9.5 billion of benefit expenditure was overpaid in 2023–24 and DWP did not achieve its savings target from Targeted Case Reviews. Excluding State Pension, DWP estimates that it overpaid a total of 6.7% (£9.5 billion) in 2023–24, up from 6.6% (£8.2 billion) in 2022–23, meaning many claimants received more money than they were entitled to. DWP has a number of initiatives to tackle overpayments, including a programme of Targeted Case Reviews aimed at identifying fraud in existing UC claims. DWP is confident that the Targeted Case Reviews approach is working despite missing its savings target in 2023–24, achieving £90 million of savings against the target of £115 million. Overpayments have not come down as quickly as DWP had hoped, but DWP reports that it is on track for UC overpayments to return to below pre-pandemic levels over the period to 2030. In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the government increased funding for DWP’s counter fraud activities by £110 million in 2025–26. 5 recommendation DWP should set out how it will use the extra £110 million it received in the Autumn Budget 2024 for counter fraud activities to reduce overpayment rates.