MPs say £8.3bn overpaid in 2020-21 due to fraud and errors, nearly double previous year’s total
The Department for Work and Pensions has lost control of universal credit fraud, according to an influential cross-party committee after the latest figures showed billions of pounds were lost to scams during the first year of the pandemic.
The public accounts committee (PAC) said benefits fraud and error hit record levels in 2020-21, when £8.3bn was overpaid, up from £4.5bn on the previous year. These overpayments accounted for 7.5% of the DWP’s non-pension benefits spending.
