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Work in Progress: Official Error in the Benefits System

The Department for Work and Pensions processes the majority of benefits cases accurately. Nevertheless errors in processing benefits do happen and result in millions of pounds being lost in overpayments which are often unrecoverable.

This study follows on from the NAO’s report on Management of Benefit Overpayment Debt, which highlighted the impact of errors in the Department’s processing in relation to overpayments.

Our study will focus on official error in three benefits: Income Support, Jobseekers Allowance and Pension Credit. The study will aim to identify causes of the errors and it will address these key questions:

Does the Department process the selected benefits accurately?
Could the level and impact of official error in processing be reduced?
Are there other good practices which could be deployed cost effectively to improve accuracy?

Publication Schedule

We aim to publish our report in Spring 2010.

Members of the NAO Team

Director – Liane Hinds

Audit Manager – Mark Eltringham

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Media contacts: Sarah Farndale, Press Office
T: 020 7798 5350
M: 07985 274421

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