The welfare cap is encouraging a greater understanding of spending on some benefits and tax credits across government, but it is important that processes for managing the cap are reliable.
It will be difficult for government departments to achieve value for money from means-tested benefits unless government understands the impacts of means testing, learns from past experience and improves coordination between different benefits.
This memorandum has been prepared for the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee to provide information on the Department for Work and Pensions Information Technology Programmes.
Our 2016 memorandum was prepared to inform the Work and Pensions Committee’s inquiry into the future of Jobcentre Plus (JCP), including the likely effects of planned welfare policy changes on JCP footfall and journey time to jobcentres. In October 2017 we published an associated interactive data model allowing exploration of the time it will take for people to travel to their nearest jobcentre.
DWP has not reduced the mistakes made by staff processing benefits. In 2009-10 it overpaid an estimated £1.1 billion and made underpayments of £500 million. However, the scale of the challenge facing the Department should not be underestimated.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has qualified his audit opinion on the regularity of the National Employment Savings Trust Corporation’s 2012-13 Annual Report and Accounts, on the ground that the Corporation incurred fraudulent expenditure in the year.
“I have qualified this account because of high levels of estimated fraud and official error in the payment of benefits from the Northern Ireland National Insurance Fund. I note the measures being taken by the Department to reduce fraud and error, and will review progress as part of my audit of the 2003-04 account to see whether the desired outcomes are being achieved.”
The NAO welcomes the progress being made by the Northern Ireland Social Security Agency in reducing levels of fraud and error in benefit payments.
“I hope that further improvements by the Department for Social Development in reducing errors by officials and providing more up to date information on levels of fraud and customer error will enable me in the near future to lift the qualification of this account.”
“Opra has achieved much since they were established in 1995. But, as it and the Government now recognise, it needs to move from handling a large number of small scale reports to focus more on identifying and mitigating the more serious risks faced by members of pension schemes. Opra’s enthusiasm for change will be an important asset during a time of general development in the regulatory environment for work-based pensions”.
