Errors see benefit overpayments double
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Overpayment of benefits has doubled to £800 million in the past decade, MPs have discovered.
In a report by the Work and Pensions Select Committee, Decision Making and Appeals in the Benefits System, the MPs found overpayments due to error had soared from £400 million in 2000, while overpayments due to fraud and mistakes by claimants dropped. The committee said that this was ‘far too high’, and called on the government to explain why the number of mistakes has risen since 2000/01.
The report also calls on the government to simplify the benefits system, saying it is currently too complex for both staff and claimants to successfully negotiate.
It says: ‘We reiterate a previous recommendation of this committee, that the government should establish a welfare commission to examine the existing benefits system and model possible alternative structures with the aim of creating a fair but simpler system that claimants and their representatives are able to understand more easily and DWP staff are able to administer more accurately.’
The committee’s chairman, Terry Rooney, said: ‘Poor decision making not only costs the department in wasted overpayments, and costs claimants in underpayments, but also generates more costs further down the line in reconsiderations and appeals.’
The Child Poverty Action Group said the department should focus its energies on getting decisions right. ‘The Work and Pensions Select Committee highlights the desperate need for fairer and faster decision making to improve benefit delivery and take up,’ it stated.
‘Millions of households are missing out on vital benefits at the same time as substantial cuts to welfare provision are being made.’
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Readers' comments (12)
kass | 09/02/2010 9:28 am
"The committee’s chairman, Terry Rooney, said: ‘Poor decision making not only costs the department in wasted overpayments, and costs claimants in underpayments, but also generates more costs further down the line in reconsiderations and appeals.’....
And no chief executive gets sacked for this loss of millions from his/her well paid job, of course. But as soon as a tenant is some weeks in arrears, s/he can lose his/her home for ever on the grounds that the social landlord cannot deliver services unless they get his/her £300 quids of arrears...
It is all phony and hypocritical and that's why residents have lost all respect for them.
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Q | 09/02/2010 9:37 am
The amount of money this government has given out on the benefit system is criminal. They have created a social class which has become used to living on benefit and living on cash in hand jobs. People from western Europe come here because countries like Germany have become strict so all the benefit class comes to UK show themselves as working part time and claim working and child tax credits and housing benefits whilst they operate in the black market working cash in hand or working as self employed.
This government should start to spend some money in detecting fraud and get proactive staff in theie departments instead of staff who are reactive i.e answer the phone if it rings.
The amount of benefit fraud is a disgrace in this country whilst the disabled and the old age pensioners are suffering.
This government needs to change. The new government should spend money in detecting fraud. How is it that when someones befeits are suspended for weeks they still seem to survive and live and drive cars and go out, its all a sham. IN EUROPE IF YOU OWN A CAR THEY WILL TELL YOU TO SELL IT BEFORE THEY GRANTYOU BENEFIT. BENEFIT IS A LAST RESORT NOT A CHOICE. THERE IS AN URGENT NEED TO BRING DOWN THIS SOCIAL BENEFIT CLASS before it destroys the future of this fantastic country.
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Joe Halewood | 09/02/2010 10:31 am
Usual diatribes from the usual incompetents that cant see or havent read the report.
if they did they would see that £800,000,000 of errors have been made by their fellow incompetents in benefits departments, i correct myself, £800,000,000 of errors made by these incompetents in paying too much benefit. there are further errors that these incompetents made £400,000,000 worth of underpayments as well.
So not content with being in a safe and secure job, these idiots misspend £800,000,000 of public money much of which is not recoverable because they made the error. In addition to this they also underpay £400,000,000 which is claimable by the vulnerable people that it should have gone to in the first lace.
So in total about £1,200,000,000 of errors and costs caused by public servants. Thats about 75% of the entire support budget - or enough to quadruple the support funding into sheltered housing and resident wardens.
Yet instead of tackling this epidemic of incompetence in benefit administration what do we have - comments on benefit spongers, benefit fraud as it its committed by benefit spongers and incredibly someone blaming landlords for this!!!!!
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karen | 09/02/2010 10:39 am
Which CEO would you like sacked Kass? This is a government committee - there are no CEOs.
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Peter | 09/02/2010 11:36 am
Shall we get this into perspective; what about the £16 billion of unclaimed benefits?
Defrauding the WPD takes a lot skill and courage. There are many people who don't claim because of the complicated form filling exercise and are afraid. The radio/TV adverts have work very well!
The mistakes made by the staff ( in most cases underpayment) are because they too, do not understand the forms and are inadequately trained to make the proper assessments. Most over payments are recovered.
There many fraudsters who are also caught, especially those who are claiming disability allowance and guess what, the majority of these claimants are born and bred in this country, some even have homes in Spain, France and other European countries. Even those who make genuine mistakes in their application form are treated like criminals by WPD!
To assert that people are flooding into this country because of our benefit systems and an open door immigrant policy, is a political fantasy, not mention the rabid denunciation of economic migrants/immigrants in our right wing tabloid press. Yet, the most of the businesses who employed these people are not interested with the indigenous population. Why?
This is an easy card to play when things are not going well so in "this fantastic country"!
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Cheyenne Thomas | 09/02/2010 12:27 pm
Having worked as an advice worker I have come across numerous people who are in receipt of benefits whilst working for cash in hand payments.
On the one hand, I understand why people do it because you cannot survive on benefits (bills, food, clothing etc), which is why I do not understand why the governement allows individuals to remain on benefits for most of their adult lives in some cases.
Should this not send of alarm bells that individuals could be and are being dishonest, how can you live on less than a £100 per week for most of your adult life.
However there are those individuals who genuinely need the welfare system, because of health problems, whether it be mental or physical needs. These individuals are often being failed by the system because they cannot understand the endless form filling involved, the appeal processes etc. Many who are entitled don't even know they are entitled to benefits, and if they think they are entitled, where do they go to get help.
Pensioners and disabled applicants are the most vulnerable, as are those who are illiterate.
How well are those giving help and assistance trained about benefits entitlement, in my experience, even the dwp staff give incorrect and detrimental information.
The whole system needs a shake up, aside from the elderly and disabled, welfare benefits should be a a last resort for individuals.
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kass | 09/02/2010 3:47 pm
"karen | Tue, 9 Feb 2010 10:39 GMT
Which CEO would you like sacked Kass? This is a government committee - there are no CEOs."
You tell me who should be sacked - but I guess you will not, as you seem to be more than happy with things as they are.
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Q | 09/02/2010 3:51 pm
I am not sticking up for the workers who have made these overpayments, they should be disciplined i.e they should lose their jobs, however overpayments does not mean that people who are on benefits have permission to cheat the system. 2 wrongs doesnt make 1 right.
Peter you should come and live in wandsworth and look at the THOUSANDS of cab drivers who have moved to the UK from Gremany simply because it was becoming impossible to claim in Germany. In UK they are free to register as self employed and show minimum income and claim Tax credits and housing benefit whilst earning thousands in cash, this is a reality which needs to be realised for the better of this counctries future. Before someone else gets th erace card out , I am born in UK from Pakistani origin worked all my life and paid tax and now I see people coming here in the name of multiculturalism and raping the benfits of this counctry whilst this country sits quietly and allowing for this to happen, infact encouraging it by making benefits easy to claim. Other counctries seem to make it happen by working cross team, no benefits if people are working fulltime at college in a field where there is ashortage in expertise etc etc. There are enough jobs out there, get proactive job centres not the social clubs we have at the moment.
If people expect change then it has got to be RADICAL CHANGE, nothing else will suffice.
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Joe Halewood | 10/02/2010 10:16 am
Its a disgrace that over £1 billion per year is fraudulently claimed and those fraudsters are rightly and universally condemned.
Its an even bigger disgrace that incompetency of benefit staff make over £1 billion worth of errors and pay out £1 billion too much. So why do we not rant and rave over public money being wasted this way and demand better. Society doesnt (are fraudsters an easier target to rant over perhaps?)
Every government and every political party vilifies fraudsters, announce campaign after campaign to keep them in the public eye and even contemplates paying the general public to shop these fraudsters. Yet they know who the incompetents are who pay out over a billion pounds per year because of admin errors - what about them? Why are they not sacked? Why is training not put into place to reduce errors? In the perfromance era with tables and targets seemingly on everything why doesnt government apply performance related pay or funding to this area?
The even bigger disgrace is the £16bn in unclaimed benefits and again this applies to government of all political hues and the only moves we have here is keep vilifying the fraudsters as this dissuades many from even attempting to claim as they feel like 'benefit scroungers' in seeking to claim what is rightfully theirs.
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karen | 10/02/2010 2:34 pm
kass | Tue, 9 Feb 2010 15:47 GMT
"karen | Tue, 9 Feb 2010 10:39 GMT
Which CEO would you like sacked Kass? This is a government committee - there are no CEOs."
You tell me who should be sacked - but I guess you will not, as you seem to be more than happy with things as they are.
-- Kass I have no idea what you're talking about. You want a CEO sacked - I asked which one. As yet I haven't offered an opinion despite your assumption that I have. I also respectfully request that as you don't know me, or know anything about my ethics, background or knowledge that you don't put YOUR assumptions in my mouth. Thank you.
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