UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has published a report on benefit fraud and error in 2024-25, warning that the Department for Work and Pensions’ expanded powers to obtain information from banks and other third parties and to recover funds directly from individuals’ accounts must be used effectively and proportionately. The Committee highlights that fraud and error levels have left the DWP’s accounts qualified for 37 successive years and signals ongoing scrutiny of the Department’s handling of carer’s allowance overpayment cases. As of last December, the DWP can compel banks and other financial institutions to provide information to help verify benefit eligibility and entitlement, require information from third parties for criminal investigations, and in some cases recover money owed directly from accounts without a court order; the Committee says the DWP has not fully set out how it will use these powers in a way that supports public trust and calls for annual reporting on how often they are used and their impact. The DWP has committed to put right cases involving 26,000 carers incorrectly recorded as having overpaid carer’s allowance, with around two years expected to identify all those affected across 200,000 cases to be reviewed; the report attributes the issue’s persistence to a lack of integrated leadership and points to monitoring of implementation of recommendations from a 2025 independent review. On system-wide performance, benefit overpayments totalled GBP 9.5bn in 2024-25 (3.3% of benefit expenditure), down from GBP 9.7bn in the prior year; the Committee challenges the DWP’s view that reducing the rate to 2.8% by 2028-29 would be “impressive” and calls for a more stretching ambition. It also highlights rising underpayments (GBP 1.2bn in 2024-25 from GBP 1.1bn) and overpayments (GBP 1bn from GBP 0.8bn) caused by errors by the DWP, local authorities or HMRC, and asks for action on the root causes of official error; unfulfilled eligibility linked to claimants not reporting changes in circumstances rose to about GBP 3.7bn from GBP 3.1bn, prompting a recommendation that the DWP evaluate how well it encourages claimants to report changes. The Committee indicates it will continue scrutinising the DWP’s response, including the two-year review of carer’s allowance cases and progress against its recommendations, and expects regular transparency on the use and outcomes of the new information-gathering and recovery powers.
UK Parliament 2026-02-11
UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee presses Department for Work and Pensions for transparent, proportionate use of new bank information powers and tougher fraud targets
The UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee released a report on benefit fraud and error for 2024-25, criticizing the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for not detailing its use of expanded powers to obtain bank information and recover funds. The report highlights persistent carer’s allowance overpayments and challenges the DWP's target to reduce benefit overpayments, totaling GBP 9.5bn, to 2.8% by 2028-29. It calls for action on rising underpayments and overpayments due to errors and urges the DWP to improve claimant reporting of changes in circumstances.