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Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2015/16 estimates

Final estimates of fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain in the financial year 2015/16.

• From: Department for Work and Pensions
• Published: 8 December 2016
• Last updated: 27 April 2017 — See all updates

Documents

Fraud and error in the benefit system: final 2015/16 estimates first release

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78425-885-6

PDF, 639 KB, 15 pages

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Tables: Fraud and error in the benefit system, final 2015/16 estimates

ODS, 286 KB

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Fraud and error in the benefit system: background information and methodology

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Fraud and error in the benefit system: background information and methodology

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78425-886-3

PDF, 411 KB, 41 pages

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Details

This report provides estimates of fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain for the financial year 2015/16.

The main points from the report are:

• 1.9% of total benefit expenditure was overpaid due to fraud and error (up from 1.8% in 2014/15)
• the estimated value of overpayments is £3.3 billion (a rise from the 2014/15 estimated value of £3.0 billion)
• the net government loss, after recoveries, is £2.2 billion, or 1.3% of benefit expenditure
• 1.0% of total benefit expenditure (or £1.5 billion) was underpaid due to fraud and error

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More information

The final estimates on this page replace the archived preliminary 2015/2016 estimates published in May 2016.

Send any comments or questions about our fraud and error estimates to [email protected]

Published 8 December 2016
Last updated 27 April 2017 + show all updates

1. 27 April 2017

   Amended Table 13 in 'Tables: Fraud and error in the benefit system, final 2015/16 estimates'. Some negative values were formatted incorrectly affecting some occasionally measured benefits. Footnote amended in relation to Housing Benefit recovery data.

2. 8 December 2016

   First published.