10 April 2023 , 21:00
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Blundering Tory ministers could have funded extra cost-of-living payments if they had got a "grip" of fraud and error in the benefits system, Labour has claimed.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) overpaid an eye-watering £8.5billion across all benefits - excluding the state pension - between 2021-22, figures last year showed.
This was compared to £4.4billion in 2019-2020 - the year before the Covid crisis.
According to a new Labour analysis today if ministers had cut fraud and error down to pre-pandemic levels the cash could have paid for an enhanced cost-of-living package.
Currently cost-of-living payments for struggling families are set to hit £900 this year with those eligible to receive their first installment between May 2 and May 9.
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But Labour says the extra money could have funded a fourth £300 payment for low-income families on means-tested benefits - bringing total support to £1,200 across 2023-24.
The lost DWP cash could have also paid for an extra £100 added to the £300 pension cost of living payment and £100 to a similar disability programme this summer, Labour said.
The DWP overpaid an £8.5billion across all benefits - excluding the state pension - in 2021-22 (In Pictures via Getty Images)Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Ashworth told The Mirror: "Taxpayers will be astonished that so much cash has been lost to fraud and blundering Tory ministers are asleep at the wheel. They need to get a grip".
The Commons Public Accounts Committee says that benefit payments are "susceptible to both deliberate fraud by organised crime groups and opportunistic individuals, and unintended error by claimants and the Department".
But in a stinging report last year, MPs warned levels of fraud and error in the benefits system were "unacceptably high" and said it "is yet to show any sign of falling back to pre-pandemic levels".
The DWP "acknowledges that fraud and error levels remain far too high, but it does not fully understand why this is the case, and it cannot say when they will meaningfully reduce", they warned.
The cross-party Committee also made clear that underpayments from the DWP - totalling £2.1billion in 2021-22 - cause claimants "severe hardship".
A DWP spokesperson said: “We took an extraordinary response to help those in urgent need when Universal Credit claims surged during the pandemic. Regrettably, unscrupulous fraudsters took advantage but we are rooting them out and have already reviewed 900,000 claims, with savings of £2billion last year alone from correcting and preventing fraud and error.
“We’re going much further through our robust fraud plan to prevent £2billion of loss over the next three years, and more than £4billlion over the next five years.
“We’re also increasing our cost of living support to the most vulnerable to £1,350 in 2023-24, having delivered £1,200 to millions of households last year. This is on top of a rise in benefits of 10.1%.”
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