Losses due to housing benefit fraud and errors rising, say MPs
This story demonstrates how focusing on one aspect of a problem leaves things wanting in respect of its other facets. We have already indicated how the bedroom tax impacts disproportionately on rural communities due to the gummed up housing supply. This article reveals that whilst the Universal Credit roll is stalling millions continue to be lost in fraud, putting additional pressure on resources, which will inevitably impact on the viability of the rental sector in rural areas. The article tells us:
The Department for Work and Pensions overpaid claimants with £1.4bn of taxpayers’ money from 2013 to 2014, the public accounts committee has said. The MPs also found that civil servants had “done nothing” to tackle underpayment, which has put thousands of claimants into hardship, they said. Ministers and senior civil servants were pointedly criticised in the report’s conclusions for failing to come up with a strategy to tackle the problem.
Duncan Smith has repeatedly promised to clamp down on benefit fraud, and has claimed that the introduction of universal credit (UC), which aims to roll six benefits into one payment, will bring an end to many of the problems in the system. However, the figures show that fraud and error are rising, while UC is behind schedule – only 20,000 people are currently claiming it, rather than the one million envisaged by ministers.
Housing benefit is paid to 5m households on low incomes. The report said that in the last financial year, £1.4bn of overpayments were made – 5.8% of housing benefit spending – up from £980m (4.6%) in 2010/11. Claimant error was the cause of two-thirds, or £900m, of overpayments, the report said. But £340m of overpayments were due to fraud and £150m of overpayments were due to delay, inaction or mistakes in assessment by local authority officials.