Accredited official statistics

Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2014/15 preliminary estimates

Preliminary estimates of fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain in the financial year 2014/15.

• From: Department for Work and Pensions
• Published: 14 May 2015
• Last updated: 17 July 2015 — See all updates

This publication was withdrawn on 5 November 2015

We replaced these preliminary estimates with more up to date estimates of fraud and error in the benefit system on 5 November 2015.

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Documents

Fraud and error in the benefit system: preliminary 2014/15 estimates first release

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78425-496-4

PDF, 698 KB, 11 pages

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Reference tables: Fraud and error in the benefit system, 2014/15 preliminary estimates

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 342 KB

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

Ref: ISBN 978-1-78425-498-8

PDF, 566 KB, 45 pages

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Infographic: Insight into benefit fraud and error estimates

PDF, 520 KB, 1 page

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Infographic: Changes to the way we measure Housing Benefit fraud and error

PDF, 509 KB, 1 page

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Fact sheet: Fraud and error in the benefit system, preliminary 2014/15 estimates

PDF, 286 KB, 1 page

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Infobytes (infographics): Fraud and error in the benefit system, preliminary 2014/15 estimates

PDF, 1.36 MB, 3 pages

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Details

This report provides preliminary estimates of fraud and error levels in the benefit system in Great Britain for the financial year 2014/15. The main points from the report are:

• 1.9% of total benefit expenditure was overpaid due to fraud and error
• the estimated value of overpayments is £3.2 billion (a fall from the 2013/14 estimated value of £3.4 billion)
• the net government loss, after recoveries, is £2.3 billion, or 1.4% of expenditure
• 0.9% of total benefit expenditure was underpaid due to fraud and error (the same as the 2013/14 estimate of 0.9%)
• the estimated value of underpayments is £1.4 billion

Next release: November 2015

More information

Send any comments or questions about our fraud and error estimates to caxtonhouse.femaenquiries@dwp.gsi.gov.uk

Published 14 May 2015
Last updated 17 July 2015 + show all updates

1. 17 July 2015

   Published revised reference tables with corrected data on Housing Benefit underpayment official errors in tables 9 and 10.

2. 14 May 2015

   First published.