Housing Benefit debt recoveries: April 2019 to March 2020
Published 2 September 2020
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
© Crown copyright 2020
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/housing-benefit-debt-recoveries-statistics-april-2019-to-march-2020/housing-benefit-debt-recoveries-april-2019-to-march-2020
The latest release of these statistics can be found in the collection of Housing Benefit: debt recoveries statistics.
This summary contains statistics on Housing Benefit Debt Recoveries covering the period from April 2019 to March 2020.
The data is for all 4 quarters of 2019 to 2020 (April 2019 to March 2020).
Housing Benefit (HB) is an income related benefit that is intended to help meet housing costs for rented accommodation.
These Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics show the amount of HB that is overpaid to claimants, the subsequent recoveries and amounts written off.
1. Main stories
During 2019 to 2020:
-
£599 million HB overpayments identified
-
£573 million HB overpayments recovered
-
£80 million HB overpayments written off
In the financial year 2019 to 2020, the outstanding overpayments decreased in every quarter.
The values provided for the identified overpayments, recovered overpayments and written-off overpayments all decreased in the financial year 2019 to 2020 when compared with 2018 to 2019.
The amount of identified overpayments in the financial year 2019 to 2020 is the lowest it has been since 2008 to 2009. In the financial year 2019 to 2020, all regions had a quarter on quarter decrease in identified overpayments.
During quarter 4 (Q4) of 2019 to 2020, in Great Britain (GB) the average identified overpayments per claimant was £13, this compares to £16 in Q4 2018 to 2019, a reduction of £3. Care must be taken when interpreting this yearly comparison as the makeup of claimants may have also changed, so this should be only used for indicative purposes.
2. What you need to know
This summary contains statistics relating to amounts of incorrectly overpaid HB.
Housing Benefit debt recoveries
Following the introduction of the Single Fraud Investigation Service (SFIS), which was live in all Local Authorities (LAs) by quarter 1 (Q1) 2016 to 2017, this publication no longer includes fraud data. The publication was renamed to ‘Housing Benefit debt recoveries (HBDR) statistics’ to reflect this change.
HBDR data is aggregate level data received on a quarterly basis from each Local Authority (LA) and published bi-annually each March and September. The March publication covers the first two quarters of the year (April to September). The publication in September covers finalised data for all 4 quarters of the year.
The amount of outstanding debt at the beginning of a quarter is a sum of the amount of debt outstanding at the beginning of the previous quarter and the debt recovery activities during the previous quarter. For example, the amount of debt outstanding at the beginning of quarter 2 (Q2) is the sum of the amount of debt outstanding at the beginning of Q1 and the amount of debt identified during Q1, minus the amount of debt recovered and written off during Q1. In principle, the amount of debt outstanding at the beginning of any given reporting quarter could be estimated from the released figures of the previous quarter’s publication, as any new debt identified, written off or recovered related to a historic period would be reported in the current period and would be accounted for in the overall outstanding debt at the beginning of the following quarter. However, the reported debt at the beginning of the quarter is not always in line with these estimations. DWP is working with LAs to understand, address and minimise these discrepancies.
Some LAs do not send completed data forms every quarter, or cannot supply data for all fields. This produces missing data in the returns that affects the reported GB totals. In previous publications, statisticians filled the gap created by missing data by imputing or estimating what the missing value might have been. Read the methodology document for an explanation. In recent years the number of non-returner LAs have reduced to the point that imputation is now unnecessary. From September 2017, all figures in this statistical summary are based on returned data.
The number of people claiming HB has been gradually decreasing and will continue to fall as Universal Credit replaces HB for Working Age claimants. In line with this, we expect to see decreases across all HB debt recovery measures that LAs record and report to DWP.
Supplementary statistics
Data tables containing the data that underpins the charts and figures featured in this statistical summary are available. These include information by LA on outstanding overpayments at the beginning of each quarter and identified, recovered and written-off overpayments at the end of each quarter.
Uses and users
HBDR is aggregate level data received on a quarterly basis from each LA. This data is used to produce established statistics on the amount of HB overpaid to claimants. The statistics also provide a means of comparing and contrasting information between LAs.
The data will also be used to feed in to a range of briefings for Ministers and other senior officials and will be used to answer Parliamentary Questions and Freedom of Information requests. It will also be used for other policy functions including monitoring and informing changes to related policies.
LA and regional data
The HBDR data is generated from the HB claims that LAs administer on behalf of DWP and is reported to DWP as total sums of HB overpayments by each LA. While for all LAs the majority of HB claims administered relate to households within their respective administrative geographical boundaries, for some LAs a small number of HB claims could relate to households outside of their boundaries. Therefore, care needs to be taken when interpreting individual LAs HBDR data as it is possible that not all the overpayment sums reported by a LA relate to households within its geographical boundaries. The HBDR data relates to the LAs and Regions where the HB claims that have been overpaid were administered, regardless of where HB claimants reside.
The HB Caseload data that some of the calculations in these statistics are based on also relates to the number of HB Claims administered by LAs and Regions regardless of where the claimants reside.
Rounding policy
Percentage figures provided in this document are based on data rounded to the nearest thousand (see the data tables) accompanying each release of these statistics.
Recalculating the same percentage figures from data in this document might yield different results due to differences in rounding order.
Coronavirus (COVID-19)
It is not anticipated that the COVID-19 pandemic will have affected the HBDR statistical release for the financial year 2019 to 2020, however, it is expected to have an impact on upcoming publications (from Q1 2020 to 2021).
Please note that the interactive map showing HB Debt Recovery activities reported by LA and government region, has not been updated for this publication due to a change in work environments as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Housing Benefit outstanding overpayments at the start of the quarter
The total value of HB outstanding overpayments in GB continued to decrease during the financial year 2019 to 2020 financial year.
£2.03 billion HB outstanding overpayments at January 2020 (the beginning of Q4 of 2019/20).
Figure 1: Time series of outstanding overpayments (£ billions) in GB from April 2008 to January 2020
During 2019 to 2020, the total value of outstanding overpayments continued to follow a decreasing trend, decreasing in every quarter.
The total GB value of HB outstanding overpayments at the beginning of January 2020 (Q4 of 2019 to 2020) was around £2.03 billion; a decrease of £74 million (4%) on January 2019.
Please see the Additional information about this.
London LAs reported 33% of the total outstanding overpayments at the beginning of Q4 2019 to 2020.
Figure 2: Distribution across reporting regions of outstanding overpayments, at the start of Q4 2019 to 2020
| Region | HB outstanding overpayments at start of Q4, 2019 to 2020 (%) |
|---|---|
| North East | 3% |
| North West | 10% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 6% |
| East Midlands | 5% |
| West Midlands | 9% |
| East | 7% |
| London | 33% |
| South East | 12% |
| South West | 6% |
| Wales | 3% |
| Scotland | 7% |
At the start of Q4 of 2019 to 2020 the value of HB outstanding overpayments reported by London accounted for 33% of the total GB figure, while the value of HB outstanding overpayments reported by Wales made up 3% of the national total.
At January 2020, 90% (£1.82 billion) of the total outstanding HB overpayment was reported by England.
Figure 3: Outstanding overpayments (£ thousands) by reporting country, at the start of Q4 2019 to 2020
| Country | HB outstanding overpayments at start of Q4, 2019/20 (£ thousands) |
|---|---|
| England | 1,824,967 |
| Wales | 55,404 |
| Scotland | 150,210 |
At the beginning of January 2020 (Q4 2019 to 2020), London reported 33% of the national total amount of outstanding HB overpayment
Figure 4: Outstanding overpayments (£ thousands) by reporting region, at the start of Q4, 2019 to 2020
| Region | HB outstanding overpayments at start of Q4, 2019/20 (£ thousands) |
|---|---|
| North East | 70,209 |
| North West | 202,258 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 113,305 |
| East Midlands | 99,454 |
| West Midlands | 178,421 |
| East | 142,418 |
| London | 669,573 |
| South East | 237,130 |
| South West | 112,199 |
| Wales | 55,404 |
| Scotland | 150,210 |
At the start of Q4 2019 to 2020, £907 million of outstanding HB overpayments were reported by London and the South East. This represents 45% of the total GB outstanding HB overpayments.
4. Housing Benefit identified overpayments during the quarter
The total value of HB identified overpayments decreased in every quarter of the financial year 2019 to 2020.
Figure 5: Identified overpayments (£ millions) in GB from Q1 2008 to 2009 to Q4 2019 to 2020
During the financial year 2019 to 2020, the total value of HB identified overpayments was £599 million; a decrease of £141 million (19%) compared to identified overpayments in the financial year 2018 to 2019.
The total value of identified overpayments decreased in Q1 of 2019 to 2020 from £182 million at March 2019 (Q4 of 2018 to 2019) to £171 million at June 2019. Identified overpayments continued to decrease further in the following 3 quarters of 2019 to 2020 to:
- £158 million in Q2
- £143 million in Q3
- £127 million in Q4
This is the first financial year where the value of identified overpayments debt has decreased in every quarter.
The total amount of HB identified overpayments in Q4 of 2019 to 2020 was £127 million. This was a decrease of £55 million (30%) from Q4 2018 to 2019, and was the lowest amount identified in a quarter since Q4 of 2008 to 2009.
There was an increasing trend on the amount of identified overpayments from financial year ending 2009 to Q2 2015 to 2016 where the amount identified in one quarter reached a record high of £321 million. 2015 to 2016 was an exceptional year, with the Fraud and Error Reduction Incentive Scheme (FERIS) and Real Time Information (RTI) identifying long-term overpayments. Since then the quarterly amounts of overpayments identified have become more unstable. This decrease in stability reflects pauses in RTI to allow LAs to manage the financial year end activities. Q2 2015 to 2016 has been followed by a decreasing trend of quarterly identified amounts, with the identified amount in Q4 2019 to 2020, being the lowest reported quarterly figure in the last 11 years.
Please see the Additional information about this.
In Q4 of 2019 to 2020 the average amount of identified HB overpayment per claimant per month in GB was £13.
Figure 6: Average HB overpayment identified (£) per claimant per month by reporting region during Q4, 2019 to 2020
| Region | Average HB identified overpayments per claimant per month during Q4, 2019 to 2020 (£s) |
|---|---|
| GB | 13 |
| North East | 9 |
| North West | 10 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 8 |
| East Midlands | 11 |
| West Midlands | 16 |
| East | 12 |
| London | 23 |
| South East | 15 |
| South West | 11 |
| Wales | 8 |
| Scotland | 8 |
During Q4 of 2019 to 2020, in GB the average identified overpayments per claimant was £13, this compares to £16 in Q4 2018 to 2019, a reduction of £3. Care must be taken when interpreting this yearly comparison as the makeup of claimants may have also changed, so this should be only used for indicative purposes.
During Q4 of 2019 to 2020, London reported the largest average amount of identified debt per claimant per month (£23), while Scotland reported the lowest amount (£8), (based on HB caseload figures during this quarter, as published in Stat-Xplore.
London reported the largest average amount of identified debt per claimant per month. This indicates that if all regions had the same number of claimants, London would still have the largest amount of identified debt.
115 million (91%) of identified overpayments in GB, were reported from English LAs.
Figure 7: Identified overpayments (£ thousands) reported by country during Q4, 2019 to 2020
| Country | HB identified overpayments during Q4, 2019 to 2020 (£ thousands) |
|---|---|
| England | 115,010 |
| Wales | 4,296 |
| Scotland | 7,682 |
Of the £127 million of HB identified overpayments in GB during Q4 of 2019 to 2020, £115 (91%) million were reported by England, £8 million (6%) by Scotland and £4 million (3%) by Wales.
5. HB overpayments recovered during the quarter
There was a decrease in overpayments recovered during 2019 to 2020 compared to 2018 to 2019.
Figure 8: Recovered overpayments (£ millions) in GB from Q1 2008 to 2009 to Q4 2019 to 2020
Historically, the total value of overpayments recovered has tended to vary seasonally between quarters. Overall it has followed an upwards trend, reaching a high of £175 million in Q4 2017 to 2018. 2018 to 2019 was the first financial year where the amount of overpayments recovered have seen a decreasing trend. There is a continuation of this decreasing trend in 2019 to 2020, although there was a slight increase between Q1 and Q2 of 2019 to 2020.
In 2019 to 2020 the total GB value of HB overpayments recovered was £573 million, a decrease of £76 million (12%) when compared to overpayments recovered during 2018 to 2019.
The total value of overpayments recovered decreased in Q1 of 2019 to 2020, from £158 million at March 2019 (Q4 of 2018 to 2019) to £148 million at June 2019. The figure of overpayments recovered increased marginally (by £600,000) between Q1 and Q2 of 2019 to 2020, in Q3 it decreased to £143 million and it further decreased to £132 million in Q4.
The total value of overpayments recovered in Q4 of 2019 to 2020 was £132 million. This was a decrease of £25 million (16%) from Q4 of 2018 to 2019.
Please see the Additional information about this.
During the financial year 2019 to 2020, London and the South East reported 41% of the total amount of HB overpayments recovered in GB.
Figure 9: Overpayments recovered (£ thousands) by reporting region, during Q4 2019 to 2020
| Region | Overpayments recovered during Q4, 2019 to 2020 (£ thousands) |
|---|---|
| North East | 4,568 |
| North West | 12,209 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 7,545 |
| East Midlands | 7,382 |
| West Midlands | 15,990 |
| East | 10,462 |
| London | 37,466 |
| South East | 16,997 |
| South West | 8,353 |
| Wales | 4,279 |
| Scotland | 7,229 |
In Q4 of 2019 to 2020, £121 million (91%) HB overpayments were recovered in England.
Figure 10: Overpayments recovered (£ thousands) by country, during Q4, 2019 to 2020
| Country | HB overpayments recovered during Q4, 2019 to 2020 (£ thousands) |
|---|---|
| England | 120,972 |
| Wales | 4,279 |
| Scotland | 7,229 |
In Q4 of 2019 to 2020 out of the £132 million of HB overpayments recovered in GB, £121 (91%) million were reported England, £7 million (5%) by Scotland and £4 million (3%) by Wales.
6. Housing Benefit overpayments written off during the quarter
The total value of HB overpayments written off in GB continues to fluctuate.
Figure 11: Overpayments written off (£ millions) in GB, from Q1 2008 to 2009 to Q4 2019 to 2020
The total GB value of HB overpayments written off during 2019/20 was £80 million; a decrease of £10 million (11%) in comparison to those overpayments written off during 2018 to 2019.
The amount of overpayments written off changes throughout the year. It is generally highest in Q4 (March) of each collection year followed by a sharp decrease during Q1 of the following year. In line with this there has been a decrease in the total amount of overpayments written off from £31 million at March 2019 (Q4 of 2018 to 2019) to £19 million in June 2019 (Q1 of 2019 to 2020).
The total value of HB overpayments written off in Q4 of 2019 to 2020 was £25 million. This was a decrease of £6 million (19%) from the total amount of HB overpayments written off in Q4 of 2018 to 2019.
Please see the Additional information about this.
In Q4 of 2019 to 2020, of the £25 million of written off HB overpayments in GB, £22 million (90%) were identified by England.
Figure 12: Overpayments written off (£ thousands) by country, during Q4 of 2019 to 2020
| Country | HB overpayments written Off during Q4, 2019 to 2020 (£ thousands) |
|---|---|
| England | 22,352 |
| Wales | 802 |
| Scotland | 1,999 |
In Q4 of 2019 to 20, of the £25 million of written off HB overpayments in GB, £22 million (90%) were identified by England, £2 million (8%) by Scotland and £1 million (3%) by Wales.
7. HBDR data: collection processes and accuracy
Data Collection
The table below details the list of questions asked to LAs as part of the data collection process.
| Field | Overpayment questions |
|---|---|
| 1 | Total value of HB overpayments outstanding at the start of the quarter |
| 2 | Total value of HB overpayments identified during the quarter |
| 3 | Total value of HB overpayments recovered during the quarter |
| 4 | Total value of HB overpayments written off during the quarter |
Average Data Return Rates
| Collection Period | Average LA return rate (across all quarters) |
|---|---|
| 2008 to 2009 | 89.7% |
| 2009 to 2010 | 99.2% |
| 2010 to 2011 | 99.5% |
| 2011 to 2012 | 99.6% |
| 2012 to 2013 | 99.8% |
| 2013 to 2014 | 99.7% |
| 2014 to 2015 | 99.3% |
| 2015 to 2016 | 99.9% |
| 2016 to 2017 | 99.5% |
| 2017 to 2018 | 100% |
| 2018 to 2019 | 100% |
| 2019 to 2020 | 99.6% |
In previous years, some LAs could not complete some questions, making the completion rate lower than the values quoted. We used to publish additional estimates, using imputation (at GB level), accounting for LAs unable to provide data. These additional figures gave a sense of scale of this impact. Since September 2017, all published figures in this summary are based on actual data returned by the LAs.
Additional information
HBDR is aggregate level data received from each LA, and is subject to a significant degree of variation both in and between different LAs. From 2014 we have observed a significant amount of variation in the overpayment data. This could be due to a wide range of factors such as:
-
differences and issues with authorities’ software suppliers
-
changes in LA return rates
-
additional side effects due to the phased implementation of SFIS
-
the implementation of the FERIS and RTI and factors unique to each LA (for example, increases or decreases in resources, bulk clearing of historical overpayments)
8. About these statistics
Known Issues, changes and revisions
Our Methodology and background information note provides further information on DWP HBDR statistics, including some of the processes involved in developing and releasing these statistics.
Date tables containing the data that underlies the charts and figures featured in this statistical summary are also published.
National Statistics status
The UK Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, at June 2012, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
National Statistics status means that our statistics meet the highest standards of:
-
trustworthiness
-
quality
-
public value
Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is our responsibility to maintain compliance with these standards.
Since the assessment date the following improvements have been made to this publication
-
statistics have been made more accessible through improvement in presentation of the first release and formatting of supporting data tables
-
value has been added by including HB caseload data to calculate regional average HB overpayments amounts per HB claimant, and by introducing interactive visualisations of regional and LA data
-
quality assurance processes have been strengthened by optimising automation in implementing analyst checks and by putting in place a thorough peer review process for each publication cycle
-
increased user and stakeholder engagement activities by setting up working groups with participants from across policy and operations
-
in 2019, HBDR users were consulted on the frequency of publishing for these statistics - read the outcome of this consultation
Other National and Official Statistics
Details of other National and Official Statistics produced by the Department for Work and Pensions:
-
a schedule of statistical releases over the next 12 months and a list of the most recent releases
-
detailed background notes and methodology relating to this publication
Feedback
Specific HBDR statistics feedback can be submitted through our HBDR user questionnaire
Completed questionnaires can be returned by email to stats-consulation@dwp.gsi.gov.uk or by post to the following address:
Client statistics,
Data and Analytics,
Department for Work and Pensions,
Room BP5201,
Benton Park Road,
Longbenton,
Newcastle Upon Tyne,
NE98 1YX
Users can also join the “Welfare and Benefit Statistics” community. DWP announces items of interest to users in this forum, as well as replying to users’ questions.
Supplementary statistics
Data tables containing the data that underlies the charts and figures featured in this statistical summary include information by LAs on outstanding overpayments at the beginning of each quarter and identified, recovered and written-off overpayments at the end of each quarter.
Producer: Dominique Radcliffe dominique.radcliffe@dwp.gov.uk
Lead Statistician: Ali Spahiu ali.spahiu@dwp.gov.uk
DWP Press Office: 020 3267 5144
ISBN: 978-1-78659-259-0