Benefit claimants losing record amounts of money due to mistakes
Fraud and error in the benefit system has risen considerably since 2005. We look at the data to see whether claimants or officials are the reason for the change and who is losing out
The debate about Britain's welfare system is as heated as ever. Anecdotal evidence and personal experience tend however to overshadow the statistics and there is one set of numbers that are of particular interest: fraud and error in the benefit system.
Figures released today show that £3.5bn was overpaid in the past year due to fraud and error - but £1.6bn was also underpaid due to mistakes made by officials and claimants.
Underpayments have risen by £600m since 2005/06. Overpayments have also increased since then by £1bn. There are several key questions that need to be considered when looking at this enormous dataset to understand why claimants are not receiving the amount of money they should be, and who is affected.
We try to ask those questions here.
