Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit overpayments have been caused by maladministration by her Department between April 2019 and April 2020.

DWP is focused on paying people their correct entitlement and a quality checking regime is in place. However, there are occasions where administrative or ‘official errors’ have arisen from processing or delays, which we look to correct as quickly as possible.

The latest National Statistics Fraud and Error statistics were published on 14^th May 2020 and show that estimated losses from official error in 2019/20 accounted for 0.4% of total benefit expenditure.

These statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fraud-and-error-in-the-benefit-system-financial-year-2019-to-2020-estimates