Recommendations & Conclusions
20 items
2
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
DWP expects the activities set out in its counter-fraud plan to generate £9.4 billion of additional savings over the next five years. In May 2022 DWP set out its high- level plan to tackle fraud and error following the pandemic in Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System. This includes £895 …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states it is implemented. The Department for Work and Pensions will report on Annual Managed Expenditure savings in its Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24, continuing to develop and refine its experimental metric.
HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
The success of DWP’s plan to reduce fraud and error in Universal Credit is dependent on its ability to review 8 million live claims by 2027–28. The biggest element of DWP’s counter-fraud plan is a project to cleanse the benefit system of incorrect payments by reviewing millions of Universal Credit …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states it is implemented. The Department for Work and Pensions will report on Targeted Case Reviews in its Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24.
HM Treasury
4
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
DWP and HMRC face a significant challenge in making back payments to people who have been underpaid State Pension due to missing Home Responsibilities Protection. In 2021–22, DWP identified underpayments of State Pension due to gaps in the National Insurance records of people who were historically entitled to a benefit …
Government response. The government agrees and commits to publishing key management information on the exercise established between DWP and HMRC in the department’s Annual Report and Accounts.
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
DWP is not doing enough to assure itself or Parliament that it can rely on National Insurance records to pay State Pension accurately and that it will not find further historic underpayments. The £1.3 billion underpayment of State Pension relating to missing HRP is one of three ongoing historical issues …
Government response. The government agrees and is strengthening its systems by piloting new approaches in selected services, aiming to improve feedback loops and target high-risk areas from 2024-25, with learnings informing future roll-out.
HM Treasury
10
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
We questioned DWP on whether it expects the impact of the pandemic on fraud and error to gradually fade or to remain elevated for some time. DWP told us that although it expects the impact of the pandemic to fall away over time, it now believes that there is a …
Government response. The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, providing detailed evidence from various sources, including crime data and Cifas, to justify its assumption of a 5% annual increase in fraudulent behaviour.
HM Treasury
11
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
We asked DWP to clarify why it assumes in its forecast that there is an ongoing increase in the general propensity to commit fraud in society. DWP explained that this is a judgement based on estimates produced by a range of other bodies. These include Cifas which has reported an …
Government response. The government agrees and states the recommendation is implemented, providing detailed evidence from various sources including police recorded crime data, Cifas, and the British Social Attitudes Survey to support its assumption of a 5% annual increase in fraudulent behaviour.
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
We have reported previously on the historical underpayment of State Pension due to errors by DWP affecting some pensioners who are married, widowed or over-80, most recently when we examined DWP’s 2021–22 Annual Report & Accounts. During that inquiry DWP told us it estimated that 237,000 pensioners had been underpaid …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and provided details of the scope of the exercise and plans to address outstanding work in its 2022-23 Annual Report and Accounts. It will provide updated details of its plans in its 2023-24 …
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
In January 2021 DWP launched an exercise to identify affected pensioners and make any back payments. We asked DWP to provide an update on its progress in correcting these underpayments. DWP told us that it is on track to complete the married and over-80 groups by the end of 2023 …
Government response. The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation and provided details of the scope of the exercise and plans to address outstanding work in its 2022-23 Annual Report and Accounts. It will provide updated details of its plans in its 2023-24 …
HM Treasury
16
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
When we examined DWP’s 2021–22 accounts, it told us about another category of historical State Pension underpayment caused by gaps in the National Insurance records of women who had previously claimed Child benefit.29 DWP and HMRC explained to us that between 1978 and 2000, people claiming Child Benefit should have …
Government response. The government agrees to the recommendation, stating the correction exercise for Home Responsibilities Protection underpayments began in Autumn 2023 and will continue to be refined by DWP and HMRC, providing clarity on tax treatment for arrears.
HM Treasury
17
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
We asked HMRC what it is doing to correct the National Insurance record so that DWP can in turn make any back payments of State Pension. HMRC explained that it no longer holds the relevant records and that identifying all of the people who may be 25 Committee of Public …
Government response. The government agrees to the recommendation, confirming the correction exercise for Home Responsibilities Protection underpayments started in Autumn 2023 and outlining how DWP and HMRC will continue to refine plans and address tax implications, with a target implementation date of …
HM Treasury
18
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
We asked HMRC how it can be sure that it will reach the right people and also avoid paying out any illegitimate claims. It told us that it would apply due diligence to all claims. HMRC also told us that alongside targeted letters it is planning a communication campaign to …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's implied concern and commits to working with HMRC by Winter 2024 to set out an approach for assuring the integrity of the National Insurance record, including engaging with a joint Internal Audit review.
HM Treasury
19
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
We asked DWP how much people could receive in back payments of State Pension. DWP told us it assumes an average back payment of £5,000 for people above State Pension age and £3,000 for the next-of-kin of those who are deceased. DWP’s accounts report that overall 210,000 pensioners may have …
Government response. The government agrees to the recommendation, confirming the correction exercise for Home Responsibilities Protection underpayments began in Autumn 2023, and outlining how DWP and HMRC will continue to refine plans and address tax implications.
HM Treasury
20
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
We asked HMRC and DWP when they expect to have a firmer idea of the scale of the issue and the timeframe for making back payments. HMRC told us it intends to send out the letters to potentially affected people over the next 18 months. It added it expects to …
Government response. The government agrees to the recommendation, stating the correction exercise began in Autumn 2023 and DWP will continue to refine its plans with HMRC, providing updates in its 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts, along with specific rules for handling income …
HM Treasury
21
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
We asked HMRC to confirm whether pensioners receiving lump sum back payments would be liable for a tax charge and whether it would take a sympathetic approach to handling any issues. HMRC confirmed that the tax charge could apply. It told us that “Generally, we will be as generous as …
Government response. The government agrees to the recommendation and states DWP and HMRC are working together on the correction exercise, which began in Autumn 2023, and clarifies specific rules for how income tax on arrears payments will be calculated and collected.
HM Treasury
22
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
DWP now reports multiple underpayments relating to issues in the National Insurance record. In addition to the HRP underpayment, DWP has also identified that the National Insurance records for 10 million people claiming Universal Credit have not been updated properly. DWP estimates that 137,000 of these people have already reached …
Government response. The government agrees and commits DWP and HMRC to work together, engaging with a joint internal audit review, to provide assurance on the integrity of National Insurance records and their interaction with the benefit system by Winter 2024.
HM Treasury
24
Recommendation
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
During our examination of DWP’s 2021–22 Accounts, we were unconvinced that its control processes were adequate to detect underpayments before they build up into major issues.53 DWP has previously acknowledged “an inability to pick up patterns of underpayment, which had been going on for many years”.54 We asked DWP to …
Government response. The government agrees with the recommendation and states it uses existing quality checks while piloting new approaches to strengthen early detection of underpayments, with evaluation and potential wider roll-out planned from 2024-25.
HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
DWP set out its plan to tackle benefit fraud following the pandemic in May 2022 in Fighting Fraud in the Welfare System.57 This includes £895 million of additional investment in counter-fraud activities over the Spending Review period covering the three years to March 2025. Details of the plan now published …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observations on its counter-fraud plan and states the recommendation is implemented. It commits to developing and refining an experimental metric to report on full Annual Managed Expenditure savings in its 2023-24 Annual Report and …
HM Treasury
26
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
The most significant element of DWP’s counter-fraud plan is a project to cleanse the benefit system of incorrect payments by reviewing some 8 million live Universal Credit claims over five years. DWP expects this project—which it calls ‘Targeted Case Reviews’ (TCR)—to generate £6.4 billion of savings by 2027–28. DWP is …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observations regarding the Targeted Case Review (TCR) and confirms the recommendation has been implemented, stating the department will report on TCR in its 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts.
HM Treasury
27
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
The NAO has reported that in 2027–28 alone DWP expects 2.5 million Universal Credit cases to be reviewed by some 5,900 staff. For comparison, in 2022–23 DWP reviewed around 3,600 Universal Credit claims to produce its fraud and error statistics.61 We challenged DWP to explain whether it has enough people …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observations regarding the Targeted Case Review (TCR) and confirms the recommendation has been implemented, stating the department will report on TCR in its 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts.
HM Treasury
28
Conclusion
Fourth Report - The Department for Work…
Accepted
DWP told us it will take two years for TCR to have a measurable effect.63 We observed that TCR is an expensive intervention and questioned DWP on whether it has been under pressure to deliver the project faster in order to demonstrate a credible return on investment.64 DWP acknowledged that …
Government response. The government agrees with the committee's observations regarding the Targeted Case Review (TCR) and confirms the recommendation has been implemented, stating the department will report on TCR in its 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts.
HM Treasury