The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has allowed hundreds of people overpaid on benefits by more than £20,000 to keep the cash, it has emerged.
In total more than £329 million is being written off, including millions of pounds that is known to the be the result of fraud.
The majority of DWP overpayments were the result of paperwork errors but 75 benefit recipients were permitted to keep £2.3million of sums that are known to have been fraudulent.
The department revealed that one alleged scammer collected an astonishing £547,000, but they have been told to repay it at a rate of just £130 a month which would take 350 years.
Another individual allegedly fraudulently claimed £491,000 in benefits they were not entitled to and the DWP has yet to find a way to try and reclaim any of the money.
Another case saw the Government department face a probate dispute with relatives of claimant who received £343,000 before they passed away.
Recently, five Bulgarian citizens living in the UK were sentenced for defrauding the social security system out of more than £50 million in bogus Universal Credit payments in a case known as Britain’s biggest ever benefit fraud.
The three women and two men made thousands of false claims for Universal Credit between 2016 and 2021.30 May 2024.
The fake benefit claims were supported by an array of forged documents, including fictitious tenancy agreements, counterfeit payslips and mocked-up letters from landlords, employers and GPs.
The businesses claimed to assist people with obtaining a National Insurance number and benefits to which they were entitled.
Some 569 cases were written off by the Government department, according to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request sent by The Telegraph.
In 2023, the DWP wrote off £329million due to benefit payments being overpaid by mistake with an additional £6million being swindled by fraudsters.
Joanna Marchong, the investigations campaign manager of TaxPayers’ Alliance, condemned what she called a “complete failure” of the DWP in its handling of overpayments.
She said: “Writing off these overpayments, even after errors have been identified, is not just an act of laziness, but a costly one at that.
“DWP negligence is directly hitting the pockets of hard-working taxpayers, costing them millions.
“The Government needs to be diligent in ensuring that only those who qualify and truly need benefit payments receive them and that they receive the correct amount.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “This Government will not tolerate fraud or waste anywhere in public services, including in the social security system.
“We are determined to reduce fraud and error and are currently exploring all options on how best to achieve our goal.”
