Government sets out strategy to reduce benefit system errors
Summary
'Minimising the Cost of Administrative Errors in the Benefit System: Department for Work and Pensions' (HC 569) reflects the Government's new plan, announced in October 2010, that puts a greater emphasis on preventing errors from arising.
In 2009-10 the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) overpaid its customers by an estimated £1.1 billion and made underpayments of £500 million. However, the scale of the challenge faced by the Department should not be underestimated.
The benefits system is large, encompassing over 27 different benefits and a total caseload of around 20 million people. In addition, DWP has had to respond to the recent recession in which Jobseekers Allowance caseload almost doubled between 2008 and 2009.
The recent announcement of the introduction of Universal Credit is an opportunity to simplify many of the regulations, but such changes will take a long time to implement. In the meantime, the onus remains on the Department to keep the costs of mistakes to a minimum.
The Department has demonstrated a clear commitment to reducing administrative error, but there is scope for improvement in the quality of information used to assess where the Department should focus its efforts.
Although DWP has initiated an exercise to understand fully the causes of error, this will not be complete until the spring of 2011.
There is also scope for further work in collecting and analysing the full costs and benefits of the Department's interventions in order to assess cost effectiveness.
Found this story interesting?
Spread the news by
clicking below to add it to your bookmarking service: