Tom Pursglove corrected a written answer on Universal Credit: Overpayments

8 March 2023 · Commons written answer · Department for Work and Pensions

Ms Karen Buck (Labour, Westminster North) asked written question 143682 on 9 February 2023. Tom Pursglove answered on 22 February 2023 for the Department for Work and Pensions, and Tom Pursglove corrected the answer on 8 March 2023. The correction replaced 2 figures (£700m, £800m) with 3 figures (£250m, £270m, £330m). Altogether 29 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many overpayments of Universal Credit have been attributed to Official Error in each of the last three years; and what the total value of those overpayments.

Original and corrected answer

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
We do not hold data on actual Universal Credit (UC) overpayments as requested, as there is no requirement to categorise UC ~~debt,~~ because it is all recoverable in law. However, our national statistics on ~~fraud~~ and ~~error~~ in the benefit system provide information on the estimated value of UC Official Error, both as a percentage of benefit expenditure and by value. For ~~UC,~~ the figures show that UC Official Error loss has fallen from 1.3% ~~(£700m)~~ in 2019/20, to 0.9% ~~(£800m)~~ in 2020/21, to 0.7% ~~(£700m)~~ in 2021/22. The statistics do not cover the number of overpayments ~~made,~~ but do indicate how many cases were estimated to have an overpayment of this ~~type.~~ In 2019/20 the figure stood at 4.1%; in 2021/22 it was 2.6%. Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) ~~The~~ DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with benefit debt deductions and encourages customers experiencing hardship to contact ~~the~~ DWP to discuss their repayment plan.	We do not hold data on actual Universal Credit (UC) overpayments as requested, as there is no requirement to categorise UC debt because it is all recoverable in law. However, our national statistics on Fraud and Error in the benefit system provide information on the estimated value of UC Official Error, both as a percentage of benefit expenditure and by value. For UC the figures show that UC Official Error loss has fallen from 1.3% (£250m) in 2019/20, to 0.9% (£330m) in 2020/21, to 0.7% (£270m) in 2021/22. The statistics do not cover the number of overpayments made across the year but indicate how many cases were estimated to have an overpayment of this type, at a point in time. In 2019/20 the figure stood at 4.1%; in 2021/22 it was 2.6%. Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with benefit debt deductions and encourages customers experiencing hardship to contact DWP to discuss their repayment plan.

Original

Corrected

We do not hold data on actual Universal Credit (UC) overpayments as requested, as there is no requirement to categorise UC ~~debt,~~ because it is all recoverable in law.
However, our national statistics on ~~fraud~~ and ~~error~~ in the benefit system provide information on the estimated value of UC Official Error, both as a percentage of benefit expenditure and by value.
For ~~UC,~~ the figures show that UC Official Error loss has fallen from 1.3% ~~(£700m)~~ in 2019/20, to 0.9% ~~(£800m)~~ in 2020/21, to 0.7% ~~(£700m)~~ in 2021/22.
The statistics do not cover the number of overpayments ~~made,~~ but do indicate how many cases were estimated to have an overpayment of this ~~type.~~ In 2019/20 the figure stood at 4.1%; in 2021/22 it was 2.6%.
Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
~~The~~ DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with benefit debt deductions and encourages customers experiencing hardship to contact ~~the~~ DWP to discuss their repayment plan.

We do not hold data on actual Universal Credit (UC) overpayments as requested, as there is no requirement to categorise UC debt because it is all recoverable in law.
However, our national statistics on Fraud and Error in the benefit system provide information on the estimated value of UC Official Error, both as a percentage of benefit expenditure and by value.
For UC the figures show that UC Official Error loss has fallen from 1.3% (£250m) in 2019/20, to 0.9% (£330m) in 2020/21, to 0.7% (£270m) in 2021/22.
The statistics do not cover the number of overpayments made across the year but indicate how many cases were estimated to have an overpayment of this type, at a point in time. In 2019/20 the figure stood at 4.1%; in 2021/22 it was 2.6%.
Fraud and error in the benefit system: financial year 2021 to 2022 estimates - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
DWP remains committed to working with anyone who is struggling with benefit debt deductions and encourages customers experiencing hardship to contact DWP to discuss their repayment plan.

The question and answer on the Parliament website.

Related key figures

People on Universal Credit (Great Britain)

Receipt

Read from	https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/1585955?expandMember=true
Date read	15 October 2026
SHA-256	`9839a383f478912f8b8a396b65979a256eb72c9c7015b27cd0a508678376d113`