The DWP said it is stepping up its efforts to detect errors in new update
DWP officials have spoken about increasing efforts to clamp down on benefit fraud. The update comes as new laws have taken effect to target fraud and error in the benefits system. These include checking the banking account information of people on certain benefits, to make sure they are eligible.
The checks will initially be used to check the eligibility of those receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Employment and Support Allowance. The legislation mentions that this remit could be extended to other benefits. New powers will also allow investigators to directly take an amount from a person’s bank account if they owe the DWP funds and are refusing to pay up.
DWP top officials took questions from the Work and Pensions Committee about the DWP’s efforts to clamp down on fraudulent and wrongful payments in the benefits system. DWP permanent secretary, Peter Schofield, told the committee this is “a big focus” for his department.
He said there is a team working “at full pelt” on “targeted case review”, to see where they can make savings by stopping wrongful payments. The DWP has had some £300million in funding for this for the current year, which pays for around 4,000 agents to investigate cases.
Mr Schofield said the department has managed to significantly reduce the percentage of fraudulent and wrongful payments for Universal Credit over the past two years.
Stopping payments
He assured that although they use machine learning to flag up a suspected wrongful payment, the matter is always decided on by a person. Mr Schofield explained: “In our fraud and error work, we don’t stop any benefits without a human looking at this, reviewing all the evidence, from all sorts of different sources that they’ve got, including understanding markers of vulnerability or complex needs as well, and then making a decision off the back of that.”
He said there are also measures coming in to stop incorrect payments going out in the first place. These include issuing reminders to claimants to “let us know of a change in circumstance”, such as if a recipient has children over the age of 16, to let the department know if they are still in full-time education.
You can get an extra amount through Universal Credit if you have children, until they reach the age of 16. However, you can continue to get the extra cash until they reach 19, if they are in full-time education or training. The extra amount is £399 a month for your first child, if they were born before April 6, 2017, or £298.81 if they were born on or after this date. You get paid £298.81 for your second child or any other additional children.
You can currently only get the extra amount for your first two children, meaning you can get up to £631.81 in extra cash. However, this rule is changing from April 2026, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the Autumn Budget 2025 that Labour would scrap the two-child cap that applies to certain benefits.
For the latest money saving tips, shopping and consumer news, go to the new Everything Money website.
