Committee publication · Correspondence · 8 January 2026
Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions relating to the transcript of the Committee’s evidence session on 04 December on Tackling fraud and error in benefit expenditure 2024-25, 17 December 2025
From: Public Accounts Committee
Inquiry: Tackling fraud and error in benefit expenditure 2024-25
Summary
The Permanent Secretary of the Department for Work and Pensions writes to correct three factual inaccuracies in his oral evidence to the Public Accounts Committee on 4 December 2025 regarding fraud and error in benefit expenditure. He seeks corrections to statements about pension credit case review spending projections, expected returns on targeted case reviews, and Universal Credit fraud and error rates.
Key findings
- Pension credit targeted case review spending projection of £60–70 million annually is stated to yield £30–190 million in savings, not £330–190 million as originally stated
- The targeted case review was 'initially expected to deliver a 1:7 return', not a past achievement of 1:7 as originally stated
- Universal Credit fraud and error rate should be clarified as 9.7%, not the 8.1% or 7.5% figures referenced in oral evidence
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Sir Peter Schofield, Department for Work and Pensions, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Public Accounts Committee, Sarah Olney, Office for Budgetary Responsibility, National Audit Office
Notable line
“… extending the targeted case review to other areas, particularly pension credit, where we are looking to spend between £60 million and £70 million a year, bringing out between £30 million and £190 million of annual savings from there.”
Key Quotes
“… extending the targeted case review to other areas, particularly pension credit, where we are looking to spend between £60 million and £70 million a year, bringing out between £330 million and £190 million of annual savings from there.”
“… extending the targeted case review to other areas, particularly pension credit, where we are looking to spend between £60 million and £70 million a year, bringing out between £30 million and £190 million of annual savings from there.”
“The targeted case review was initially expected to deliver a 1:7 return.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗