Committee publication · Correspondence · 2 February 2026
Letter from the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 04 December 2025 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
Permanent Secretary Sir Peter Schofield responds to the Public Accounts Committee's questions from a 4 December 2025 hearing on benefit fraud and error. He addresses two issues: UC advances fraud controls, reporting a narrowed fraud range from £20m–£85m (2021/22) to £0m–£60m (2024/25), and external fraud referral processes, committing to explore enhanced disclosure within legal limits.
Key findings
- UC advances fraud estimated range has narrowed significantly from £20m–£85m in 2021/22 to £0m–£60m in 2024/25, indicating improved controls
- DWP's machine learning model for UC advances has directly prevented less than £5m in fraud over three years by rejecting around 7,000 high-risk requests
- DWP lacks a formal random enquiry programme to measure exact proportion of fraudulent advance requests; infers fraud levels from wider statistics instead
- DWP currently cannot provide updates to external fraud referrers due to absence of lawful disclosure basis, but will explore legislative options
- Permanent Secretary scheduled January meeting with Comptroller and Auditor General to discuss qualification issues in DWP's Annual Reports and Accounts
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Sir Peter Schofield, Sir Geoffrey Clifton Brown, Department for Work and Pensions, Public Accounts Committee, National Audit Office, Comptroller and Auditor General
Notable line
“… our overall control improvements have indirectly prevented a considerably larger volume and value of fraudulent advance claims.”
Key Quotes
“In 2024/25, we estimated that the level was in the range of £0m - £60m”
“… we do not have a formal random enquiry programme in place to measure the exact proportion of advance requests that are fraudulent, so we cannot give precise statistics”
“Generally, we are not able to provide updates as there is no lawful basis to disclose this information to a third party. However, we are sympathetic to the position set out in the hearing, so we will explore what is possible within the confines of the legislation.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗