Claimants overpaid in credit glitch
CLAIMANTS of the new Universal Credit are being overpaid by almost £300.
Department of Work and Pensions figures show the taxpayer lost £35million in fraud and error last year.
And with only 118,000 on test runs for the new system that means an overpayment average of £296 each.
The DWP cited losing track of claimants and their changing circumstances, and those who are living with partners but claiming as being single.
Universal Credit rolls most working-age benefits into one payment – but the “administrative complexity” of the new system is also blamed for mistakes.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Owen Smith said: “The sheer scale of payment errors go beyond initial teething problems and highlight real concerns about roll-out.”
Welfare Minister Lord Freud said: “Benefit fraud is a serious crime.” GREAT-GRANNY Evelyn Jackson, who’s just turned 100, puts her long life down to “oldfashioned rabbit stew” in Kingham, Oxon.