The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) accidentally paid over £20,000 to hundreds of Britons last year which claimants were allowed to keep.
More than 500 people were mistakenly overpaid benefit payments, such as Universal Credit, with £329million in overpayments being written off by the Government department.
From this group of benefit claimants, £17.5million in payments were paid out in error which comes to around to £30,674 per individual on average.
The majority of DWP overpayments were the result of paperwork errors but 75 benefit recipients are fraudulently permitted to keep £2.3million they were otherwise not entitled to.
Some 569 cases were written off by the Government department, according to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request sent by The Telegraph.
In 2023, the DWP wrote off £329million due to benefit payments being overpaid by mistake with an additional £6million being swindled by fraudsters.
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Universal Credit is one of the benefit payments that was overpaid
GettyDespite hundreds of cases no longer being pursued, the DWP has revealed details of the individuals it is tracking down to pay large outstanding debts.
One person currently owes £547,000 in overpaid benefit support which was collected via both paperwork errors and outright fraud.
According to the Government, this particular individual has been told to pay back the debt at a monthly rate of £130.
However, if the benefit fraudster agreed to this payment plan, they would not be able to settle their outstanding debt for 350 years.
Furthermore, one person was successful in receiving £491,000 in benefits they were not entitled to with the DWP attempting to chase them down to begin a repayment scheme.
Another case saw the Government department face a probate dispute with relatives of claimant who received £343,000 before they passed away.
Recently, five Bulgarian citizens residing in the UK were sentenced for defrauding the social security system.
The group were successful in falsely claiming £50million in Universal Credit payments earlier this year.
Joanna Marchong, the investigations campaign manager of TaxPayers’ Alliance, outlined the "complete failure" of the DWP in its handling of overpayments.
She shared: "Writing off these overpayments, even after errors have been identified, is not just an act of laziness, but a costly one at that.
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Claimants are urged to check to see if they have been overpaid or underpaid benefit support
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"DWP negligence is directly hitting the pockets of hard-working taxpayers, costing them millions.
“The Government needs to be diligent in ensuring that only those who qualify and truly need benefit payments receive them and that they receive the correct amount.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “This Government will not tolerate fraud or waste anywhere in public services, including in the social security system.
“We are determined to reduce fraud and error and are currently exploring all options on how best to achieve our goal.”
