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Written question asked by James McMurdock (Independent (affiliation)) on Tuesday, 30 June 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 2 July 2026. It was answered by Andrew Western (Labour) on Monday, 13 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Social Security Benefits: Debts

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Department for Work and Pensions' press release entitled Driving bans for those who refuse to repay benefit debts as new DWP powers come into force, published on 24 June 2026, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of outstanding benefit debt attributable to (a) fraud, (b) claimant error and (c) official error.

Answer

DWP’s overarching policy is that debts should be recovered as quickly and cost effectively as possible without causing financial hardship to customers. To support this, the Department sets limits to how much can be deducted and a “deductions priority order” determines the order in which different deductions must be taken. This means certain other debts, may be prioritised before benefit overpayments.

The Department routinely publishes information on debt levels, including debt stock, debt categorisation and debt write-offs, in its Annual Report and Accounts, which is available on GOV.UK. The 2025-26 report can be accessed here.

We are unable to provide information relating to the average time taken to recover a debt as the cost to calculate this would be disproportionate.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
14644
Session
2026-27
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Debts Fraud Disqualification Standards Social security benefits
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk