No such figure appears in the referenced document.

However, in the interests of providing a more complete answer, officials were asked to consider if this figure had basis elsewhere and, after some searching, identified that the figure referred to in the question actually came from the Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts 2025-2026 published on 15 July 2026.

The amount in question was a bulk write-off of irrecoverable War Pension Scheme (WPS) overpayments that were over six years old and fell outside the recoverable timeline by virtue of their age profile. There was no single or systemic cause of the overpayments which were often linked to changes in personal circumstances not promptly reported or identified.

The information requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

The final estimate of the error and fraud rate across the lifecycle of the three HMRC Covid-19 support schemes; Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and Eat Out to Help Out is between 3.3 per cent and 7.4 per cent, corresponding to a value between £3.3 billion and £7.3 billion, with a most likely estimate of £5.0 billion.

HMRC’s compliance effort on the COVID-19 schemes has prevented the payment of or recovered the overpayment of over £1.7 billion worth of grants, which is made up of £430 million prevented from being paid out and £1.3 billion recovered from overpayments.

Of the overall £1.3 billion recovered from overpayments, up to the end of March 2026 £928.94 million relates to CJRS recoveries.

Additional details on the methodology and approach to error and fraud within the schemes has been published previously and can be found here:

Error and fraud in the COVID-19 schemes: methodology and approach (an update for 2023) - GOV.UK

In very exceptional circumstances, there is discretion for DWP to waive recovery of an overpayment, as a derogation granted by the Treasury from the absolute requirement to recover all overpayments of public money. This is considered only where there is reasonable evidence available that the recovery of the overpayment is detrimental to the health and/or welfare of the debtor or their family; there needs to be very specific and compelling grounds for a waiver to be agreed.

Carer's Allowance overpayment waivers 25/26:

Received waiver requests:18

Refused waivers: 15

Approved waivers: 3

Further information on Waivers can be found in chapter 8 of the Benefit Overpayment Recovery Guide.

The Department will publish detailed statistics on the Carer's Allowance earnings-related overpayment reassessment exercise in the autumn, including how many cases have been reviewed and had overpayments reduced, cancelled and refunded. It will also provide a progress update to the Work and Pensions Committee and the Public Accounts Committee.

The Department is making full use of automated notifications of earnings from HMRC to notify Carer’s Allowance recipients that they may be exceeding the weekly earnings limit. This should reduce both the number and size of overpayments linked to earnings, and was a measure welcomed by Liz Sayce in her independent review into such overpayments.

With respect to recovery of debt caused by overpayments, the Department remains committed to working with all customers to agree repayment terms, and strives to set affordable, sustainable repayment plans. Anyone who is unable to afford the proposed rate of repayment can contact DWP’s Debt Management at the earliest opportunity.

For a case to be considered for prosecution, there must have been a suspicion of fraud, a full criminal investigation, consideration of the public interest test and agreement from the Crown Prosecution Service to bring the case forward.

The Department is making full use of Verify Earnings and Pensions alerts from HMRC to notify Carer’s Allowance recipients that they may be exceeding the weekly earnings limit. This should reduce both the number and size of overpayments linked to earnings, and was a measure welcomed by Liz Sayce in her independent review into such overpayments. The Government has also launched a Call for Evidence as part of its longer-term work on modernisation of Carer’s Allowance. This includes seeking views on the way in which earnings interact with the benefit.

The Department’s Recovery from Estates process does not begin from the date of death. Before recovery activity can commence, probate or letters of administration must generally be granted, and the Department must be notified of the estate administration details. Consequently, there can be a period between notification of a death and the point at which the Department is able to begin Recovery from Estates activity.

Recovery from Estates investigations can vary significantly in complexity depending on the circumstances of the case, the availability of evidence, and the time required to obtain and review historical financial information. The Department seeks to progress cases as efficiently as possible while ensuring that all necessary enquiries are completed.

The Department has taken a number of steps to improve timeliness and customer service within the Recovery from Estates process. These include increasing resource within the service and continuing to provide training and upskilling opportunities to develop staff capability. In addition, a dedicated telephony function has been established to handle customer enquiries. This enables other staff to focus on case processing activities, helping to increase operational capacity and support the timely progression of investigations.

The Department’s Recovery from Estates process does not begin from the date of death. Before recovery activity can commence, probate or letters of administration must generally be granted, and the Department must be notified of the estate administration details. Consequently, there can be a period between notification of a death and the point at which the Department is able to begin Recovery from Estates activity.

Recovery from Estates investigations can vary significantly in complexity depending on the circumstances of the case, the availability of evidence, and the time required to obtain and review historical financial information. The Department seeks to progress cases as efficiently as possible while ensuring that all necessary enquiries are completed.

The Department has taken a number of steps to improve timeliness and customer service within the Recovery from Estates process. These include increasing resource within the service and continuing to provide training and upskilling opportunities to develop staff capability. In addition, a dedicated telephony function has been established to handle customer enquiries. This enables other staff to focus on case processing activities, helping to increase operational capacity and support the timely progression of investigations.

The Department’s Recovery from Estates process does not begin from the date of death. Before recovery activity can commence, probate or letters of administration must generally be granted, and the Department must be notified of the estate administration details. Consequently, there can be a period between notification of a death and the point at which the Department is able to begin Recovery from Estates activity.

Recovery from Estates investigations can vary significantly in complexity depending on the circumstances of the case, the availability of evidence, and the time required to obtain and review historical financial information. The Department seeks to progress cases as efficiently as possible while ensuring that all necessary enquiries are completed.

The Department has taken a number of steps to improve timeliness and customer service within the Recovery from Estates process. These include increasing resource within the service and continuing to provide training and upskilling opportunities to develop staff capability. In addition, a dedicated telephony function has been established to handle customer enquiries. This enables other staff to focus on case processing activities, helping to increase operational capacity and support the timely progression of investigations.

Where a Universal Credit award is revised, established processes ensure that any resulting debt impact is communicated to Debt Management so that recovery action can be updated promptly.

Such decisions are processed through established appeals and decision-making processes, and where a claimant’s liability changes, the relevant information is recorded on DWP systems and communicated to Debt Management so that any necessary recovery action can be updated.

Where a tribunal decision overturns a Universal Credit overpayment, the decision is implemented through established DWP appeals and decision-making processes. Any resulting change to the claimant’s liability is recorded on the relevant systems and shared with Debt Management, enabling recovery action, including deductions from earnings, to be updated or ceased promptly, where appropriate.

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.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) operates in line with the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) complaints service standard, which aims to respond to complaints within 15 working days or, where a case will take longer than 15 days to respond to, set a resolution plan with the customer where cases are complex and may take longer. A resolution plan is a clear outline of how we will address and resolve a complaint. It sets out what actions will be taken, who is responsible, and the expected timescales for completing these actions.

The Department recognises that complaint response times have not consistently met expected standards in recent months due to increased volumes and a rise in complex cases. Improving timeliness of responses remains a key operational priority.

To address this, the Department has taken urgent action to deploy additional resources to complaints and correspondence teams, prioritised the reduction of backlogs, strengthened performance monitoring and senior oversight, and improved case management processes to support faster and more consistent responses.

In circumstances where a customer has overpaid child maintenance, Section 41B of the Child Support Act 1991 provides the Secretary of State with discretion to repay all or part of the overpaid amount. This is a discretionary power rather than an entitlement, and its use is considered carefully in light of the individual circumstances of each case. As a general principle, overpayments are addressed, where possible and appropriate, by offsetting them against future child maintenance liabilities. Repayment under Section 41B would therefore generally be considered only in exceptional circumstances where adjustment against future liability is not possible or would not provide an appropriate means of resolving the overpayment.

The Department recognises on-going financial matters can cause uncertainty and potential financial pressure for families. The CMS therefore treats financial hardship seriously and has support mechanisms in place to assist vulnerable customers where urgent help is required.

HM Revenue and Customs has not produced an estimate of the total VAT overpaid by agricultural societies in running agricultural shows and does not hold centrally collated data on this.

HMRC will consider any repayment claim in line with VAT including the fundraising exemption. Where a Claimant has submitted a valid claim and provided the evidence required, HMRC will makeany repayment due within its normal service standards.

HM Revenue and Customs has not made an estimate of the total amount of VAT overpaid by agricultural societies in running agricultural shows and does not hold centrally collated data on this.

Whether an overpayment has been made can only be determined on the facts of each individual claim submitted by a taxpayer.

Therefore, HMRC cannot make a wider estimation for the sector from the information available to them.

As the hon. Member knows, we are working through the cases of those who were required to repay an overpayment over recent years. I am receiving an update every week on the number of cases that have been gone through and the number of people who have had an overpayment reduced or cancelled, and I would be happy to give the hon. Member further information about the progress of that work.

I welcome the Government’s acceptance of a finding from the Liz Sayce review of carer’s allowance overpayments in respect of the underuse of waivers, given that the households concerned are often the most vulnerable in society. Has a review of the use of waivers been undertaken, and what changes have been made for frontline staff?