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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/benefit-errors-department-slammed.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith's department has come under stinging criticism" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/min-benefit-errors-department-slammed.jpg" alt="Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith's department has come under stinging criticism"/></a></p>
<p>The Department for Work and Pensions is not doing enough to stem losses totalling £1.1 billion a year caused by benefit recipients making errors in their claims, according to a spending watchdog&#8217;s report.</p>
<p>Three years into a five-year clampdown on error launched by the DWP in 2007, there was &#8220;no discernible decrease&#8221; in the amount of cash lost to customer errors, said the National Audit Office.</p>
<p>There was also little improvement to be seen in the £800 million annual underpayments due to mistakes in applications for benefits, which was causing hardship to the families concerned</p>
<p>Although Iain Duncan Smith&#8217;s department has established a Fraud and Error Council and introduced other measures to reduce the volume of customer mistakes, it does not have enough information to target these initiatives effectively, said the NAO.</p>
<p>Auditor General Amyas Morse said: &#8220;The benefits system is complicated and it is inevitable that mistakes occur. The DWP, therefore, faces a significant challenge in tackling error by claimants.</p>
<p>&#8220;The department has demonstrated a firm commitment to tackling administrative error, while its resolve to tackle customer error has so far been less evident.</p>
<p>&#8220;It now needs to bring its focus on customer error to the same level. The key to success in each area is a coherent strategy supported by good information on what works to deliver the best results.&#8221;</p>
<p>The report acknowledged that mistakes by claimants are &#8220;difficult to detect, correct and prevent&#8221;. In many cases, they arise from changes to claimants&#8217; circumstances which they may not realise they need to tell the department about.</p>
<p>Customer error consistently highest in claims for Housing Benefit, which saw £420 million in overpayments and £220 million in underpayments in 2009/10. The report said that the scale of overpayments and underpayments demonstrate a &#8220;clear imperative for improvement&#8221;.</p>
<p>And it cautioned: &#8220;The NAO found little evidence that there has yet been sufficient attention paid to reducing losses due to customer mistakes. The department launched a five-year strategy for tackling error in January 2007, but there has been no discernible decrease between 2006/07 and 2009/10 in underpayments and overpayments due to customer error as a percentage of benefits expenditure.&#8221;</p>
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