The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, has qualified his audit opinion on the regularity of the 2016-17 accounts of the Department for Work and Pensions. This is owing to the high level of fraud and error in benefit expenditure excluding State Pension, resulting in over and underpayments to claimants.
4 July 2017
The Department for Work and Pensions successfully managed the introduction of the new state pension, but it is not yet clear whether the simplified system will encourage people to save more for their retirement.
This investigation covers a single, major cause of underpayment error in ESA. This error relates to people whose existing benefit claim was converted to ESA and who were entitled to income-related ESA but were only awarded contribution-based ESA.
Find the NAO’s reports, insights and overviews by government department or other public body.
The Department for Work and Pension has limited information about who will be affected by the impact of state pension reforms in April 2016 on people with Guaranteed Minimum Pensions. The impact will depend on a number of factors, and some people are likely to lose out. The Department is now seeking to improve how it communicates the impact of pension reforms.
24 March 2016
This Departmental Overview looks at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and summarises its performance during the year ended March 2016, together with our recent reports on it.
This looks at the chain of events which led to the government paying £711m in compensation to 34,000 pensioners who retired from the Police and Firefighters’ Pension Schemes between 2001 and 2006 without receiving their full pension entitlement. Due to the extent of the legal process in the case, some police and firefighters were retired for over 15 years before they received their full pension entitlement from government.
We have published a series of reports which explore some of the major risks to public finances highlighted in the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA).
The Department for Work & Pensions is not doing enough to find out how sanctions affect people on benefits.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, has qualified his audit opinion on the regularity of the 2015-16 accounts of the Department for Work and Pensions. This is owing to the unacceptably high level of fraud and error in benefit expenditure, other than State Pension where the level of fraud and error is lower.
The National Audit Office has today published the findings of its investigation into the Department for Work & Pensions’ closure of its 1993 and 2003 ‘Child Support Agency’ child maintenance schemes.
The NAO has published its investigation into misuse of the Flexible Support Fund in Plaistow jobcentre. The report looks at how the Department for Work & Pensions responded to allegations of misuse at the jobcentre.
The Department for Work and Pensions has successfully introduced automatic enrolment to workplace pensions for large and medium-sized employers. Significant risks remain.
The NAO has published the findings from its investigation into members’ experience of civil service pension administration.
The NAO is publishing a suite of short guides, one for each government department, to assist House of Commons Select Committees.
The C&AG has reported on the 2020-21 National Employment Savings Trust Corporation Accounts.
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Amyas Morse, has qualified his audit opinion on the regularity of the 2014-15 accounts of the DWP, owing to the unacceptably high level of fraud and error in benefit expenditure.
This guide uses the NAO’s insights to show what can be done to counter the risk of fraud and error.
This impacts case study shows how DWP has responded to our reviews of several welfare reform programmes, including by improving financial controls, contract management, and the way it manages its portfolio of change programmes.
It is one example of financial or non-financial benefits realised in 2014 as a result of our involvement, all of which are set out in our interactive PDF.
This impacts case study shows how our identification of data and management weaknesses was pivotal in leading to the implementation of actions to address them.
It is one example of financial or non-financial benefits realised in 2014 as a result of our involvement, all of which are set out in our interactive PDF.