A Department for Work and Pensions programme to reduce the number of people claiming incapacity benefits and help them into work has had a limited impact and, while a serious attempt to tackle an intractable issue, has turned out to provide poor value for money.
The C&AG has qualified the DWP’s Client Funds Account on the grounds of material errors in the calculations of child maintenance assessments. He has also given an adverse opinion on the truth and fairness of the outstanding maintenance arrears.
This report outlines how the public service pensions landscape has changed since the Hutton Review and highlights future challenges.
DWP does not yet have enough evidence to demonstrate that its activities to reduce the cost of mistakes by customers have been value for money. Although mistakes are difficult to detect, correct and prevent, the scale of overpayments and underpayments demonstrates a clear need for improvement.
The C&AG of the NAO, Gareth Davies, has qualified his opinion on the regularity of DWP’s 2020-21 financial statements.
A review by the National Audit Office of overpayments to public service pensioners totalling £90 million has found a complex and fragmented administrative process, prone to error, and for which there is no clear overall responsibility. The process requires effective joint working between the parties involved (the five public service pension schemes, HM Revenue and […]
Explore the broad trends identified by our report Homelessness and build a richer understanding of what they mean for different parts of the country.
Although government provides billions in tax reliefs each year to encourage growth, it does not monitor or evaluate them closely enough.
DWP has not reduced the mistakes made by staff processing benefits. In 2009-10 it overpaid an estimated £1.1 billion and made underpayments of £500 million. However, the scale of the challenge facing the Department should not be underestimated.
Establishing solid foundations early in the contract and commercial relationship lifecycle is critical for contracts to work. But this process starts long before contracts are signed. Two recent NAO reports provide insights into the importance of getting both the procurement strategy and process right. Experience has shown that not doing so can result in millions […]
DWP’s plans to transform the assessment process for disability benefits face challenges that it will need to carefully manage, according to NAO report.
To support local auditors in their work and facilitate consistency of approach between auditors of the same types of entity, we maintain a series of Auditor Guidance Notes (AGNs).
Most public bodies do not know how much fraud they face and cannot demonstrate that they have the correct level of counter fraud resources, according to the National Audit Office.
This report looks at whether the government is achieving value for money in its management of child maintenance.
The majority of carers who receive benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are satisfied with the support they receive, worth up to £2 billion a year. The Department is delivering carers’ benefits effectively and has made improvements in processing claims in the last few years. But at least a fifth have difficulties […]
This report examines the progress made in improving the timeliness of auditor reporting on English local public bodies’ financial statements. Delays in completing audited accounts can have significant implications for local accountability and the effective management of public money.
The head of the National Audit Office, the Comptroller and Auditor General, has today qualified the accounts of the Department for Work and Pensions for the 20th consecutive year. The accounts have been qualified because of the material level of fraud and error in expenditure on state benefits, except for State Pension which has a […]
Today the National Audit Office has reported that the Department for Work and Pensions increased recoveries of benefit overpayments from £180 million in 2005-06 to £272 million in 2007-08, and preliminary results suggest that the Department has achieved its recovery target of £279 million for 2008-09. But recoveries are not keeping pace with the rate […]